EXTREMELY TICKED OFF at my Behringer Tube Ultra-Q! (5 Viewers)

[Brett DiMichele]

What the hell...

So my Behringer Tube Ultra-Q arrived this morning...

Last night I completed the cables I needed to hook this
thing up. The Behringer has inputs and outputs for Ballanced
1/4" Phono, Unballanced 1/4" Phono and Ballanced XLR.

I decided to use Unballanced 1/4" Phono Plugs. 2 Mono
Plugs per RCA Patch Cord equals a stereo pair unless I am
completly brain dead right?

The center pin is the hot, the sleeve is the cold the same
goes for the rca barrels so I know I wired it right..

Well I wire it all up and basicaly it lights up... I have
to crank the incomming gain to even get the VU meters to
move a little... And when I enguage one channel of the
parametric EQ it shuts down a speaker.. When I enguage
both channels I get nothing...

So I am listening to it for a while with the eq section
completely shut off just using the tube output... And
it sounded real "smooth" like they were working...

That was untill I go over to my right speaker only to find
out gee.. my Tweeter fried...

Well isn't that freaking peachy!

No wonder the highs were so "smooth" yeah when your down
to one tweeter....

I don't know if there is a fuse for the tweeter or if there
is some sort of thermal breaker built into the XO I am going
to let it sit for a while and then try it again..

Worst case scenario the tweeter is fried, well the speakers
do have a 5 year warranty so getting a new tweeter from AR
won't be an issue..


But why the hell ain't the Behringer working? If I am getting
a Left and Right signal through, then why does it cut out
the speakers when I enguage the parametric EQ and why the
heck is the input level so low...

The manual sure as heck don't tell me much about how to
wire it up other than "get a professional to install this
unit" well gee.... Can I look "professional" up in the
yellow pages? Hey Professional.. HELP!!!

It says something in the manual about a 6Db Cut and I guess
that's on the unballanced side... Maybe I should have used
the XLR's afterall....

But why did the tweeter fry... Just coincidence?

*rips hair out*

[/End Rant Mode]

 

[Aaron_Smith]

I'm a musician and also have a home studio. My experience with Behringer products has not been very good so far; the two I've tried have been of poor quality (both construction and sound quality), and have had some pretty serious issues. I can't speak for their whole product line or this product in particular, but I would encourage you to shop carefully when it comes to their stuff. Other brands that I've had better experiences with are dbx and ART.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Well,

I emailed AR and as usual they got right back to me...

There is no thermal protection in the XO so I pulled both
tweeters and sure enough the VC on my right hand tweeter
is completely fried.. The left hand has also been over
heated and is about ready to go..

They said they will replace them no problem I just need to
ship them down to the parts department in Maryland and they
will ship me out a new pair..

Now all I need to figure out is why...

I wasn't clipping the amp.. Not by any stretch of the
imagination... I am wondering now if the Tube Ultra-Q did
this somehow or if they had been "Going bad" from when I
was using my reciever's amp (it may have been clipping them)

Hurm..

 

[Javier_Huerta]

Brett, FWIW, I own a Behringer UltraCurve.

In order to make it work, I had to upgrade the EEPROM, add the digital input board, make my own RCA to 1/4" cable, and make my coax SPDIF to XLR digital cable, thus voiding my warranty twice and spending around $120 extra.

So far, the thing works nicely... BUT it has a terrible turn-on "pop" which I'm sure can blow up a tweeter in no time.

So now I turn on my eq first and the rest of my system afterwards. But it does make me think Behringer is not quite the best when it comes to quality stuff.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Javier,

The Ultra-Q has a soft start so that thump doesn't occour
and I am not running a digital in so I don't need a digital
Op/Amp.

What was the EEPROM upgrade for? What was on the new PROM?

I thought for sure this would be a simple deal, buy it..
Make the cables... plug in in... woolah...

It doesn't make sense... see if you agree..

There is Channel 1 and Channel 2 on the Ultra-Q this I
equate to Left and Righ since there is no technical left
and right..

The cables I made are regular RCA cables with RCA connectors
on one end.. the center pin is the hot, the barrel is the
cold..

On the other end I soldered on gold 1/4" Mono Plugs the tip
is the hot, the body is the cold..

So why the hell ain't this thing working?

There are 2 banks of knobs and switches each bank is for
one channel. Each channel has a mater toggle to turn the
whole EQ section off.. If I enguage one switch the other
channel cuts off, if I turn both on both channels cut off.

Is this thing defective? Is this was fried my tweeters?

Let me tell you, I KNOW I wired it right.. If this thing
fried my tweeters I am going to take a sledgehammer to it
then personally shove it up Uli Behringers (CENSORED)...

I am no "Professional" but I am no idiot and wiring a pair
of Mono 1/4 Plugs onto a RCA Patch Cord ain't rocket science
and I even verified in the manual you can use mono plugs as
unballanced, "stereo" plugs are Ballanced just like the XLR's
are..


I am LIViD..... HOT.. You name it

I should have known I was expecting too much for $150.00

 

[likestowatch]

Brett, where exactly are you putting this in your signal chain and what are you doing with it? Also, I'm assuming you have the equipment to test your setup for the needed adjustments.

I agree with Aaron_Smith. I'm also a musician and Behringer isn't known for it's quality. Behringer's stuff is entry level for people getting into their first rackmountable music equipment. It's on par with Alesis (not counting the Alesis ADAT stuff).

