Behringer Powerplay P16-M Personal Mixer Reviews

Compact and very useful for small set-ups

My band has now gone studio-digital, so I had to get one (as in: don't be the only Luddite, not as in: I-gotta-get-me-one-of-these). The effect on my playing, our tightness, my ears, and the poor guy who didn't get one yet has been phenomenal, electric even. Within a couple of days we are in a new performance league. Without exaggeration, the new set-up (1 x P16-I and 4 x P16-M) has transformed the quality of our rehearsals and recording sessions. With good quality noise-blocking headphones, the P16-M allows individual mixing to suit each player's taste and prevents the external reflections bouncing around the studio from masking the purity of the sounds being recorded and played to. Fine adjustment of the instrument channels takes a bit of time, but the effort is worth it. All in all, a nice bit of gear and well worth the investment.

Never had problems with it.

a really good product

So far used it only in a recording studio environment, but I can't think of any reasons not to use this on live performances. Well engineered and I really like that it is powered via ethernet cable which helps to locate the mixer to any spot in a studio without thinking about wheter I have any power outlets in close walls or corners. Totally recommend it!

Headphone amp/mixer

Very versatile and cost efficient headphone amp.

Pros-many features, including bass, treble and mid controls, as well as the ability to use a network cable.

Cons-suggested mounting accessories are quite unusable, as they tend to constantly need tightening and fall off frequently.

Excellent and easy to use

Very intuitive. I hardly read the manual at all (just to get an idea of how the channel linking worked)

I use this with 2 x Apollo 8 on the optical outputs and I have the Console cues routed to 8 channels and the playback groups routed to another 8 channels.

I tested latency and it came in at about 16 samples at 48kz to really very good.

My clients are loving the experience of doing their own thing with their cue mix to get comfortable.

Very good!

Easy to use and straight forward system. P16-M is the perfect tool for the recording studio recording sessions personal monitoring.

THE definitive personal monitoring system

We tried it with iPads directly controlling mix buses, but there's nothing that really compares to the P16-M system.

Up to 16 channels. Each channel completely raw and independent from the mixer settings. EQ on each channel. Pan on each channel so you can separate instruments that clash. EQ over the complete mix. Group linking. Limiter to protect your ears. What else could you possibly want?

As a sound engineer, install these and never spend ANY time anymore adjusting monitor or in-ear mixes. Brilliant.

Don't forget to order the P16-D distribution unit if you want to use power over Ethernet. This means that you don't need to use the power adapter wall warts. And with the adapter cords being only about 1 m / 3 ft, you really don't want to use these adapters.

The P16-M units are not cheap, but worth every penny.

Makes studio monitoring very easy!

We have several of these units in our studio and even take them out on the road to festivals, where they find themselves parked next to the drum fill for instance.

We have even used one as a surrogate on stage monitor station together with an iPad to get a listen wedge for the monitor engineer on a small outdoor gig!

The sound quality is better than you may expect, and is even capable of driving headphones at 400 Ohms impedance, although for drummers we tend to use 32 Ohm cans just to get the headroom and level. The unit is well built and has a feel of being tough enough for life on the road. I have accidentally dropped one once onto a carpeted floor and it survived!

It takes literally 30 seconds to explain to any musician how to use and the stress and time this saves the engineer, especially on a tight studio session has produced a considerably better work flow. Musicians too are appreciative.

Can't speak ill of these.

Your monitor mix controlled by you...P16 powerplay

If you don't get on with your sound engineer, or he gets fed up with you asking for 'more me!!" this is just what you need!

SO MUCH control! just do it all yourself. I link this up with my Sennheiser in ear monitor and I don't need to ask for anything ever again..

Balance your entire band in your mix.. even their eq... fantastic!

Simple, Intuitive and professional sound!

I am very impressed by these monitors. Very simple and intuitive to use and the sound quality is excellent. They do exactly what they are supposed to do and setting up a mix is very quick. I plan to use these live as well as in the studio so it is great that you can just plug these straight into a powered wedge monitor and control your own mix without phones. Brilliant as a back up in case your 'in ears' go down on stage or you can simply use them without phones should you find phones too isolating live. I will definitely be buying more.

P16-M Personal Monitor

I've had this over a year now, so can repot on how it has faired being trucked about the country, and been pretty poorly treated. In short, it's been flawless. It's not that complicated a device - and in my band (A Beach Boy Tribute band) our main monitoring issues is the fact that we have to be able to cope with festival and theatre stages that allow decent separation between us, and other venues who have ridiculously small performance areas forcing us to be far too close to each other. We all play and we all sing, and because of the harmonies we all want very different things in our mixes. In ears for me and the drummer are real life savers - mainly so we can shut out the things that put us off. For me - I want my voice, my bass and the keys. A little of the other voices is all I want. No drums and no guitar! The others need the sound guy to sort their monitors, one at a time, and with the P16, I can dial up what I want so quickly. If, as happens, somebody gets quieter or louder, I can tweak it so quickly. The other handy feature few people seem to mention is that each input to the P16 can be panned left and right - so me and my bass are on the left in my ears and everyone else on the right. The device is simple and just works. The only annoyance isn't really it's fault, but how I'm using it. I have the CAT5 feed to it, but then have left and right returns that go to my in-ear transmitter - three cables is a bit of a pain, but liveable with. I'm about to buy another three. Two of the band have resisted in-ears for ages, but have recently started to use smaller mic stand mounted monitors in an effort to keep stage volume down - they are getting on with these pretty well, so it should now be simple to add more P16s and let them mix their own.

I bought the mic stand mount, but haven't used it, finding it simpler to put the P16 on it's own mic stand. The concept of personal mixing is so much better than relying on somebody to do it for you, and all that up a bit, down a bit which at a distance always causes grief, so I'm a very happy user. 3 more will make my life a lot easier.

I left the 'comfort' category as very good because operation is nice and simple - as I couldn't work out how a mixer has a comfort feature!

Don't forget that you have powering choices - the P16-D which powers them over the CAT5 cable or you can power them individually via the mains PSU supplied - keeping in mind the 2 pin Euro connector. Easy to use an adaptor to UK 13A, and a wrap or two of tape keeps them secure.

An easy product to recommend to people.

So far its all that we hoped for

The concern with a Behringer was always"how long before it breaks down" anyway so far so good. 6 months in and alls well. Maybe thats no very long but I am very pleased with product. Great for live and studio use.