Behringer DDX 3216 Mixer-no sound

[m2466d]

Hey all, this is my first post but I've readingthrough the threads and this site seems great. I just bought (2nd hand-w/ a leap of faith because I wasn't able to test it, but it did power up and I got it at what seemed to be a very good price) this mixer and I can't get any sound to come through the speakers. I'm testing it with a Shure mic plugged into channel 1 and powered speakers. I don't know if it's a setting problem (no quick start-up section in the manual and it's really hard to read and make sense of-for me at least), or if something's blown. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Mike

[Enzo]

If you remove enough screws, you can lift the top half off the bottom. A problem I have often encountered is a loose cable right in the center. There are a ton of multi-wire cable connecting various boards and subassemblies. But there is one cable coming from about the center of the upper panel down to somewhere on the bottom, and this cable seems to like to pull loose, perhaps just from gravity and vibration. It rarely falls off, just comes off partly.

So open it up and just push all the connectors in firmly.


One other bulletin was that if the system doesnl;t want to fire up, replace C48 in the SMPS (47uf/25v 105deg)

[m2466d]

Enzo, thanks so much for your help. I took the top off but I didn't see any loose cables. Does it mean anything that the mixer powers up and all the lights stay on? I'll put it back together and describe what happens when it powers up better. Thanks again!

[Enzo]

Yours may be fine. The cable I mean is right about the center of the top panel, and it will just be a little cocked at an angle.


If all the peak lights stay lit, something like that, you mean? Look then for a missing power supply voltage. If the op amps run on +/-15v, one of those might be missing.

[jrfrond]

We've seen a couple of hundred of those dreaded, problem-ridden nightmares in this shop. Most of them got scrapped. The bulk of the repairable problems were dead main clock crystals and power supplies. Those are easy to spot, because the unit will not have proper logic functions, if any.

In the cases where there's no audio output, we've seen opamps and ADA converters go bad.

There's a reason that Behringer discontinued these after only one year in production.

[Enzo]

I think just removing the SMPS unit from the chassis, and then putting it back, WITH ALL CONNECTIONS IN THE UNIT CORRECTLY DONE, would be a good test for a guy wanting to be a tech. Very inconvenient things to work in.


Fortunately (?) I am usually comfortable working on SMPS circuits.

And we have had to resolder those large 100 leg ICs on a bunch of units.

[m2466d]

No wonder I got it cheap, right John. I'm going to look at the suggestions you made when I get back in tonight Enzo. I'll let you know what I find out. Thanks guys, I do appreciate your input in this.
Mike

[km6xz]

I've repaired many, at least a hundred myself but I only got involved with the most challenging cases, and only scrapped a few on suggestions from Behringer to use them for warranty parts. I found the unit to be complex but not as bad as its reputation. When seeing a rash of them when they first came out, 14 in one truck load on pallets, I invested the time to make a set of extender cables so every board could be diagnosed properly by running outside the case on the bench. That probably contributed a lot to our success with them, and having proper test instruments and rework equipment for that sort of work.

I got two from a store that had given up on them for my own personal use and after repair they proved to be very good, sounded very good and relatively easy to use. For a while it was the best bang for the buck in digital consoles. The performance measured as good as it sounded. The only problem with discontinued digital gear is support for software bugs stops and Behringer never had much communications between the design team and the rest of Behringer sales, field support or national distributors. I did have a chance to talk with one of the designers when we both were visiting the Germany corporate headquarters and got promises of some test programs to help bench work on them but I never got them. Reverse engineering software is not my desire or expertise but I've done it with some gear where there has been orphaned. It was ALWAYS easier to deal with German than Behringer USA which was basically salesman with no clue or concern about service. Behringer had at the time, about the highest ratio of engineers to general staff of any pro audio company but they had no technically competent person in their biggest market region.
If all the lights are on, check cables and power supply, might the easiest of problem types to track down. When you get it working you will be glad you did when you hear it.

[jrfrond]

Is that you Stan??? It SOUNDS like you, and the line "when we both were visiting the Germany corporate headquarters" I THINK refers to our collective visit there. But hey, I COULD be wrong! Drop me an e-mail if I am correct.

At the heart of it, the DDX3216 is a good product with excellent functionality that basically was poorly-implemented and plagued by QC issues.

