What's so bad about Behringer?

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MISTERQCUE said:


Oh Sooooooo True!!!!!!!!!!!
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Do tell! We don't need all the gory details (but some would be kewl)-- mostly tell us why the mixers suck. If you'd be so kind. :D
 
dmheath said:
While on the subject of budgets, does anyone know anything about the Nady mixers? How do they compare to Behringer? The price is even more attractive. But, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for.
Dave
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I purchased a Nady SRM14 about 2 years ago....hooked it up to an ADAT to do a test mix....R channel kept cutting out....promptly returned and bought a Behringer MX1604a with which I've never had a problem...

so, according to MR. Q's logic, NADY MIXERS SUCK!!!!....except they all probably don't...I just got the bad seed of the batch...one good thing that I can say 'bout the NADY - it had INSERTS which was cool (something the Behringer didn't have...)
 
I don't have a Behringer mixer but amid the constant berry bashing I have read repeated comments that the pres are relatively noisy and there is quite a bit of crosstalk between channels.But considering the price point I guess that isn't too surprising.
Tom
 
The bad part about it is that i have spent tons of $$$$ on gear
that ranges from cheap to pro level and have never, ever, ever,ever,ever had a problem with any purchase I have ever made, but as soon as I bought the suck-@ss MIXER, I was d@mned to MIXER HELL!! I only had the darn thing for 2 weeks b-4 it blew out and after spending nearly 2 1/2 weeks trying to get
Behringers Customer(lack-of) Service to fulfill their warranty and (which they never honored) I ret'd the piece-o-sh#t to Sam Ash,baseball-bat in hand, and in subtle way, informed them Iwant my money back or I planned to re-decorate their store!I exchanged it for an Alesis 24 and never looked back!
The day was March 2nd 2000! It's significant as Sam Ash, after my self and 9 OTHER CUSTOMERS ret'd their Behringer Mixers for poorperformance, workmanship etc that Sam Ash, NYC has never sold a Berhinger Mixer again! As a matter of fact, the following week,Sam Ash held huge,70-80% reductions in price on ALL Behringer gear (That's when I cleaned up)as they decided to not carry ANY Behringer gear . For $160.00 I bought a MultiCom,AutoCom and Composer Pro! The next day for lil under $130.00 I purchased the Ultrabass, Intelligate and the StereoMaxer of which they threw in
free a UltraPatch Pro! I have never looked back!
 
The Behr. B1 is not even on the same planet as the $99 V67 from MXL. You would be better advised to buy that, or wait and see how the Studio Projects B1 comes out in a couple of weeks. I do own some Behringer gear, like the ECM 8000 mics (a pair of 'em) and they are great for their applications.

Pete
 
Tom Hicks said:
I don't have a Behringer mixer but amid the constant berry bashing I have read repeated comments that the pres are relatively noisy and there is quite a bit of crosstalk between channels.But considering the price point I guess that isn't too surprising.
Tom
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I'd have to seriously disagree with this assessment. I did a direct side by side test of an Behringer mixer and a Mackie VLZ Pro with XDR pre's. Both boards had tremendously quiet pres (you had to crank the gain to hear the hiss).

Now the difference was in the sound. The Behringer pre's while quiet were a lot more top endy and thin sounding. They had a much more brittle sound while the Mackies were a more even sound overall.

As far as crosstalk I've heard of this being a problem in some of the Behringer Mixers' Busses but not in the channels themselves.
 
Behringer mixer

IMHO, anyone would be much better off getting a used Mackie
VLZ Pro mixer off e-bay than EVER getting a Behringer.
I have a Eurorack 802A and the mic pres are very harsh,
and the volume knobs are not calibrated close enough from channel to channel. So if you try to match volume levels you have
to "earball" them a bit. The $70-$100 you would spent on a new
Behringer mixer could be used towards the Mackie instead!

P.S. This was bought before knowing about the lawsuit between
Mackie and Behringer BTW.
 
battleminnow said:
The Behr. B1 is not even on the same planet as the $99 V67 from MXL. You would be better advised to buy that, or wait and see how the Studio Projects B1 comes out in a couple of weeks. I do own some Behringer gear, like the ECM 8000 mics (a pair of 'em) and they are great for their applications. Pete
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Actually, it's on a different planet, but not necessarily a better or worse one. Although I personally like the v67 better, I can't complain about the fact that my B1 came with a big, sturdy case and a nice shockmount for the same $100. In fact, my v67 fits very nicely in both the B1 shockmount and case, so I would say the $100 Behringer B1 is worth it for that alone. :)

As a general rule, though, you're taking a chance with Behringer gear. You're rolling the dice on it's durabilty and quality. If you buy two pieces of Behringer gear, and one happens to perform stellar for you while the other craps out on you, then you did alright.

I won't touch their mixers, but I happen to love my "B" compressors and microphones. I must admit, though, that one of the channels on my multicom pro gives me a lot of cross-talk from the other channels. My take on that? Oh well. For $100 I still have 3 . . . count 'em . . . 3 very usable, quiet, high-quality channels of compression and peak limiting.

For $100 I took a gamble, and 3 out of the 4 worked. I still made out like a bandit, in my opinion. 3 good channels for a measly $100 is only $33 per channel. If all 4 channels worked, I'd be dancing in the streets, but I'd still be relatively satisfied if only 2 channels worked.

I suppose you could look at the mixers in the same way: You buy 12 channels in the hopes that at least 8 to 10 will work for you trouble-free. If not, then you lost that particular round. The next time, though, you might get lucky and score a couple of good ecm8000's for $70 or a composer pro for a hundredge.

