Mackie PPM1012 no headroom, no power

[konabass]

Recently purchased a new Mackie PPM1012 powered mixer and waited until now to put it to use. (building a house and removed myself from the live music scene... lacked time to play) I setup the unit and plugged in two Mackie C300 speakers via speakon 25' cables. I then plugged first a Shure Beta 58 mic and then a Shure SM58A mic. No matter what adjustments we made, this unit would NOT give enough volume (which is subjective without using SPL meas devices). We set the trim gain to just below clipping and then eased up the channel fader to unity, then eased up the main fader finally stopping at unity. There was no volume to speak of. Adjusting the trim to about 75% produced enough so we could start to hear the mic through the P/A above rehearsal volume (again, subjective assessments here).
I have ransacked the iNet looking for anything regarding my issue with headroom and have only found what appear to be reviews submitted by Mackie or other salespeople...designed to impress the prospective buyer.
Yesterday, I dropped the unit by the local audio guy and asked him to rate the output. He plugged a tuner into a line-in jack and adjusted the trim gain and fader and VOILA!!! this thing produced some respectable volume. We then plugged a mic in and... same thing, NO volume to speak of. After looking at the specs he said, "what do you want. it says '800watts PEAK at 2ohms" reading across it said, "250 watts stereo at 8ohms". His summation was, this is the new Mackie product and they are all junk. "Someone called Loud Technologies took over Mackie and has been lowering the product quality and repair support", he proclaimed.
Has anyone else had the opportunity to use one of these Mackie PPM1012 powered mixers and had the same reflections?

 

[seamonkey]

Assuming you bought on the internet since you're not going back to the store.

Maybe try going into an actual store that carries them and see how they perform there. If the store one works better then you can contact Mackie for warranty service.

Or you can carry it into a music store and tell them you want to try some speakers, but you're really testing the mixer.

 

[EastCoastThump]

He plugged a tuner into a line-in jack and adjusted the trim gain and fader and VOILA!!! this thing produced some respectable volume.

So, as long as you fed the mixer line level input, the unit's 250 watts@8 sounded to you like enough volume for your rehearsals? Doesn't sound like the problem is the amplifier.

"250 watts stereo at 8ohms". His summation was, this is the new Mackie product and they are all junk.

It doesn't really logically follow, of course, that b/c Mackie puts out a 250 watt per side (@ 8 ohms @1%THD) powered mixer that all their current line is junk. And as a diagnosis, it seems quick to surrender.

A few diagnostic questions:

•Do all the mic channels have low output?

•If you feed channels 1-6 w/ a line-level device, do they all result in sufficient overall output?

•If you use the instrument inputs (7/8), does the rig get reasonably loud?

[You might have one or more bad channels, in which case return it for a refund or warranty replacement.]

•Are the compressor settings off for mic channels 1-6?

[Your mixer apparently has built-in comp on those mic inputs. I don't have any hand-on experience w/ it, but depending on the comp settings, I'd imagine that could be cutting the knees out from your mic gain.]

•Is the break switch disengaged?
•Are the solo switches for other channels disengaged?

[You say your tech ran a line-level from what I'm assuming is a radio tuner into a channel. If the break switch was depressed and your tech ran his test through the tape inputs, then it might make sense that you're struggling for volume out of the mic channels while your tech got rehearsal volume out of the break music input. A solo switch would have a similar effect, but it's unlikely that you'd overlook the solo led, unless it were burned out.]

•Have you tried a different mic cable? [Yeah, I know, but sometimes the obvious thing isn't the first thing we check.]


•How loud is loud (enough)? Is your mixer barely audible, or is it just not keeping up with twin full stacks?

[250 watts/side isn't a ton of power, but in many genres it's plenty to handle a small room--say 50-75 people. If your rehearsals are ear-plug loud, maybe you just have the wrong amp. If otherwise, though, it does sound like something's wrong either with the gear or the settings.]

I'd ask about the amp settings, but if you got loud enough with a line level input, I'd rule out the amp side of your powered mixer as the likely culprit.

 

[konabass]

I have had enough Mackie products in the last 15+ years and still own a truck load of speakers, mixers, power amps,etc to qualify as a commentor. I actually was quoting my audio repair guy who is frustrated with the support he gets from Mackie to perfor his repairs. I bought this PPM1012 in August 2011 and waited until February for Gator to make up its mind to send me a rolling case. As soon as it was in the case I torture-test it with an iPod plugged in for 48 hours (or as much as my wife would let me). Several days ago, we tried the first 5 or so inputs. We also tried 10-12 lines which seem to have appropriate volume. All compressors are off, the break switch is off, the EQ was switched on and off, the L/F switches were off. Virtually all settings were varied on to off. All the mic line jacks tested ok using his tuner signal, but the XLR inputs using both his and my non-phantom powered mics would not perfom well. He suggested I use a mic preamp if I didn't want to get rid of this thing.
Specs for the PPM1012 are: Peak@4ohms= 2x800; avg output@4 ohms=2x400watts,2x500 @ 3% THD, avg output@8 ohms=2x250 1% THD or 2x300 @ 32% THD.
Have you run one of these?