Beachtek DXA-4...Scary ! at DVinfo.net

Dany Nativel · May 9th, 2003, 10:03 PM

Don't look at the following pictures if you don't want to be scared by how the DXA-4 is assembled !

http://www.repaire.net/forums/showth...light=beachtek

It may be good to get an explanation on that !

I hope the MM-1 has a better design.

Peter Jefferson · May 10th, 2003, 12:38 AM

Youre right, that IS scary....

looks like a cheap contraption put together from a RadioShack kit...

Alex Knappenberger · May 10th, 2003, 12:42 AM

Well, what do you expect it to look like inside? It works good, right? So whats the complaint?

Bryan Beasleigh · May 10th, 2003, 01:06 AM

Well put Alex. Hard wired is better to me than printed circuit for a device of this nature. how many people that have criticized this actually work in elctronics?

I own a beach and have no problems. I've also had it apart to see the guts. I've also been tinkering with a soldering iron for around 46 years. With some projects there is absolutely no way to win a beauty contest.

Alex Knappenberger · May 10th, 2003, 01:12 AM

Yeah, i'm not that good with a soldering iron myself. My cousin used one non-stop when he raced RC cars, so he is like a professional at it, I watched him solder some stuff the other day, and I was like "what the heck?" because he did it like 5 times as fast as I could ever do, and it looked much better then I could do, also. Oh well, the stuff I solder doesn't look good, but it works. I'm also not the safest person with one, I had some paper laying near by one time when I was soldering, and I layed it down on it, without a stand, and I totally just forgot about it, and how it can easally catch on fire (duh) and not to long later, it started smoking, and I was like "OH CRAP!!"...yup...

My cousin also has these really nifty wire stripers, I guess he picked them up for like $25, and I've been looking for some ever since I got to try them. Man, they are cool as hell, you just slide them right on the wire, and squeeze, and it strips it, so clean too, no matter what size. You can even just strip the middle of a wire, without having to cut it in half, that impressed me.

Dany Nativel · May 10th, 2003, 01:22 AM

I've heard a lot of good things about the DXA-4. Maybe the price tag is wrong... it should be way cheaper !

For a little bit more there are other solutions like the products from Sound Devices that provide real rugged design, phantom power, low noise pre-amp, headphone amp, limiter, aux monitoring...

I don't work for them but after reading information and feedback on the above units I will probably save more money and buy one of this baby.

NB: it would be great if somebody had ever opened a MM-1 to see how well was done the integration.

Dany

PS: I was just under the impression of a high quality product therefore I was disappointed by the cheap construction.

Peter Jefferson · May 10th, 2003, 01:29 AM

mine was a general comment on the looks...
from what ive heard, teh unit itself does what it says it does.

ive used alot of old analogue synths thru the years and they too are "ugly" inside, the difference back then, is that you can appreciate the workmanship.
As this is also an anlogue design, i wouldnt expect it to look any "better" per se, however one would expect oxygen free seals and solder points and wiring to be a little more robust.

Dont get me wrong, im not dissing it... it does the job cheaper than most.

Ben Lynn · May 10th, 2003, 10:27 AM

It looks solid on the inside. The simpler they keep it, the more trust I put in it. It looks like they used durable components and kudos to beacktek for using soldering points. That way you can make local repairs if you ever need it and save a lot of money. Believe me, a broken solder point is a lot easier to fix than a broken chip.

Ben Lynn

Peter Jefferson · May 10th, 2003, 11:38 AM

"Believe me, a broken solder point is a lot easier to fix than a broken chip."

Ben, i totally agree with you there mate.. LOL :)

I had an old amp go on me, and the PSU was running thru a digital circuitboard.. cost as much to repair than it was to replace ....

Bryan Beasleigh · May 10th, 2003, 12:15 PM

Oxygen free seals, never hear of it, there is great deal of non standard terminology around though.. So far as preventing oxidization of the metals before or during the soldering of a joint , that's what flux does. The options available in cramming that many components into what's only a small utility box are limited.There's also no reason to wrap or tie any of the minute lengths associated with this product.

Now if you want bigger and heavier and more money, well that's another storey. A lot of the old Brit amps and pre amps were well made and a showpiece of internal workmanship (my Quad included) These products were well layed out and built on a spaceous chassis. the Chassis was then slid into the main housing. they were also an arm and two legs to buy.

I've spent more on stereo interconnects than a beach costs and have had no great result from my considerable cash layout. A good solder joint is a good joint, this is not a space capsule .

I think there is far too much unjustified criticism of many products. The result is an excellent product may be stoned for no good reason. This is only a $160 audio device, lets remember that.

"For a little bit more there are other solutions like the products from Sound Devices that provide real rugged design, phantom power, low noise pre-amp, headphone amp, limiter, aux monitoring..." And you"ve had this one apart???

You want extreme quality in a camera mounted audio adapter, then buy a Glen Sound. Go for a Sound Devices or Marenius field mixer if you want but they aren't a camera mounted product and they cost 3 times what a Beach does. Get tangled up and stress the cord a few times, there is a very good reason why they are attached to the camera.