I've repaired many, at least a hundred myself but I only got involved with the most challenging cases, and only scrapped a few on suggestions from Behringer to use them for warranty parts. I found the unit to be complex but not as bad as its reputation. When seeing a rash of them when they first came out, 14 in one truck load on pallets, I invested the time to make a set of extender cables so every board could be diagnosed properly by running outside the case on the bench. That probably contributed a lot to our success with them, and having proper test instruments and rework equipment for that sort of work.

I got two from a store that had given up on them for my own personal use and after repair they proved to be very good, sounded very good and relatively easy to use. For a while it was the best bang for the buck in digital consoles. The performance measured as good as it sounded. The only problem with discontinued digital gear is support for software bugs stops and Behringer never had much communications between the design team and the rest of Behringer sales, field support or national distributors. I did have a chance to talk with one of the designers when we both were visiting the Germany corporate headquarters and got promises of some test programs to help bench work on them but I never got them. Reverse engineering software is not my desire or expertise but I've done it with some gear where there has been orphaned. It was ALWAYS easier to deal with German than Behringer USA which was basically salesman with no clue or concern about service. Behringer had at the time, about the highest ratio of engineers to general staff of any pro audio company but they had no technically competent person in their biggest market region.
If all the lights are on, check cables and power supply, might the easiest of problem types to track down. When you get it working you will be glad you did when you hear it.

[km6xz]

Hi John
I was referring to another visit to Behringer Germany, but you have the right Stan....
I sent an email, but over a couple years have send a couple to see how you and Steve are doing. I've been a little isolated here in Russia for 8 years but the best 8 years of my life, even better than the recording decades with so much success. I am just now getting the urge to get back into pro audio as a side business just because I enjoy diagnostics and was pretty darn good at it. I have a pretty good bench set up in my small 1828 apartment and looking for shop space....and parts. With a city of 7,000,000 and more concert halls, opera houses, drama theaters and ballet theaters than anywhere(not to mention hundreds of clubs) it is amazing there is only one repair shop. That is due to the 2 importers of all the pro and musician gear refuse to sell parts. There is no legacy equipment, most here is still under warranty since this only recently has become one of the major markets in the world for pro audio equipment. Now, when something in out of warranty, they buy a new unit.
Talk to you later...
Stan

[m2466d]

Wow, cool you guys touching base again. Sounds like you guys have had an interesting life in music. I'm at a standstill here until I pick up a small "L", I guess you'd call it, screwdriver to get some of the harder to get to screws. I'll keep you updated when I get past this roadblock.

Mike

[Enzo]

I don't recall needing fancy tools, I just remember taking lots of boards off their mounts. Draw pictures or take photos, and mark all the cables so you don't find a mystery when you go to reassemble it. Boards come off to expose boards underneath them, etc.

[Nisse]

DSP-Board...

I've repaired many, at least a hundred myself but I only got involved with the most challenging cases, and only scrapped a few on suggestions from Behringer to use them for warranty parts. I found the unit to be complex but not as bad as its reputation. When seeing a rash of them when they first came out, 14 in one truck load on pallets, I invested the time to make a set of extender cables so every board could be diagnosed properly by running outside the case on the bench. That probably contributed a lot to our success with them, and having proper test instruments and rework equipment for that sort of work.............................

Hi,
A while a go, I bought a DDX3216 from a "joker" in Portugal via e-bay. He wrote that it was working perfectly..... and so it did.... NOOOT!!
Now, a lot more knowledge about the ddx and its defects later, it is working. (thanks to John, among others). There's just one thing left that isn't 100%, and that is the DSP board. On FX1 I can clearly hear a "clicking noise". I can hear the click even on FX2, but it's quite subtile there. FX3 and FX4 are free from click, but they also don't have the "advanced effects" that FX1 and FX2 have. Do you (or anyone reading this) know anything about this problem?
My guess is that one of the memory chip is defect, but I don't know how to get of of those. Of course, the best thing would be if someone could send me another DSP-board....

/Nisse

[candyrush]

hi,

I remember i had this mixer, its not bad at all. But i had to repair it 3 Times. I sold it later on. It might be the price for the low price of this mixer.

[Nisse]

Hi,
Do you mean that you are the guy from Portugal, that I bought this mixer from??