I love how the Behringer threads inevitably devolve into people with a tenuous grasp on economics arguing about market value. I have owned Behringer and Mackie stuff and had problems with both. I was a lot more disappointed when both Mackie mixers i had failed than when any of my Behr gear freaked out, due to the relative dollars invested.

what's this nonsense about corporate America? Behringer is a German company that has manufacturing plants in China. I have high respect for those who try to avoid buying products made by communist slaves but you would be hard pressed to find something in the same price range that isn't. Two or three more posts before somebody blames this on Dick Cheney and Halliburton...


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Everyone keeps bringing up the money issue. My point about my stance is that this is not about money. It is about business practices and ethics that I disagree with. Can anyone offer an argument that does NOT have to do with the mighty dollar since it clearly rules everything (according to the posts I am seeing)

I love how the Behringer threads inevitable devolve into people with a tenuous grasp on economics arguing about market value.

No kidding!

ORIGINAL: Lay In Wait

It is about business practices and ethics that I disagree with.

Welcome to reality! Buisness practices and ethics will not be changing anytime soon, deal with it!

Now to get back on topic. If you need 8 more channels on the cheap BUY the Behringer ADA 8000.

Reality is that I will be dealing with it by voicing my opinion with my dollars. I'll also deal with it by encouraging others to do what is right instead of merely doing what is right for their wallet. BTW, all of my posts have been on topic since the title clearly states, "Behringer ADA8000- to buy or not to buy!!!" Clearly, my opinion is NO. On topic, right? I can agree to disagree with everyone since its apparent that my opinion is that of the minority, but if you keep quoting me, I will keep relpying since I'm more than happy to educate fellow consumers about B's sketchy practices.

This one especially:

"Welcome to reality! Buisness practices and ethics will not be changing anytime soon, deal with it! "

Are you Bill Gates himself? To me, that quote is the definition of the cliche, "Turning a Blind Eye". Ok, I'm getting off my soapbox now...

BTW, all of my posts have been on topic since the title clearly states, "Behringer ADA8000- to buy or not to buy!!!" Clearly, my opinion is NO. On topic, right?

I wasnt saying you were off topic, was just steering the thread as a whole back on track, rather than discussing the political ****. Sorry if you felt singled out.

This one especially:

"Welcome to reality! Buisness practices and ethics will not be changing anytime soon, deal with it! "

Are you Bill Gates himself? To me, that quote is the definition of the cliche, "Turning a Blind Eye". Ok, I'm getting off my soapbox now...

Well, unfortunatly they wont. If I could single handedly change that, I would. Thats just not gonna happen, hence reality. And yes I am Bill Gates, thank you for your money.

I think the negative comments about Behringer are, in general, grossly unfair.

Most products are 'copied' to some extent from other products in a competing field; when a new car is released by, say, Ford, Honda will buy on and tear it down to see what production techniques Ford use (and, believe me, it works vice-versa as well) and then determine how much profit Ford might make on it. In many cases the competing manufacturer may then look at adopting that production technique if it would lead to a competitive advantage.

Innovation is great - but then, frankly, quite a lot of Behringer products are innovative. The BCF/BCR control surfaces, for instance. Sure, there were other control surfaces prior to those, but look at the price vs capabilities of these products, and they clearly weren't 'ripped off'; they are engineered from scratch.

Since most US companies also use Chinese labour, I don't think we can fault Behringer for that. And if their after-sales service is not the greatest (haven't needed it, to be honest), that's a complaint that could be placed at the door of many an 'innovative' company.

I own two Behringer mixers, both of which have behaved flawlessly, and a BCR2000, which also has worked perfectly. I really do not believe that, in general, their products are inferior in design and quality, and I note that a lot of serious professionals quietly use Behringer gear without necessarily making a big fuss about it - it does, in general, do what it says on the tin. (e.g the UB2442 mixer. Show me a competing desk with those features at anything less than twice the price.....)

Apparently many here have never tried to design and build anything electronic and I say that because there are many, many posts showing a complete lack of understanding of the process.

First off most of the best sounding mic pres and compressors you can buy new today are blatant design “rip-offs” especially the tube ones (think Universal Audio, GT, etc) how many different ways can you design a circuit that’s been around for 50+ years. Even the solid state designs (Seventh Circle) have been around a long, long time most just improve on features and quality components. Go look up a TI PCM2900 chip you will see a sheet called “design recommendations” hell Jensen transformers has a section with mic pre amp circuits recommendations for using their transformers.
http://www.jensentransformers.com/mic_in.html
http://www.jensentransformers.com/datashts/16a.pdf
http://www.jensentransformers.com/datashts/115ke90.pdf

If several manufactures are following the manufacturing design recommendations to ensure a functions device that is not copying. Believe it or not probably the company that has some very unusual designs is ART mostly everything else is similar and most equipment is using the same converters and opamps designs following rule of thumb and standard design practices.

If you don't have a light-pipe interface you may want to look into the SM Pro Audio PR8E. It is all analog ins and outs with 8 pre-amps phantom power and phase invert on each channel. I have one and I think it is loud and clear, for the less than $200 it cost brand new.

ORIGINAL: LionSound

Just to add on a bit, and to reply to a question in an earlier post here about what Behringer has "copied"

ADA8000 - Presonus Digimax

VAmp - Line 6 Pod

Truth Monitors - Mackie HR824

Xenyx mixers - Mackie Onyx

And this is just a small example. Each of the Behringer products is a direct rip-off of their counterparts. I don't care about where Behringer is from, or the history of mine or their respective country. When you put money into Behringer's pockets, you take money away form companies who lead and innovate in this pro-audio industry we love so much.

So I take it if you were a guitar player you would only buy Fender and Gibson, as everyone else has copied them? How about cars? Do you only drive Fords or whoever was the first to invent it? Just about everything out there is a copy of something else...

But to each her/his own!!!

I have 3 of them that I use for my HD24 rig. They work like a charm.

I am not so sure about SM Pro Audio. I bought a VU8, which I really like but one of the LEDs doesn't work. I contacted their Customer Support and the rep said he would send a replacement LED if I didn't mind installing it myself. Not a big job so I agreed. LED never showed. Three attempts to contact them and no response since. I will probably just desolder the bad LED and go to a local electronics shop and get a replacement, but I really hate that complete disregard for the customer. All I wanted was a brand new unit that worked out of the box, and was even willing to fix it myself.

Paul