Behringer MX802A User Manual

User’s Manual

Version 1.1 January 2001

MX802A

ENGLISH

®

EURORACK

www.behringer.com

EURORACK MX802A

SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

CAUTION: To reduce the risk of electric shock, do not remove

the cover (or back). No user serviceable parts inside;
refer servicing to qualified personnel.

WARNING: To reduce the risk of fire or electric shock, do not

expose this appliance to rain or moisture.

This symbol, wherever it appears, alerts
you to the presence of uninsulated
dangerous voltage inside the enclosure

- voltage that may be sufficient to con­stitute a risk of shock.

DET AILED SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS:

All the safety and operation instructions should be read before the appliance is operated.

Retain Instructions:

The safety and operating instructions should be retained for future reference.

Heed Warnings:

All warnings on the appliance and in the operating instructions should be adhered to.

Follow instructions:

All operation and user instructions should be followed.

Water and Moisture:

The appliance should not be used near water (e.g. near a bathtub, washbowl, kitchen sink, laundry tub, in a wet
basement, or near a swimming pool etc.).

Ventilation:

The appliance should be situated so that its location or position does not interfere with its proper ventilation.
For example, the appliance should not be situated on a bed, sofa rug, or similar surface that may block the
ventilation openings, or placed in a built-in installation, such as a bookcase or cabinet that may impede the
flow of air through the ventilation openings.

Heat:

The appliance should be situated away from heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other
appliance (including amplifiers) that produce heat.

Power Source:

The appliance should be connected to a power supply only of the type described in the operating instructions
or as marked on the appliance.

Grounding or Polarization:

Precautions should be taken so that the grounding or polarization means of an appliance is not defeated.

Power-Cord Protection:

Power supply cords should be routed so that they are not likely to be walked on or pinched by items placed
upon or against them, paying particular attention to cords and plugs, convenience receptacles and the point
where they exit from the appliance.

Cleaning:

The appliance should be cleaned only as recommended by the manufacturer.

Non-use Periods:

The power cord of the appliance should be unplugged from the outlet when left unused for a long period of time.

Object and Liquid Entry:

Care should be taken so that objects do not fall and liquids are not spilled into the enclosure through openings.

Damage Requiring Service:

The appliance should be serviced by qualified service personnel when:

- The power supply cord or the plug has been damaged; or

- Objects have fallen, or liquid has been spilled into the appliance; or

- The appliance has been exposed to rain; or

- The appliance does not appear to operate normally or exhibits a marked change in performance; or

- The appliance has been dropped, or the enclosure damaged.

Servicing:

The user should not attempt to service the appliance beyond that is described in the Operating Instructions. A ll
other servicing should be referred to qualified service personnel.

This symbol, wherever it appears, alerts
you to important operating and mainte­nance instructions in the accompanying
literature. Read the manual.

2

EURORACK MX802A

FOREWORD

Dear Customer,
Welcome to the team of EURORACK users and thank you very much for expressing your confidence in

BEHRINGER products by purchasing this unit.
It is one of my most pleasant tasks to write this letter to you, because it is the culmination of many months of

hard work delivered by our engineering team to reach a very ambitious goal: To produce a compact mixer,
which fully satisfies your and our expectations and delivers a superior sound quality, easy operation and
technical specifications. In addition to that the mixer is affordable for almost every musician. The task to design
the EURORACK MX1604A certainly meant a great deal of responsibility, which we assumed by focusing on
you, the discerning user and musician. It also meant a lot of work and night shifts to accomplish this goal. But
it was fun, too. Developing a product usually brings a lot of people together, and what a great feeling it is when
everybody who participated in such a project can be proud of what we’ve achieved.

It is our philosophy to share our joy with you, because you are the most important member of the BEHRINGER
family. With your highly competent suggestions for new products you’ve greatly contributed to shaping our
company and making it successful. In return, we guarantee you uncompromising quality (manufactured under
the ISO9000 certified management system) as well as excellent technical and audio properties at an ex­tremely favorable price. All of this will enable you to fully unfold your creativity without being hampered by
budget constraints.

We are often asked how we can make it to produce such high-grade devices at such unbelievably low prices.
The answer is quite simple: it’s you, our customers! Many satisfied customers means large sales volumes
enabling us to get better conditions of purchase for components, etc. Isn’t it only fair to pass this benefit back
to you? Because we know that your success is our success, too!

I would like to thank all people whose help on “Project EURORACK MX802A” has made it all possible. Every­body has made very personal contributions, starting from the designers of the unit via the many staff members
in my company to you, the user of BEHRINGER products.

My friends, it’s been worth the effort!

