Mackie Onyx 1640 16-Ch./4-Bus Premium Small-Format Mixer

by Mackie

Product Features

• Premium 16-channel/4-bus small-format analog mixer
• 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

Product Details

• Item Weight: 43 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 44 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0006HJ5B2
• Item model number: Onyx 1640
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,743 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)

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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quality, Headroom, Quiet, October 3, 2008

By 

New England Yankee (Northern New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Mackie Onyx 1640 16-Ch./4-Bus Premium Small-Format Mixer (Electronics)

Look, if you're seriously considering a board of this type in this price range, you don't need a recitation of the specifications in a review. What you are more likely looking for is an opinion. Mine is that you have to rate a board in the right context. You wouldn't compare this to a digital studio board, for example, except to show why the markets are different.

The Onyx series board are basically analog live sound boards enhanced in a number of ways making them more appropriate to: 1) pro use, and they see a LOT of pro use, 2) small studio use, and 3) recording use, live or studio. The channel strips on the 1640 have everything you want 95% of the time. The board has tons of headroom. It's very quiet. The faders and knobs are buttery smooth. The build quality is excellent, inside and out.

Forget "Perkins" this and "Boutique" that in the Mackie propaganda. Go listen to the mic pre-amps - they are clean, neutral, and high-quality. Say what you will about the characteristic sound of certain pre-amps, but in my opinion you want neutral when they're in a board and not outboard gear.

The Firewire card works flawlessly - I've never had a single burp from the thing. It delivers a stereo mix for quick and dirty live recording as well as the individual channels.

It's a 4-bus, 6 send design. Plenty, again, for most uses, and obviously very well-suited to any reasonable portable use. There are lots of good reasons to keep the board in the analog domain, even in the studio, but as that's a religious war, I won't jump in except to say that this is analog well done.

Some things I could do without or done differently. DB-25s for direct outs, for example. The rotating pod feature doesn't do anything for me. At some point, something more than 96k on the Firewire board would be good.

Bottom line is that this is a well-positioned, well-engineered, widely-accepted board that is flexible enough to cover a wide range of activities. Unlike many compromise solutions, this one does most everything very well.