Dany Nativel · May 10th, 2003, 01:09 PM

I don't have the MM-1 yet but I will open it as soon as I get it.

FYI you can get a Sound Devices product (one channel) for less than twice the price of the passive boxes but considering the added features and quality (I hope) the difference is reasonable.

Regarding the camera mounted argument, Beachtek is the only one in fact so why does Studio Pro-BP offer a belt mounted product rather than camera mounted ?

Anyway, Beachtek certainly does the job. Today I wont buy one even if it's a popular unit. Maybe with a better transformer and a cleaner wiring it would make a terrific product.

I don't think the product will be stoned because of this single thread. In order to get a good opinion, most of the DVinfo members will probably perform a quick search on the forum to discover the high popularity and good acceptance of the Beachtek products.

Dany

Bryan Beasleigh · May 10th, 2003, 01:40 PM

Better transformer = high cost which is your choice.

Neater wiring in a small enclosure is difficult. You should try it sometimes. I do wiring in small enclosures amd beleive me if it's tough to make it look good and often unproductive. Neater wiring makes no difference in sound . One common trick is to wrap wire on a pencil so it coild. The gauge of wire and space in the beach is such that there is no room

When you have your mixer mounted on your belt or elsewhere and someone get hooked into it and gives a tug, it could damage the stereo mini input jack on the ca,era. it doesn't take much. Smart money would wrap the cable to the handle with a velcro cable tie.

You've obviously been influenced by what someone wrote on that french language site

Dany Nativel · May 10th, 2003, 08:48 PM

Bryan,

I had a look at the Glen Sound unit and it looks like a robust device.

I would be very interested by having some feedback from users of this adapter (limiter, quality, headphone monitoring level...)

Has anyone used this box on a GL2 ? (mounting ok ?)

I like the concept of getting the power supply from the cam instead of batteries and it's got a limiter too ;)

Thank you
Dany

PS: I don't even ask if somebody opened this one, I'll stay quiet I promise.

Chris Hurd · May 10th, 2003, 09:08 PM

Form follows function. How well does it work, that's what's really important.

Dany Nativel · May 10th, 2003, 10:08 PM

I totally agree on that and to be honest the Beachtek looks nicer with its black paint !

You may probably not buy the Glensound for its look ;) ... so it must perform pretty well !

"When form and function excel ... it's called art !"

Dany

May 9th, 2003, 10:03 PM	#1
Dany Nativel Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Odenton, MD Posts: 106	Beachtek DXA-4...Scary ! Don't look at the following pictures if you don't want to be scared by how the DXA-4 is assembled ! http://www.repaire.net/forums/showth...light=beachtek It may be good to get an explanation on that ! I hope the MM-1 has a better design.

May 10th, 2003, 09:08 PM	#14
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Form follows function. How well does it work, that's what's really important. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

May 10th, 2003, 12:38 AM	#2
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	Youre right, that IS scary.... looks like a cheap contraption put together from a RadioShack kit...

May 10th, 2003, 12:42 AM	#3
Alex Knappenberger High School Student Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Canton, Ohio, USA Posts: 609	Well, what do you expect it to look like inside? It works good, right? So whats the complaint?

May 10th, 2003, 01:06 AM	#4
Bryan Beasleigh Trustee Join Date: May 2002 Location: Barrie, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,922	Well put Alex. Hard wired is better to me than printed circuit for a device of this nature. how many people that have criticized this actually work in elctronics? I own a beach and have no problems. I've also had it apart to see the guts. I've also been tinkering with a soldering iron for around 46 years. With some projects there is absolutely no way to win a beauty contest.

May 10th, 2003, 01:12 AM	#5
Alex Knappenberger High School Student Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Canton, Ohio, USA Posts: 609	Yeah, i'm not that good with a soldering iron myself. My cousin used one non-stop when he raced RC cars, so he is like a professional at it, I watched him solder some stuff the other day, and I was like "what the heck?" because he did it like 5 times as fast as I could ever do, and it looked much better then I could do, also. Oh well, the stuff I solder doesn't look good, but it works. I'm also not the safest person with one, I had some paper laying near by one time when I was soldering, and I layed it down on it, without a stand, and I totally just forgot about it, and how it can easally catch on fire (duh) and not to long later, it started smoking, and I was like "OH CRAP!!"...yup... My cousin also has these really nifty wire stripers, I guess he picked them up for like $25, and I've been looking for some ever since I got to try them. Man, they are cool as hell, you just slide them right on the wire, and squeeze, and it strips it, so clean too, no matter what size. You can even just strip the middle of a wire, without having to cut it in half, that impressed me.

May 10th, 2003, 01:22 AM	#6
Dany Nativel Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Odenton, MD Posts: 106	I've heard a lot of good things about the DXA-4. Maybe the price tag is wrong... it should be way cheaper ! For a little bit more there are other solutions like the products from Sound Devices that provide real rugged design, phantom power, low noise pre-amp, headphone amp, limiter, aux monitoring... I don't work for them but after reading information and feedback on the above units I will probably save more money and buy one of this baby. NB: it would be great if somebody had ever opened a MM-1 to see how well was done the integration. Dany PS: I was just under the impression of a high quality product therefore I was disappointed by the cheap construction.

