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[Jack Arnott]

Asking for a friend, no, really!

He works in a theater that mostly has bygone acts. He is putting together more monitor mixes, biamped, and wondered what I thought of the 2x4.
I think the strips for input/output, the outside PSU, and the lack of rack mounting would be off putting, but not a dead breaker if approached right. 
I don't know enough about the quality of the unit to comment more on it, but I have heard some references to high noise. These not necessarily from qualified users.

What would you say to this?

[Roland Clarke]

The big issue has always been that it was unbalanced and consumer levels, though I’ve seen some comments recently about people using a balanced, pro level version, whether this is by mini dsp themselves or a third party fudge I’m not sure.  It has everything it needs to do a good job and it’s considerably cheaper than a lot of the other options.

[Marc Sibilia]

The big issue has always been that it was unbalanced and consumer levels, though I’ve seen some comments recently about people using a balanced, pro level version, whether this is by mini dsp themselves or a third party fudge I’m not sure.  It has everything it needs to do a good job and it’s considerably cheaper than a lot of the other options.

They make a balanced version of the 2x4 in a box with Phoenix connectors for about $25 more that will do 4Vrms (14 dBu) output.  The unbalanced will only do 0.9 Vrms (1.3 dBu).  I have used the unbalanced a bunch but not the balanced.  The unbalanced can be a bit noisy.

[Mark Wilkinson]

Hi Jack, ditto to what the guys said.

I don't have  experience with any of the 2x4s, but I have a lot of experience with openDRCs and Ice amps.
Both of those models have some hiss into the 4594HEs for example, and they both have balanced outputs.

I'm not sure sure it is the DACs in them causing the hiss, because when I use AES inputs on the ice amps (as opposed to their analog in), it's very quiet. Maybe ADC is the bigger problem?? Ice amps sound spectacular on the HE's btw.

I use the openDRCs as digital in and out,.... someday I should try and see how their DACs work using digital in....
As far as reliability, I have 6 minidsp products in all, and they have all been completely reliable over a couple of years...

I think for biamping a bunch of monitors though, where you just need a slew of 1x2's, I'd probably get some multichannel processing amps like the PLDs. Need all the amp channels anyway, and would be a hell of alot cleaner rack.
I can't see miniDSP really having anything to offer, unless the 2x4 balanced is clean enough and the output level works...but hey, for the price it's almost worth a throw away try, huh?

@ Roland, I haven't been able to find any pro-level miniDSP units, so I built one...using 4 openDRC's and a DL-155 digital I/O stagebox.
Gives an 8x8 processor for about $2200 that blows away anything in the marketplace,... Lake, Four Audio, etc, included .. FIR wise at least...
miniDSP really does offer the builder/experimenter some great products IMO

[ProSoundWeb Community]