Behringer Powerplay P16M

[Anonymous]

hello again. As I mentioned in a previous post, i said that my church is on a budget. Basically, each musician wants to control what they want to hear on their own. Would the QU24 work or be compatible with Behringer Powerplay P16-M, as well has the Powerplay P16-D?

[Andreas]

I really doubt this is compatible to the dSnake feed of the Qu. Of course you’re free to add a Powerplay P16I and feed 16 inputs from analog, but than you’re pretty fast out of Mix/Matrix/Group outputs…

[Anonymous]

Okay thanks. Could you explain to me the steps of hooking up the Aviom system if that is possible. Would I just need the Aviom A-16D A-Net Distributor coming from the QU24 and then going into Aviom A320’s?

[Andreas]

sorry, no idea. Only saw that the monitor port of an AR2412 is “compatible with Aviom A-16 system”…

[John-S]

I would be willing to bet a dozen donuts Allen & Heath is furiously working on a personal monitor mixer to compete with the P16M. One of the biggest hold backs from people buying a QU is when they consider the price of the IEM mixers. A&H ME-1s are three times the price and the distributor is about five times the price. Many people do not need the features of the ME-1 when coupled to a budget mixer. It just seems if they want to compete with the Behringer ecosystem they have to play in the same budget priced league and make other gear compatible. I would buy some even if I could only utilize the first 16 channels from my digital monitor feed. My GLD80 could assign the 16 most important channels to the monitor snake and make do. I realize the P16Ms are disposable but I can buy spares.

If a new IEM mixer is not in the cards at least let us have an AES50 compatible interface for feeding the monitor bus. Isn’t AES50 an open standard free from royalties? I may be wrong on this but wasn’t it invented by Sony and then made public domain?

Please A&H, I have been banging on this concept for years. Come on already. The prices of the your mixers have dropped twice since I purchased. Now, similar personal monitor mixers to match in P16 price will help sell the rest of the gear in that budget A&H range. Stay in the game please. Help me leverage what I already bought with cheaper IEM mixers.

Thanks for letting me vent.

John

[tylermartin86]

I highly doubt that they are working on something like this. They already have a personal monitor mixer. Its called the Allen and Heath ME-1 and it is capable of 40 channels compared to the 16 channels that the Behringer can do. It is also probably much better quality as Allen and Heath is known for their quality products and Behringer is widely known for awful products. You get what you pay for. This is why I have no problem paying for the ME-1 mixer. If you want the Behringer Powerplay P16-M, you should have bought a Behringer mixer.

There are different ways of doing IEM’s cheaply. You could get a headphone amp (Behringer makes a 4 channel rack mount version) and use the Qu-You app to control the mix. That would set you back as much as the iPod touch (buy used to save money) and the cost of the headphone amp. Much cheaper than even the Behringer personal mixer.

[John-S]

Tyler,

I am familiar with the ME-1 as I own four of them to go with my GLD80. The Ipod/Iphone app is not available for the GLD series or I-Live if I recall.

My IEM mixer request is designed to keep A&H in the game. They chose the price point of the FOH mixers they wanted to compete in. They originally had more expensive digital mixers and now they have cheaper digital mixers. To design a budget priced IEM mixer won’t hake much as they already have a framework with the ME-1s. The R and D had been done on special semiconductors and software.

I will cut to the chase. Using Sweetwater’s web prices. Comparing a system with a 32 ch FOH mixer, six IEM mixers and requisite POE CAT5 distributer, The prices are $9100 -vs- $4590. I have heard the price/quality argument often. But for the difference in price you can buy a lot of spares. Further, in any situation you will use EITHER of these systems you will not be able to hear a difference in the final product I assure you.

I purchased the GLD80 because it did a few tricks I needed to do that no cheaper mixer did. Starting over by selling and repurchasing would now be counterproductive. I assume if they came out with a ME-2 it would be compatible (to a point) with the ME-1s I own. At least able to use the first 16 or so channels of my IEM digital stream.

With respect I ask, please frame your rebuttals to your actual experience or hard $$$ numbers. I prefer not to spend effort belaboring opinions. I guess I am a bit of a curmudgeon set in my ways. But, I’ll respectfully keep banging my drum and hopefully someone in Great Britain shall hear me. Hello over there…

Regards,

John

[Anonymous]

could i go from a Qu24 into the Allen Heath AB168 then into the ME1’s?

[John-S]

Wing, I believe the answer is yes.

John

[John-S]

Wing,
I am not sure if the QU has an Aviom compatibility mode. That is a feature of the GLD80 and maybe the I-live.

John

[tylermartin86]

Wing2015: This should help you:
https://community.allen-heath.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Qu-and-GLD-supported-dsnake-systems.pdf

John: You are correct, the Qu-You app is only for the Qu series. But there is an GLD One mix app that is available for $4.99, and an iLive One mix app that is available for purchase as well. iPads are cheap used as well.

If Allen and Heath was to redesign the ME-1 for 16 channels only, all they would do is limit it to 16 sources. The price wouldn’t be able to come down much as it would be the same hardware, just limited to 16 channels through software. There is no need for them to put the R&D into something that they already have.

With the Behringer 32ch. mixer and Powerplay system, you are limited to 16 channels. What happens if you have an event/show/whatever that wants more. That is why the ME-1 is there. It is fully capable with the entire Qu and GLD systems (meaning it works with every single channel. 40 of the 48 on the GLD, but close enough). You are paying for not only the quality of Allen and Heath, but the functionality of it.

[Anonymous]

QuYou is the budget answer, although it requires iDevices, and a wifi router.

I don’t let musicians with stage monitors do their own mixing though, only those on in ears. I control the sound in the room.
If they want changes then they can ask, and I’ll do them. During setup I’ll grab an iPad and stand next to them.

[Anonymous]

An ME-16 would be fun, but at that range I suspect that Qu-You and a headphone amp is a more appropriate solution.

Personal monitors can be a hindrance rather than a help, particularly with inexperienced musicians*. For many setups there are enough mix outputs to provide monitoring – if you are short by one or two mixes, then get an ME-1 for the drummer and/or keys player – nice static positions, which can be mostly preconfigured. I could even suggest looking at using an ME-1 to provide the loop/foyer/… feeds, which are truly static – allowing the band to all use “the same”.

I *like* the Qu-You option, since you can set each iDevice, lock it to a specific mix and then *continue to help* the user – because I can still edit that mix, whilst they are on it, and I can listen over PAFL. They get ME-1’s and that’s it, they are on their own, the only one with control – certainly not something I want putting out to wedges, and something many musicians will struggle to configure from scratch.

One thing that I have noticed is that there is a quality of in ear mix that musicians *think* they want, and one they will accept if you get above it early enough (basically straight away). That level is much lower, but if you are below it to start then that level drifts up and up, they get fussier and fussier, and concentrate on the in ear mix more than on playing.

* Such as those found in a church – talented, but on the whole not professional.

[John-S]

Bob,

You have made some insightful and valid points. In fact I do assist musicians who IEM via my FOH aux bus. I have made it a policy for those to get the iPad app so we can collaborate on their mix. I also agree the experience level of the user is a huge factor.

I would love the iPhone app for my GLD but A&H is mum about implementation so I assume the answer shall be NO.

I am presently using my GLD in a contemporary church environment. Prophetic of you to say…

John

[Hawk]

I agree that the personal mix solution from A&H is too expensive.

[Author]

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