May 10th, 2003, 01:29 AM	#7
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	mine was a general comment on the looks... from what ive heard, teh unit itself does what it says it does. ive used alot of old analogue synths thru the years and they too are "ugly" inside, the difference back then, is that you can appreciate the workmanship. As this is also an anlogue design, i wouldnt expect it to look any "better" per se, however one would expect oxygen free seals and solder points and wiring to be a little more robust. Dont get me wrong, im not dissing it... it does the job cheaper than most.

May 10th, 2003, 10:27 AM	#8
Ben Lynn Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Bloomington, IL Posts: 636	It looks solid on the inside. The simpler they keep it, the more trust I put in it. It looks like they used durable components and kudos to beacktek for using soldering points. That way you can make local repairs if you ever need it and save a lot of money. Believe me, a broken solder point is a lot easier to fix than a broken chip. Ben Lynn

May 10th, 2003, 11:38 AM	#9
Peter Jefferson Inner Circle Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Aus Posts: 3,884	"Believe me, a broken solder point is a lot easier to fix than a broken chip." Ben, i totally agree with you there mate.. LOL :) I had an old amp go on me, and the PSU was running thru a digital circuitboard.. cost as much to repair than it was to replace ....

May 10th, 2003, 12:15 PM	#10
Bryan Beasleigh Trustee Join Date: May 2002 Location: Barrie, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,922	Oxygen free seals, never hear of it, there is great deal of non standard terminology around though.. So far as preventing oxidization of the metals before or during the soldering of a joint , that's what flux does. The options available in cramming that many components into what's only a small utility box are limited.There's also no reason to wrap or tie any of the minute lengths associated with this product. Now if you want bigger and heavier and more money, well that's another storey. A lot of the old Brit amps and pre amps were well made and a showpiece of internal workmanship (my Quad included) These products were well layed out and built on a spaceous chassis. the Chassis was then slid into the main housing. they were also an arm and two legs to buy. I've spent more on stereo interconnects than a beach costs and have had no great result from my considerable cash layout. A good solder joint is a good joint, this is not a space capsule . I think there is far too much unjustified criticism of many products. The result is an excellent product may be stoned for no good reason. This is only a $160 audio device, lets remember that. "For a little bit more there are other solutions like the products from Sound Devices that provide real rugged design, phantom power, low noise pre-amp, headphone amp, limiter, aux monitoring..." And you"ve had this one apart??? You want extreme quality in a camera mounted audio adapter, then buy a Glen Sound. Go for a Sound Devices or Marenius field mixer if you want but they aren't a camera mounted product and they cost 3 times what a Beach does. Get tangled up and stress the cord a few times, there is a very good reason why they are attached to the camera.

May 10th, 2003, 01:09 PM	#11
Dany Nativel Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Odenton, MD Posts: 106	I don't have the MM-1 yet but I will open it as soon as I get it. FYI you can get a Sound Devices product (one channel) for less than twice the price of the passive boxes but considering the added features and quality (I hope) the difference is reasonable. Regarding the camera mounted argument, Beachtek is the only one in fact so why does Studio Pro-BP offer a belt mounted product rather than camera mounted ? Anyway, Beachtek certainly does the job. Today I wont buy one even if it's a popular unit. Maybe with a better transformer and a cleaner wiring it would make a terrific product. I don't think the product will be stoned because of this single thread. In order to get a good opinion, most of the DVinfo members will probably perform a quick search on the forum to discover the high popularity and good acceptance of the Beachtek products. Dany

May 10th, 2003, 01:40 PM	#12
Bryan Beasleigh Trustee Join Date: May 2002 Location: Barrie, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,922	Better transformer = high cost which is your choice. Neater wiring in a small enclosure is difficult. You should try it sometimes. I do wiring in small enclosures amd beleive me if it's tough to make it look good and often unproductive. Neater wiring makes no difference in sound . One common trick is to wrap wire on a pencil so it coild. The gauge of wire and space in the beach is such that there is no room When you have your mixer mounted on your belt or elsewhere and someone get hooked into it and gives a tug, it could damage the stereo mini input jack on the ca,era. it doesn't take much. Smart money would wrap the cable to the handle with a velcro cable tie. You've obviously been influenced by what someone wrote on that french language site

May 10th, 2003, 08:48 PM	#13
Dany Nativel Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Odenton, MD Posts: 106	Bryan, I had a look at the Glen Sound unit and it looks like a robust device. I would be very interested by having some feedback from users of this adapter (limiter, quality, headphone monitoring level...) Has anyone used this box on a GL2 ? (mounting ok ?) I like the concept of getting the power supply from the cam instead of batteries and it's got a limiter too ;) Thank you Dany PS: I don't even ask if somebody opened this one, I'll stay quiet I promise.

May 10th, 2003, 10:08 PM	#15
Dany Nativel Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Odenton, MD Posts: 106	I totally agree on that and to be honest the Beachtek looks nicer with its black paint ! You may probably not buy the Glensound for its look ;) ... so it must perform pretty well ! "When form and function excel ... it's called art !" Dany