In the end, you just gotta' hope you come out ahead.
 
I had some great results with the B1, and I didn't find any mice that has the same great results and the same great price.

I had some troubles with Behringer mixes though. Bad contacts is the worst one.. Nothing so dreadfull as playing live and your mixer start giving dreadful buzzes.
 
BrettB said:
I had some great results with the B1, and I didn't find any mice that has the same great results and the same great price.

I had some troubles with Behringer mixes though. Bad contacts is the worst one.. Nothing so dreadfull as playing live and your mixer start giving dreadful buzzes.
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Amen!
 
MISTERQCUE said:
It's significant as Sam Ash, after my self and 9 OTHER CUSTOMERS ret'd their Behringer Mixers for poorperformance, workmanship etc that Sam Ash, NYC has never sold a Berhinger Mixer again! As a matter of fact, the following week,Sam Ash held huge,70-80% reductions in price on ALL Behringer gear (That's when I cleaned up)as they decided to not carry ANY Behringer gear
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If I remember right, one of the settlements in the Mackie vs Behringer/Sam Ash lawsuit was that Sam Ash cease selling Behringer gear. So that's probably why they dumped it all.
 
Thanks for the comment Aaron.Didn't mean to ruffle your feathers into a "serious disagreement".As I said,I don't own a berry mixer.However,from all the almost-daily Behringer mixer bashing that goes on around here,the comments about the pres and the crosstalk seem to be the most common gripes that get repeated.Glad you got a good one.Folks should bear in mind that QC on most entry level audio gear is VERY iffy.You can get good stuff or bad(let's see,its wednesday,so...) just compare and take your time choosing.
Tom
 
Here's another angle.... why doesn't anybody critisize the retailers of Behrenger gear? Maybe this is a very extreme example, but doesn't that make the retailers something similar to pimps or shady car salesmen? I mean, hell... they're just meeting a demand... retailers aren't doing the cloning and questionable business practices (well apparently sam ash was.. they were also named in the mackie suit) .... just a thought.
 
I once bought a behringer ultracurve for foh eq on a little pa setup. After a while we were getting strange subharmonics. Whenever the performer was talking to the audience you could hear his voice a couple of octaves lower in the background. turned out that the behringer was messing things up after it reached a certain temperature. I returned it to the store which said it wasn't interesting of looking for the failure because it probably costs more on research than the whole units worth.

Myself I started with the behringer comps and gates, and had lots and lots of fun using them. They were just fine for the setup I had, but when i started upgrading, I sold them also. I'm not sure wether the difference between a behringer or a cheap-range dbx is all that great. I do know from my own expirience that the difference between a behringer and TLAudio tubes is all that great, but its no fair comparing these two.

In live situations I do come across the behringer stuff alot. I have no problem working with the comps/gates, since they always served me nice during live-performances. I do prefer other brnads, but I also know most local PA-companies are working with the behringers, and instead of always complaining about them, I'd better focus on trying to get the sound right.

If you look at the prices the behringer stuff is selling out these days, I would recommend starters to serious look at this stuff. After a while most will upgrade if things get more serious. They will buy a better, and more important hear the difference and know WHY its better.

If you get your truckdriver-license over here, you'll have to take several degrees of exams before you can drive one of those monstertrucks. They all have pedals and gears and a steering wheel. Experience cannot be bought though.
 
BTW I am selling some Neve comps for behringer prices in another thread.

:)
 
Business ethics aside, Behringer make some SHOCKING equipment, but also make some AMAZING equipment. I just purchased a DDX3216. I've also owned an 02R prior to this (it was stolen).

1. The converters in the DDX absolutely CRAP all over the O2R converters.

2. The DDX pre's are relatively quiet and transparent, although the O2R pre's sound a little better (not a big difference, though).

3. The DDX compressors and effects absolutely CRAP all over the O2R's.

4. The DDX has more routing flexibility, more digital outs (with exapnsion boards installed) and in my opinion, a much better user interface than the O2R.

5. The DDX is WAY cheaper than the O2R.

6. The DDX was Behringer's own design (one of the few pieces of their gear that isn't a direct clone of a competitor's!)

So saying Behringer is CRAP is CRAP. And now, with the DDX3216, saying their mixers are CRAP is CRAP. I will agree that their ANALOGUE mixers aren't that fantastic, but they are the BEST quality available in that price bracket.

Cheers,
Menathor
 
I own a Behringer Tube Composer, the first unit had faulty VU meters although the unit sounds great. I got it replaced and have had no more problems. These units are only £150 in the UK and great value for money. I've compared it wth other more expensive the Focusrite alternative and they don't come close. My Behringer x-over is also a very good unit. I dont think I'l be buyng a mixer in a hurry based on what I've read here
 
I'll tell you what is wrong with Behringer...I recently bought two, cheaply priced, ECM8000's from them...and they rock. Man, what a bargain!?! I just can't stand a company that makes such an affordable product!!!:D:D:D
 
What's wrong with Behringer

Behringer stuff isn't bad if you're on a budget or if you're using it for live sound reinforcement, but I've never heard a single peice of Behringer gear that wasn't noisy as hell and didn't color the sound in some usually unpleasant way.

Want a cheap compressor that blows any Behringer model out the door? Try the Presonus BlueMax. I'd use a Peavey mixer before I'd own a Berry.

I'm in music retail. If there listing a comp at 99 bucks, it's probably only costing them 20 odd bucks to build it. Is that really what you want on your recordings? To you guys n' gals that seem to like the Behringer stuff, with all due respect, get your ears checked and listen to some higher end gear. You will notice the difference.
 
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