Yes, its great to have Sweetbeats on the forum, sometimes I'm away for a while and get sidetracked by other things, but its nice to see the detailed information
he often provides upon returning here- cheers!
I have an M-106 along with a few other mixers in my collection, the largest being a Tascam M-1516, which is pretty good, and since it was made in the early-mid 90's, its not too so heavy that lifting/carrying it would be a hernia risk.
The most basic mixer I use as a standard of comparison is the Teac 2A (the matching unit to the A-3440) which was in production from late 1978 thru 1983-84, which should say something for its longevity. (The earlier Model 2 non A goes back even further toward the mid 70's...) I imagine the M-106 replaced it in the product line as the next generation of "basic" recording mixers from 1985/86 onward with some extra features such as phono inputs for turntables. With the comeback of Vinyl nowadays, having that capability is certainly an asset.
One thing I will say about the 2A- the attached MB-20 meter bridge in itself is very cool, it feels weird to not have one when I say 2A's by themselves on Ebay, for example.
I much prefer the FOUR upright 2A/MB-20 meters vs the two lying flat on the M-106. Its much easier to see the meters on the 2A/MB-20, whereas I find myself having to put a book or something under the M-106 to tilt up upward, though its not really too much of a big deal, but I applaud the "humble" 2A/MB-20 for its very nice design and layout, especially for a novice-intermediate level to appreciate. Love the 1, 2, 3, 4 individual pushbuttons vs the 1-2 & 3-4 sharing on the 106. Even style-wise, extending to the open reel machines, I like the A-3440's look & layout better than the Tascam 34.
I also have a Mackie Pro FX 12, its about ten years old- I could say the same thing in regard to the face down (or is it face up?) 2D not 3D meters- but thats common on most modern mixers nowadays, (even in the old days, compare an M308 vs the 1516, ditto on the meters, nice on the 308, upright easy to see, though the bargraphs on the 1516 are large enough and spread it enough to make it ok on the eyes...)
The Mackie (vs 2A/MB-20 or 106) seems better suited for hooking up various things for live practice at home- connections on the front, rather than back, and ample amounts of 1/4" jacks and XLR's unlike the rca connectors on the vintage Tascams - even on the MX-80- interesting unit, but no 1/4" jacks whatsoever not necessarily a dealbreaker, just alot of 1/4"-rca adapter cables. But it seems apparent, that this Mackie and many other similar mixers of today, are not designed to do much in the way of multitrack recording and 4 separate output busses that even the 2A provided via four simple pushbuttons!
Or come to think of it, maybe the M-06 (vs 106) was a corresponding 1980's followup to the 2A.... Actually, the op manual for the M-06 which can be found online, and is only a few pages, not a huge binder like the 308, 512, etc.. is a good way to learn the basic of signal flow/routing, as can be shown in the diagrams for that model- obviously, its much simpler being a budget level model, but still has some good info in it thats worthwhile to look at if someone might be interested, so just thought I'd mention it,