Oh, yeah, sorry to hear about the ARs.

 

[Paul Stiles]

A long, long time ago in a stereo store far, far away, I bought an amplifier. I took the amp home and hooked it up. Everything worked fine for a few hours. Then I heard a brief sound that sounded like "bleeeeeeep", and then nothing from the amp. The amplifier thought it was an oscillator. It wiped out the tweeters in my speakers. Fortunately, the speakers were made by AR. I replaced the defective amp with another brand. I called up AR and told them what happened. AR sent me new tweeters. I was VERY pleased with AR. I had informed them that it was the amp's fault, but AR replaced the tweeters at no cost to me.
Sounds as though the Behringer Tube Ultra-Q is turning part of your system into an Ultra-oscillator or Ultra-tweeter-cooker. IF you get another Behringer Tube Ultra-Q you may want to disconnect your speakers and hook an 0'scope up to the amp's outputs and veryify that the replacement is not another oscillator.
Paul

 

[ThomasW]

Although not good for traveling musicians; the QC of Behringer products has improved over the last several years. Few people have reported problems when using it for HT use

The only place this unit should be inserted with a receiver is a tape monitor loop or a pre-out.

Many use the wrong jacks with pro gear. On this piece Behringer puts the inputs at the top and the outputs at the bottom. This is different from most hi-fi gear where things are placed side-by-side

Amp clipping is what usually fries tweeters.

Another possibility is that there is some DC offset in the unit. That can kill drivers too.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

This unit is placed exactly where it should be in the signal
chain..

Pre/Pro - Ultra Tube-Q - Power Amp - Speakers

As far as how it is hooked up, the rear pannel is labeled
in and out.. It's hooked up right..

Like I said before I didn't think I was an idiot it seems
fairly idiot proof to anyone who has worked with patch
cords and soldering irons before..

I even went as far as to test the cables after I did the
soldering work with a Ohm Meter to make sure there was no
melt through on the hot conductor from when I was
soldering the sheild/cold side..

I have absolutely no idea why when I try and engauge both
channels of the EQ I get nothing...

And I don't know what fried the tweeters.. The amp is NOT
clipping.. I don't know if it's possible for the Behringer
to clip but the damn thing was never working in the first
place.. Sure the VU meteres moved, the tubes lit up but the
parametric EQ did squat...

And as for do I have the equipment to make use of this?
Well... I don't have a 3 thousand dollar spectrum analyzer
or a similarly priced handheld RTA.. I have a Rat Shack SPL
Meter and I have TrueRTA and I have correction charts...

But I never even got that far...

I am just wondering if I should even chance using this
thing again.... If maybe I should try XLR connectors
instead... I don't know.. I just don't know what caused
this..

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

So why the hell ain't this thing working?

Brett, pro audio uses a hotter signal than home audio. Generally this isn’t a problem if you’re interfacing home equipment with analog pro gear, but apparently it can be a problem with digital pro equipment. For instance, I’ve noted that people who use the Feedback Destroyer typically run their receiver’s sub output much higher than normal. You don’t have this option if you’re using the Ultracurve between a pre-pro and amp. It could be that it isn’t getting enough signal to “jump start” the AD/DA converters.
Of course, this doesn’t explain the thing with the tweeter...
You might try to get brucek’s attention at the Home Theater Guide forum. He’s very knowledgeable about digital equipment.
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Javier_Huerta]

Brett, Wayne beat me to it. When you wired the 1/4" jacks to the RCA connectors you did it right (I did the same thing myself when I ran my UltraCurve in analogue mode). But I began using the digital input on my Ultra-Curve because I needed a 6V signal to drive the equalizer properly, and my equipment could barely put out 2V. The difference existing because of the output mismatch between home / professional equipment.

On the UltraCurve, I can adjust the input level by some internal menu. I could never adjust it properly for 2 volts, though. Can you set up your Ultra-Q internal levels, too?

I had to reprogram my EEPROM because my software version couldn't do Auto-Q, didn't support the digital inputs, and had a couple of undisclosed bugs. Come to think of it, AFAIK, UltraCurves are still being sold with the old software version (1.2).

You can also try e-mailing Behringer - I found their tech support helpful in this respect.

An

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Okay I guess I better clarify some..

The Tube Ultra-Q is nothing like the Ultra Curve there is
no digital input and there is no menu there is nothing
you can change.. It's just a paramtetric EQ and tube
section it's not software driven other than the UTC Ultra
Tube Circuit which is just something that compares the
signal comming in and the signal going through the tubes.

The only thing they talk about in the manual as far as add
on's is the OT-1 Output transformer (?)

It also talks about the 1/4 and XLR being wired in paralell
and how it can make a 6DB adjustment in level between
ballanced and non ballanced.

I emailed Behringer and I am waiting to hear back from
them.

I should also clarify that yes I am using the Pre Outs on
my receiver nothing else..

I can adjust the output of my Pre's through Intellivolume
I can do from 0DB to 12DB boost and the Behringer will do
from 0 to +18 DB Boost and also 18DB cut on the main input
and then there is an adjustable 5DB Boost/Cut per filter

 

[Stephen Dodds]

You could try some of the cheap RCA to 1/4" adaptor plugs that Radio Shack have. I've used them with Behringer gear with no problems. Then you'll know if is your wiring or not.

Steve