Uli Behringer of The Music Group Q&A

Re: Uli Behringer of The Music Group Q&A Question and suggestion Re ,X32

I know I am a little late to the party, sorry.

Turbosound - Was disappointed in the display at InfoComm. The couple of speakers that where displayed did not even have labels on the display. Music Group has limited stock available with no powered speakers or amps available. Allegedly they are in a warehouse waiting for some kind on UL approval since last year.

Question - Is Music Group / Behringer trying to run Turbosound into the ground in the US market so they can label them Behringer speakers?

I doubt you'll get an answer to this question Rick, I got zero response to my previous question about Turbosound.....not sure anyone knows what's going on....
 
Re: Uli Behringer of The Music Group Q&A

Did you seriously expect an answer to a question like that? Come on....


Sent from my iPad HD

My question was "I'd like to know what your plans for Turbosound are?" and yes I thought I'd get an answer, Ricks question was a little more less likely to get an answer if that's the one you are referring to. There's a lot of people out there with fairly large investments in Turbsosound gear who over the last few years have seen it reduced to being worth not a lot and no one knows what the plans are for the company, nor are they telling anyone, oh and the UK sales guy left the other day and there's no one at the helm......yes I thought I'd get an answer....
 
Re: Uli Behringer of The Music Group Q&A

My question was "I'd like to know what your plans for Turbosound are?" and yes I thought I'd get an answer, Ricks question was a little more less likely to get an answer if that's the one you are referring to. There's a lot of people out there with fairly large investments in Turbsosound gear who over the last few years have seen it reduced to being worth not a lot and no one knows what the plans are for the company, nor are they telling anyone, oh and the UK sales guy left the other day and there's no one at the helm......yes I thought I'd get an answer....

You will see the results of the Turbo purchase in the next 3 - 5 months. The Digital Crystal Ball (with outdoor antenna) has spoken.

EDIT ps - Remember all things "Digital" that involve antennae are subject to interference and other reception anomalies. You places your bets and you takes your chances...
 
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Re: Uli Behringer of The Music Group Q&A

I knew I would not get an answer. Guess I was just blowing off a little steam. My frustration comes from asking Michael and others from UK whats going on and they seam to give you a Jedi mind trick answer. Then UK marketing rep leaves unexplained from sources on the inside. How to they think we are going to feel about the brand.
 
Re: Failure rate

I bought 5 ADA8000s in 2010 They all failed One was intermittent on arrival, the last one failed after 18 months. I don't have a question.

Frank
I haven't had any of these fail yet, but it was only because I was aware of the problems others were having and took proactive steps to prevent the same failure.

The ADA8000 units as they leave the factory are a big space heater. The comment about heat sink problems for the voltage regulators is not unfounded, but the real culprit is the power transformer chosen. The secondary voltage is way too high requiring the regulators to drop excessive voltage across them, resulting in very hot operating temperatures, too hot to touch for more than 2 seconds.

Because the load on these regulators is fairly low from a power requirement perspective, I can't understand why a simple engineering issue like this was overlooked without correction or a recall. Is this a case of behind the scenes component "substitution" by the factories, or were they instructed to build them based on a poorly engineered design?

On a positive note, the ADA8000 is a great product otherwise, and fills a void in the marketplace for a cost effective AD/ DA interface.
 
Re: Failure rate

Very high tech solution. I had a spare variac kicking around, so I put it inline temporarily with the AC to see what input voltage would yield a good margin between in and out voltage on the regulators. It turns out 90VAC is about right, providing a voltage differential of about 4 volts between the in and out terminals of the regulators. Seeing all was good, I just left it connected specifically for that.
 
Re: Failure rate

Hello

One solution to take off some load of the regulators is to connect power resistors across input-output. The size has to be calculated so, that alone it would deliver about 0,5V less than required, thus allowing the regulator do the rest. The resistors can be wired to free places in sides of enclosure in order to get cooled there. This takes thermal load away from regulator. I did this to an Allen Heath GL2000 32 ch desk, where PSU was running really hot. After this low-cost modification it started running cool and is still in service after many years.
 
Re: Failure rate

That won't do much to help the situation. Yes, the regulators will run cooler, but you will now be dropping the excess voltage across the power resistors which will still heat up the interior of the cabinet. A better permanent solution would be to build an external regulated power supply and power up the ADA8000 units with through a multi pin connector.

Excessive heat in the cabinet will dry up electrolytics and increase preamp noise due to heat elevating Johnson noise on the inputs.

