Mackie Onyx 1640 16-Ch

Product Description
From the Manufacturer
The goal for Mackie's flagship Onyx series of small-format mixers was to bring premium analog sound, expanded features, and streaming FireWire connectivity to both recording and live sound environments. To pull all this off, we started with a team of veteran audio product engineers from the great Pacific Northwest (aka Woodinville, Washington). The Onyx team quickly set out by specifying the highest-quality analog components--from premium op-amps to IC chips costing exponentially more than previous designs. In many cases, we developed components completely from scratch. With Greg Mackie himself steering Onyx mixer layout and design, we took a "real world" approach to the entire process.
ONYX MIC PREAMPS
Because a great mixer starts with great mic preamps, we invested significant R&D efforts into developing our new flagship Onyx mic preamps. These preamps build upon our already-impressive XDR design to meet or surpass expensive esoteric standalone mic pres in terms of fidelity, headroom and transparency--as well as improved radio frequency (RFI) rejection and wider dynamic range.

Developing our flagship Onyx mic preamps presented a unique challenge. On one hand, we wanted to deliver traits more commonly associated with boutique studio mic preamps: a tight, focused high end, superior ambience retrieval, detailed lower bass octaves, and highly textural midrange--no matter what type of microphone was plugged in. On the other hand, we knew Onyx mic preamps would have to function in the real world of mixers, which often includes high levels of radio frequency and microwave energy, long cable runs and the occasional "hot patched" cable.

Solving this paradox, the Onyx mic preamp builds upon our already very impressive XDR mic preamp design (found in our VLZ PRO mixers) and adds custom high-performance IC chips developed specifically for low-noise, high-headroom audio. The end result is a level of accuracy and transparency unsurpassed even in expensive esoteric standalone models--as well as gobs of dynamic range (yes, that's the technical term).

Specifically, the Onyx mic preamp delivers outstanding, verifiable specs like 123dB total dynamic range, --129.5 dBm Equivalent Input Noise, and 0.0007% Total Harmonic Distortion. Onyx mic preamps also address things like input impedance and linearity, maximum input level handling at low gain settings, shielding and grounding effectiveness, overload recovery, and radio frequency interference better than any preamp in Mackie history. And because Onyx mic preamps are designed for use at "real world" gain settings, they'll easily handle anything from 22 dB line level down to microvolt-level signals from a ribbon mic, without adding noise.

But commonly published specifications and technical talk tell only part of the Onyx preamp story. The real test comes when you plug a really good studio condenser mic into an Onyx mixer. Listen to the depth, headroom and immense detail. Then plug that same mic into any other mixer, or even much more expensive stand-alone mic preamps. We think you'll agree the Onyx preamp gives you transparency and fidelity on par with any preamp on the market.

PERKINS EQ CIRCUITRY
When it was time for the Onyx EQ section, we turned to veteran audio engineer Cal Perkins to develop our new Perkins EQ circuitry--a "neo classic" 3- and 4-band design based on classic "British EQ" circuitry from mixing desks of the '60s and '70s. Cal devised a way to give Perkins EQ that sweet "British console" sound, but with greater filter control and minimum phase shift.

LISTENING TO OUR CUSTOMERS
We rounded out the Onyx 1640 feature set by answering some common requests from our compact mixer customers: adding individual 48v phantom power and balanced direct outputs on every channel; a full Auxiliary section with Pre/Post control; and a new Talkback section with a convenient built-in mic. We even developed a "Planet Earth" switching power supply for worldwide use. Read more.

FIREWIRE I/O OPTION CARD
In the category of "Why didn't someone think of this sooner?", we gave the Onyx 1640 an optional FireWire I/O card (sold seperately), which bridges the analog-to-digital gap by providing up to 18 independent channels of high-quality 24-bit/96kHz audio that you can plug right into your FireWire-equipped Mac or PC. And bring a stereo mix back from your computer for monitoring purposes.

Main Features:
Premium 16-channel/4-bus small-format analog mixer
16 new ONYX mic preamps comparable to boutique preamps
New 4-band Perkins EQ with dual sweepable midrange controls provides warm, musical sound
96kHz FireWire option for streaming 18 independent channels of audio to computer with near-zero latency
2 channels of monitoring from computer via FireWire option card
6 Aux Sends w/ Pre/Post & Solo switches
4 stereo line-level Aux Returns
4-bus architecture for flexible sub-grouping of channels
Built-in Talkback section for use w/ internal or external mic
True hardware EQ Bypass
"Planet-Earth" switching power supply for worldwide use
Linear taper 60mm faders with ultra-smooth response on all channels
Balanced direct outs for every channel via DB-25 connections
Selectable Instrument inputs on first two channels-no DI box needed
Rotating I/O pod for desktop or rackmount operation
Product Description
The new FireWire capable Onyx 1220, 1620 and 1640 premium analog mixers come equipped new Onyx mic preamps and our completely new Perkins EQ circuitry.
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