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Author Topic: Replace Behringer ADA8000 as channel strip for Shure wireless into LS9  (Read 7839 times)

jesseweiss

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I run sound at the school where I teach.  A few years ago we added a set of 16 wireless Shure lavs to our setup.  They are hooked up to the Yamaha LS9-16 with digital cables from two Behringer ADA8000's.  Has worked fine, although I've felt like the sound quality from the preamps may not be that great.

One of the 8000's is shot (most likely from custodians and other staff leaving the whole system on for long periods of time unnecessarily when I didn't know and the unit overheating).  I have to replace it to get the 2nd bank of 8 lavs working again, but I'm wondering if there is a better unit I could buy?

The 8200 is affordable and supposedly overheats less frequently (and I'm going to remind people to turn it all off when not in use), and apparently has better preamps, but I'm wondering are there other reasonably priced units similar to the 8200 that people could recommend?

I was looking at the ART TubeOpto 8, Focusrite OctoPre MkII. Above that price point it might get more challenging to get the funds.

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Keith Broughton

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I run sound at the school where I teach.  A few years ago we added a set of 16 wireless Shure lavs to our setup.  They are hooked up to the Yamaha LS9-16 with digital cables from two Behringer ADA8000's.  Has worked fine, although I've felt like the sound quality from the preamps may not be that great.

One of the 8000's is shot (most likely from custodians and other staff leaving the whole system on for long periods of time unnecessarily when I didn't know and the unit overheating).  I have to replace it to get the 2nd bank of 8 lavs working again, but I'm wondering if there is a better unit I could buy?

The 8200 is affordable and supposedly overheats less frequently (and I'm going to remind people to turn it all off when not in use), and apparently has better preamps, but I'm wondering are there other reasonably priced units similar to the 8200 that people could recommend?

I was looking at the ART TubeOpto 8, Focusrite OctoPre MkII. Above that price point it might get more challenging to get the funds.
Maybe I'm missing something but why are you not connecting the wireless directly to the console?
Using the digital interface to get extra channels?
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George Dougherty

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I run sound at the school where I teach.  A few years ago we added a set of 16 wireless Shure lavs to our setup.  They are hooked up to the Yamaha LS9-16 with digital cables from two Behringer ADA8000's.  Has worked fine, although I've felt like the sound quality from the preamps may not be that great.

One of the 8000's is shot (most likely from custodians and other staff leaving the whole system on for long periods of time unnecessarily when I didn't know and the unit overheating).  I have to replace it to get the 2nd bank of 8 lavs working again, but I'm wondering if there is a better unit I could buy?

The 8200 is affordable and supposedly overheats less frequently (and I'm going to remind people to turn it all off when not in use), and apparently has better preamps, but I'm wondering are there other reasonably priced units similar to the 8200 that people could recommend?

I was looking at the ART TubeOpto 8, Focusrite OctoPre MkII. Above that price point it might get more challenging to get the funds.



In that price range I don't think you'd do much better than the ADA.  In the SAC world the ART sounded better but was only a little more reliable than the ADA8000 if you kept the ADA cool or ran a 100V step-down transformer (what I did and mine lasted for years).  The Focusrite will likely sound a bit better but the 8200 I understood to have a similar preamp design to the X32 series without the digital control which means its already much better than the ADA8000.
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George Dougherty

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Maybe I'm missing something but why are you not connecting the wireless directly to the console?
Using the digital interface to get extra channels?
Would be my expectation.  32 analog from the stage and ADAT pre's for extra local inputs is what I've seen at several churches near me.  It was the most cost effective way to take advantage of the 64 processing channels back in the day.
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Rob Spence

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Would be my expectation.  32 analog from the stage and ADAT pre's for extra local inputs is what I've seen at several churches near me.  It was the most cost effective way to take advantage of the 64 processing channels back in the day.

The OP has an LS9-16


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
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Keith Broughton

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The OP has an LS9-16


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Right. So maybe 16 on the XLR and 16 on the digital.
The MY8 AD24 is 8 ch of analog inputs. 
2 would provide the 16 extra channels of wireless (receivers on line level out) and negate the need for external devices.
I think they run around $300 each.
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David Sturzenbecher

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Right. So maybe 16 on the XLR and 16 on the digital.
The MY8 AD24 is 8 ch of analog inputs. 
2 would provide the 16 extra channels of wireless (receivers on line level out) and negate the need for external devices.
I think they run around $300 each.

How would you fit two of those in an LS9-16?


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Scott Helmke

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The Behringer unit is probably fine. Cheap and I wouldn't expect it to last more than a couple years anyway.

If you're running 16 channels of wireless lavs then the sound quality of the Behringer is more than good enough.
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George Dougherty

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The OP has an LS9-16


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Missed that. Either way the cheapest way to max out the channel count on the desk was to add preamps over ADAT. The result is just 32 channels instead of 64.
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Brian J Holder

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I've been using  a couple of ADA 8200's since they came out around 2 years ago. They run cool unlike the ADA 8000 and have a much nicer pre-amp.
The input gain controls give much smoother control, not bunching up at the ends like the ADA8000. They are used with radio racks to increase the channel count on my LS9-16. I consider themto be a good investment.
Brian
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Ray Aberle

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How would you fit two of those in an LS9-16?

I'd ASSume that the OP has an MY16-AT card, with two ADAT in/out sets-- that would give you 16ch of external preamps, connected to the ADA8000s. Since he only has the one slot on the board, and we know it's going ADAT... pretty sure that's the setup.

