So, I have the above desk, it must be at least 10 years old and has spent most of its time with a few things plugged into the stereo ins and pretty much one configaration. There must be some XLR ins and pots that have never been used!

So yesterday I actually need to use all 8 of the XLR's and half of them either don't work, or are really crackly.

I am guessing/hoping that it is probably just age, disuse and dust and that a good clean and maybe a bit of soldering would get it all as good as new.
How much will it cost for me to get someone to fault-find and repair it, and is it worth it?

If it isn't worth it, I may just give it a try myself, the worst I can do is break it some more.
And if I am binning it, can anyone recommend a desk with 8-XLR ins, a few stereo ins, and maybe 4 sends? It will mainly be used for the vocalist to be able to mix her vox with music from a PC, a couple of the sends are used for adding outboard FX and a couple of sends go back into the PC for recording.

We need the 8 XLRs for when I need to connect my Edirol UA-101.

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Is thinking about starting a new project

Funny, I've got one of those, probably around the same age too. Mine too has crackly or non-working switches (mainly the bus routing), and the main outs failed some time ago. I doubt it'd be worth paying for anyone to fix it given it's age. At some point I'm at least going to try and clean the switches. Always liked the facilities on it - ie. essentially 8 stereo ins with aux sends (even if some are slightly restricted).

I'd like a replacement but there's nothing out there with similar facilities (apart from Behringer's modern equivalent which I wouldn't touch). Apparently we all need at least 8 'Super-Duper High Def Low Noise XDR(tm)' Mic preamps despite the fact I've one microphone and 3 or 4 synth modules. Anything out there with more than 4 stereo ins with aux sends?

how about this


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Live Sound and Studio Engineer

Being a bit more sensible about cost (lovely tho the Midas digital undoubtedly is), A&H do a Mixwiz variant with loads of stereo inputs, still going to be more expensive then the B however.

Regards, Dan.

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Audiophiles use phono leads because they are unbalanced people!

I'd bin it - it's a nightmare to service those desks: even opening it up and assembling it back together would cost an experienced service technician quite a lot of time. It's just not economical to have it repaired, I'm afraid.

Why not save up for one of those new A&H Zed desks or an A&H MixWizard? Much better consoles in every aspect and not that expensive - you'll get a lot of desk for your dosh.

Cheers,
Frank

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Imagination is more important than knowledge - A. Einstein

I still have one I bought eons ago still works perfectly, your troubles are probably just lack of use and a bit of muck, press all the solo,channel switches,etc. a few times to clean the contacts, sockets too are probably a bit grimey, a squirt of servisol on an old jack plug given a twist or two should clean them.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may07/articles/mackie1642.htm