Main XLR outs not working

[dholbrookParticipant]

Was running 1.90 firmware. Upgrade to 1.95 and the main xlr outputs stopped working correctly. Left is dead completely, right has a high pitched squeal but still passes audio. Repatched cables to “alt” outs and assigned main to alt and we were up and running. Tried 1.94 and still no luck.

Thoughts? There’s a chance that the xlr issue isn’t related to firmware I guess. We didn’t try a full reset of the board because I wasn’t sure if I would lose our scenes. (Got a different issue that I’ll post separate)

[SteffenRParticipant]

safe a show to a USB stick to backup your scenes

[mjjohnParticipant]

My Left output also has this problem although mine works, signal strength is about 9db lower than the right XLR Main output. My just randomly appeared, did not fix after full reset or an update either. I have posted about this a while ago.

[Mike CParticipant]

My Left output also has this problem although mine works, signal strength is about 9db lower than the right XLR Main output. My just randomly appeared, did not fix after full reset or an update either. I have posted about this a while ago.

Have you tried routing the L R outputs to the Alt Out to see if the Left Alt Out has the same problem? Does the output meter show the difference? Do you hear the level
difference with headphones plugged into the headphone out?

You may just have a dead leg on the balanced output driver on the main Left XLR out. If your into some trouble shooting try this. First put some pink noise through the mixer then with a couple clip leads or making up a xlr cable to goes from the XLR female to bare leads connect pin 1 to a headphone jack sleeve and then take pin 2 and connect to the tip of the head phone jack, your should hear sound on the left headphone, disconnect pin 2 from the tip and connect pin 3 to the tip.
If it’s the balanced output driver either pin 2 or pin 3 will be dead or much lower in level than the other.

[mjjohnParticipant]

ALT output work flawlessly, Meters read the same and headphone output also works normal no problem recording to QU-Drive either. Do you think it might be a bad solder joint at the XLR output? Can i do what you have suggested, with a multi-meter?

[Mike CParticipant]

ALT output work flawlessly, Meters read the same and headphone output also works normal no problem recording to QU-Drive either. Do you think it might be a bad solder joint at the XLR output? Can i do what you have suggested, with a multi-meter?

You could measure the level with a multi-meter set to a low scale AC volts range. An analog multi-meter would actually be better to use. Some digital multi-meters do not
measure AC voltage correctly once your out of the 60hz area frequency range unless you have a true RMS meter. In your case your just looking for basically signal or no signal
that’s why I suggested just using headphones to listen to each side of the output.

It could be a simple broken solder connection where the jack is soldered to the board,
maybe moving the XLR connector around could make it show as intermittent.

I have never opened up any QU mixer so your on your own there, I will say if you have never done that kind of repair I would not make this your first attempt.

This trouble shooting info was just to help you narrow down between a hardware or software issue.

Let us know what you find.

[dholbrookParticipant]

update – we sent it back to the factory for service and it was a board-level issue that they repaired.

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