-Ray
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jesseweiss

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I'd ASSume that the OP has an MY16-AT card, with two ADAT in/out sets-- that would give you 16ch of external preamps, connected to the ADA8000s. Since he only has the one slot on the board, and we know it's going ADAT... pretty sure that's the setup.

-Ray

Sorry busy with end of year work, didn't get a chance to look at responses, but you guys are correct I use them for 16 more channels on the LS9-16.

I'll definitely look at the 8200 since it sounds like it's good enough.

I was also toying with moving the 16 lav channels direct into the board, and moving everything else (3 stage drops, 2 Shure Wireless handhelds, iPod in, etc...) to the digital channels.  Was thinking that might help with getting better sound quality and better gain control of the lav channels. Part of the sound quality issue is working with kids, but there's something else going on because even when I wear one it sounds thinner than I would expect.  Had a professional ring out the EQ already, but maybe should bring him back for more fine tuning.  Any thoughts?  Complete waste of time :)?

Mac feel free to chime in, as I believe you were the one who came to help me a few years ago when I started this journey of running sound and realized that the initial install of our system was done horribly, so you might remember the room.
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George Dougherty

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If you take the same lav input and cable it straight to the board inputs does it sound any better?

You should be able to do a MY16-AUD and a Rio1608-D with the LS9 though that may be out of the budget.  It could set you with an upgrade path though toward an eventual Yamaha console upgrade at some point so it may be worth considering even if it does stretch the budget now.  The QL may eventually be budget friendly for your application and the 16 channels of auto-mixing capability could be a killer feature for children's theater.
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jesseweiss

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If you take the same lav input and cable it straight to the board inputs does it sound any better?

You should be able to do a MY16-AUD and a Rio1608-D with the LS9 though that may be out of the budget.  It could set you with an upgrade path though toward an eventual Yamaha console upgrade at some point so it may be worth considering even if it does stretch the budget now.  The QL may eventually be budget friendly for your application and the 16 channels of auto-mixing capability could be a killer feature for children's theater.

Unfortunately I haven't had time to swap the lav directly to the board to see the difference.  Might try this coming week.

The upgrade stuff you mention is not in any way in any budget I would have. This is a public school.  Unless the LS dies, it's the board we're going to be using for a while longer.
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Brian J Holder

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Quote
I was also toying with moving the 16 lav channels direct into the board, and moving everything else (3 stage drops, 2 Shure Wireless handhelds, iPod in, etc...) to the digital channels.  Was thinking that might help with getting better sound quality and better gain control of the lav channels.

If it helps, I run my radio-mics, mainly over ears, split between the ADA8200 inputs and direct board inputs. This does not cause any difficulties with sound quality, I often end up with the principals on the ADA's purely for logistical reasons. I've maxed out my inputs with 20 radios plus all the other inputs on more than one occasion.
Brian
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Keith Broughton

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I'd ASSume that the OP has an MY16-AT card, with two ADAT in/out sets-- that would give you 16ch of external preamps, connected to the ADA8000s. Since he only has the one slot on the board, and we know it's going ADAT... pretty sure that's the setup.

-Ray
My error. I was thinking of the back of an LS9 32 which has (I think) 2 card slots  :-[
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John P. Farrell

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are there other reasonably priced units similar to the 8200 that people could recommend?

I was looking at the ART TubeOpto 8, Focusrite OctoPre MkII. Above that price point it might get more challenging to get the funds.

For the $ the ADA8200 are hard to beat.  If you can deal with the name, paint job and front panel inputs I'd say they're impossible to beat!

That being said, when I was using lightpipe in and external pres to add channels to Yamaha desks regularly I bought several Focusrite MKII Dynamic pres and absolutely loved them.  Still affordable but much better S/N as well as a comp BEFORE the AD stage.  Not a great comp for musicality, but pretty cool as a limiter so you don't turn your 0s and 1s into 2s when someone unexpectedly starts screaming into a HH that has been gained up for QA or something similar. 

I don't think the ART would warrant the price difference in my book.  And the reality is that they will all work just fine, especially through the desk you have.

-JF
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Thomas Lamb

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I run sound at the school where I teach.  A few years ago we added a set of 16 wireless Shure lavs to our setup.  They are hooked up to the Yamaha LS9-16 with digital cables from two Behringer ADA8000's.  Has worked fine, although I've felt like the sound quality from the preamps may not be that great.

One of the 8000's is shot (most likely from custodians and other staff leaving the whole system on for long periods of time unnecessarily when I didn't know and the unit overheating).  I have to replace it to get the 2nd bank of 8 lavs working again, but I'm wondering if there is a better unit I could buy?

The 8200 is affordable and supposedly overheats less frequently (and I'm going to remind people to turn it all off when not in use), and apparently has better preamps, but I'm wondering are there other reasonably priced units similar to the 8200 that people could recommend?

I was looking at the ART TubeOpto 8, Focusrite OctoPre MkII. Above that price point it might get more challenging to get the funds.

The Presonus Digimax is a few more dollars but has worked well for me in several very similar situations with the LS9 over the years.
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bigTlamb

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George Dougherty

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The Presonus Digimax is a few more dollars but has worked well for me in several very similar situations with the LS9 over the years.

It may not be needed, but an advantage of the ADA8200 over price competitive Presonus units would be the additional 16 XLR outs it nets you.
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