This is getting off topic from the original thread, but I was curious why something like this wasn't addressed by the quality control department.
 
Re: Failure rate

Ha! He said Johnson noise...

That won't do much to help the situation. Yes, the regulators will run cooler, but you will now be dropping the excess voltage across the power resistors which will still heat up the interior of the cabinet. A better permanent solution would be to build an external regulated power supply and power up the ADA8000 units with through a multi pin connector.

Excessive heat in the cabinet will dry up electrolytics and increase preamp noise due to heat elevating Johnson noise on the inputs.

This is getting off topic from the original thread, but I was curious why something like this wasn't addressed by the quality control department.
 
Re: Failure rate

That won't do much to help the situation. Yes, the regulators will run cooler, but you will now be dropping the excess voltage across the power resistors which will still heat up the interior of the cabinet. A better permanent solution would be to build an external regulated power supply and power up the ADA8000 units with through a multi pin connector.

Excessive heat in the cabinet will dry up electrolytics and increase preamp noise due to heat elevating Johnson noise on the inputs.

This is getting off topic from the original thread, but I was curious why something like this wasn't addressed by the quality control department.

Johnson (thermal) noise is indeed proportionate with temperature but relative to absolute zero (-273'C) so even a few tens of degrees C is not significant in the context of 300 degrees room temperature.

The do make and sell high temperature electrolytic caps (125'C vs standard 85'C).

JR
 
Re: Failure rate

The do make and sell high temperature electrolytic caps (125'C vs standard 85'C).

JR
I still think it's better not to create the unnecessary heat to begin with. The enclosures aren't vented, so they can't cool via convection currents. Most of the failures I have read about is through the transformer windings eventually burning up.
 
Re: Failure rate

I still think it's better not to create the unnecessary heat to begin with. The enclosures aren't vented, so they can't cool via convection currents. Most of the failures I have read about is through the transformer windings eventually burning up.

And I agree with that... It's pretty easy in hindsight to identify design shortcomings, that's why experienced engineers are worth more. They've already made their mistakes and learned from them.

I have not followed this SKU closely, most UL approved transformers have thermal fuses built in so they won't literally burn up if overheated. They are generally designed so the thermal breaker opens up before the insulation can break down.

JR
 
Re: Failure rate

Hello

I was using power-resistors, that had metal housing and were riveted in the enclosure endpieces with some paste between ( that white gook...) so the heat goes mostly through units wall. Plus one could always drill some cooling holes. I agree totally, that none of these is half as good as not having to deal with it to begin with... My Variac is a 2kW model in cast housing and wheighs about 20kg - ( 40+ pounds ) - NOT very handy to take with you, but exellent in shop.
 
Re: Uli Behringer of The Music Group Q&A Question and suggestion Re ,X32

Hello everyone, first of all thanks to the moderator of this topic and Uli for willing to find time to answer the questions.

I have two questions, mostly about X32.

Dear Gayle,


"We have since ramped up production multiple times and our manufacturing team is working around the clock to meet demand."


Uli

1. Since the production was ramped up couple of times, what steps were taken to keep the manufacturing and quality control up to the standards. (I was always under the impression that whenever you push the quantity you will start to loose the quality.)

2. I am very interested in purchasing an X32, and most stores offer an extended warranty which includes wear and tear for 3-years at $300, will you say that I should be confident enough with the manufacturers warranty and skip the stores warranty, and IF something does goes wrong mechanically say after two years, the $300 would be enough to get the board fixed? ...and thats IF something will go wrong, if nothing will go wrong then I will save $300 dollars. I strongly believe that even most expensive gear in the world has a chance on having a wear and tear breakdown, so this question is mainly to the people who designed and manufacture the X32 and say for example:
"we give you 1 year (bumper to bumper) warranty but we are confident in the quality of the manufacturing and components used in X32 that will make the board last for years and years to come."

sorry for any confusion but English is not my native language and I tried my best to put the questions together :)

Thanks
 
Re: Uli Behringer of The Music Group Q&A Question and suggestion Re ,X32

If I could get a bumper to bumper 3 year warranty I would take it, better if loaners were on site.
 
Re: Uli Behringer of The Music Group Q&A Question and suggestion Re ,X32

Well early reports from sac forum are that the ada8200 doesn't work. Same problems I experienced with late model ada8000, the adat chip is basically bust. So it appears Behringer's QA still doesn't stand for anything.