Allen Heath vs. Mackie mixers

[Shark Diver]

Does anyone know how these compare? I'm trying to find audio quality comparisons between the Wizard series and the Onyx series. I have an Onyx 1640 and the routing options just aren't working for me. Someone suggested Allen Heath, but I have no real knowledge of them. Thanks, D.

[mischultz]

Does anyone know how these compare? I'm trying to find audio quality comparisons between the Wizard series and the Onyx series. I have an Onyx 1640 and the routing options just aren't working for me. Someone suggested Allen Heath, but I have no real knowledge of them. Thanks, D.
I have a MixWizard2/16 and an Onyx 1620 at work. I think they're largely comparable with the Mackie preamps maybe having a bit 'stronger' sound and the A&H a bit more sheen or air. The A&H feels a little more forgiving in terms of the gain range, with the Mackie having a much smaller window in which things are really right. Again, that's a feel thing and definitely not measured by any stretch of the imagination.

As for routing, I took a quick look at the back panels of each (WZ3/16 and the Onyx 1640) and I'm not sure there's much of a difference, except that the Mackie may be a little more flexible with the addition of the four subgroups. Otherwise, it's inserts on all channels, direct outs on all channels, six auxes per and a secondary stereo output. Where exactly is the Mackie lacking that you think the A&H may serve better? Or maybe a better way to put the question: what do you need to do that you can't do with what you have now? The A&H doesn't look like it's going to be any more flexible - at least as far as I can tell - but there may be other, more fitting options.

Michael

Michael

[Shark Diver]

The biggest problem was that the direct outs are pre eq, plus I needed more direct outs, but I bought a splitter instead. The other problem I have with the Mackie is cross talk. I had to even take the board to a service center to be tested, but they said it was within specs. I didn't realize how bad the cross talk was until I ran a click into the board - with the fader down, and the chanell muted the click still came through the PA. Really annoying.

Thanks for the info.

The Mackie was also too big to rack in my rack. I ended up down grading to a Mackie 1642 VLZ and it is better sounding to my ears then the 1640 Onyx, which I will now sell.

[mischultz]

Gotcha, and that makes perfect sense.

Best of luck with the 1642.

Michael