Thank you very much,

Uli Behringer

3

EURORACK MX802A

EURORACK

®

Ultra-low noise 8-Channel Ultra-low noise 8-Channel

Ultra-low noise 8-Channel

Ultra-low noise 8-Channel Ultra-low noise 8-Channel

V

4 mono input channels with gold plated XLRs and balanced line inputs

V

Ultra-low noise discrete mic preamps with +48 V phantom power

V 2 stereo input channels with balanced TRS jacks

V 2 additional multifunctional stereo line inputs

V

Extremely high headroom – offering more dynamic range

V

Balanced inputs for highest signal integrity

V

Ultra-musical 3-band EQ on all channels

V

Peak LEDs and switchable low-cut filter on all mono channels

Mic/Line MixerMic/Line Mixer

Mic/Line Mixer

Mic/Line MixerMic/Line Mixer

MX802A

MX802AMX802A

MX802AMX802A

V 2 aux sends per channel for external effects and monitoring

V

Separate main mix, control room and headphone outputs

V

2-Track inputs assignable to main mix, control room / headphone outputs

V

Highly accurate 12 segment bargraph meters

V

High-quality sealed potentiometers

V Rugged design power supply ensures superior signal integrity

V

State-of-the-art 4580 IC’s and high quality components ensure crystal-clear audio performance

and excellent noise figures

V

Rugged construction ensures long life even under the most demanding conditions

V

Manufactured under ISO9000 certified management system

4

EURORACK MX802A

T ABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................6

1.1 Architecture .................................................................................................................................... 6

1.2 Before you begin ............................................................................................................................. 6

1.2.1 PSU (power supply unit) ....................................................................................................... 6

1.2.2 Warranty............................................................................................................................... 7

1.2.3 Packing ................................................................................................................................7

2. MONO INPUT CHANNEL .......................................................................................................7

2.1 Input level setting ............................................................................................................................ 7

2.2 Equalizer......................................................................................................................................... 7

2.3 Aux sends ...................................................................................................................................... 7

2.4 Fading and panning......................................................................................................................... 8

3. STEREO INPUT CHANNEL ...................................................................................................8

3.1 Input level setting ............................................................................................................................ 8

3.2 Equalizer......................................................................................................................................... 8

3.3 Aux sends ...................................................................................................................................... 8

3.4 Volume control and p anning/balancing ............................................................................................ 8

4. MAIN SECTION.......................................................................................................................8

4.1 Aux sends ...................................................................................................................................... 8

4.2 S tereo aux returns........................................................................................................................... 9

4.3 Metering .......................................................................................................................................... 9

4.4 2-track input / main mix output........................................................................................................ 9

4.5 Monitoring ....................................................................................................................................... 9

5. SETTING UP .........................................................................................................................10

5.1 Desk normalization ....................................................................................................................... 10

5.2 Selecting inputs ............................................................................................................................ 10

5.3 Initializing channels for gain setting............................................................................................... 10

5.4 Auditioning a signal and setting up a channel.................................................................................11

5.5 Recording levels .............................................................................................................................11

5.6 Modification....................................................................................................................................11

6. CONNECTIONS....................................................................................................................12

7. APPENDIX .............................................................................................................................13

7.1 Specifications................................................................................................................................13

7. APPENDIX .............................................................................................................................14

7.1 Front & back views........................................................................................................................ 14

7.2 Block diagram............................................................................................................................... 15

7.3 Specifications................................................................................................................................16

8. WARRANTY ...........................................................................................................................17

5

EURORACK MX802A

1. INTRODUCTION

Congratulations. In purchasing our EURORACK MX802A you have acquired a mixer whose small size belies
its incredible versatility and superlative audio performance. Your EURORACK is built to the same outstanding
quality as our top-of-the range console, the BEHRINGER EURODESK MX9000.

We recommend that you experiment with your EURORACK away from the pressures of a recording session or
live concert, in order to get a feel for it. It is a musical instrument. Learn to play it well.

Next to the specifications in the appendix you will find pages with drawings showing the front and rear panels
of your EURORACK. Keep them turned over, lying to the left of the text pages, while studying the manual. All
functions are numbered consistently throughout the manual, whether in the text or on an illustration.

1.1 Architecture

Mono input channels

Channels 1 - 4 are mono, with a choice of balanced mic or l ine inputs. The vintage-style high-current discrete
mic amps are of the same incredible quality as those found on the acclaimed BEHRINGER EURODESK
MX9000, while a large external power supply ensures low noise and superior transient response at all times.

Stereo input channels

A further 4 line inputs are configured as 2 stereo input channels. These are ideal for accepting outputs from
MIDI and other electronic instruments.

Channel outputs

A high-quality rotary potentiometer feeds the main mix via a constant-power channel pan potentiometer.

Aux Send

There are two aux send busses on the MX802A, aux 1 is pre-fader, aux 2 is post-fader (the channel’s volume
control).

Stereo line inputs

There are two line-level stereo aux returns at the top of the output section. They can be used to return stereo
effects or MIDI instruments etc.

In addition, a stereo tape input is provided, which may be routed to the main mix or the control room mix, giving
the MX802A a total of 14 possible inputs during mixing. Channels 1 - 4 on the MX802A have overload LEDs,
while the main mix output has 12-segment bargraph meters.

1.2 Before you begin

1.2.1 PSU (power supply unit)

Any amplifier circuit is limited in its transient response by the available current. Every mixer has numerous line
level operational amplifiers (op-amps) inside. When being driven hard, many desks begin to show signs of
stress due to power supply limitations. Not so with the EURORACK. The sound will always stay clean and
crisp right up to the operating limits of the op-amps themselves, thanks to the generous 20 W external power
supply unit.

 Connect only the provided BEHRINGER power supply unit to the MX802A. Do not connect the

PSU to the EURORACK while the PSU is connected to the mains supply. The correct starting
sequence is: connect mixer and PSU and then connect the PSU to the mains.

 Be sure that there is enough space around the unit for cooling and please do not place the

MX802A on high temperature devices such as power amplifiers etc. to avoid overheating.

When switched on, parts of the desk and the power supply unit will become warm, this is normal
during operation.

6

1. INTRODUCTION