Dynacord PowerMate 1600-3 Powered Mixer

• MIC/LINE Input Channels: The XLR microphone input is equipped with an extremely high quality, ultra-low noise, discrete preamp. The +48V phantom power for condenser microphones can be switched in groups of six. Each channel offers a Signal Present and Peak LED for level control. The channel faders are dust-protected and offer not only excellent crosstalk attenuation but also a practice-optimized control characteristic. All potentiometers and faders are high-quality components from ALPS.
• Master: In the Master Section, too, the PowerMate is lavishly equipped. The 11-band stereo equalizer can be routed to the Master channels or else to either or both of the Monitor Sends according to choice.
• DIGITAL USB 2.0 AUDIO INTERFACE: The USB 2.0 port serves as a digital audio interface between the PowerMate and a PC or Mac. Four channels can be transmitted in either direction simultaneously. This interface can therefore be used either for the input of audio signals (e.g. for playback or interval music) or else for live- or studio-recording applications.
• PC-MIDI-Interface: The PowerMate also offers a fully-featured PC MIDI interface. The MIDI input also supports the remote switching of both internal effects units using a master keyboard or MIDI footswitch.
• Professional Effects, OLED Display and Processing Menus: The PowerMate has two integrated stereo multi-effects processors that work independently of one another, each offering 100 effects algorithms optimized for live performance, the most important parameters of which are editable. Linear 24-bit AD/DA converters and 48-bit double-precision processing guarantee the finest studio quality based on state-of-the-art technology. The large, high-contrast OLED display is easily read from a wide range of viewing angles—even in very bright surroundings. The operation of the effects units and processing menus is intuitive and made easier still through the use of soft keys and a rotary encoder.
• Processing Menüs: For the basic settings, configuration, use of the effects and special functions, a wide variety of editing options can be selected from a multitude of menus. Particularly valuable in making it possible to adjust the PowerMate perfectly to the selected loudspeaker cabinets, thereby optimizing the audio performance and maximizing the operating safety and reliability of the system, are the LPN Processing and Speaker Protection menus.
• LPN-Processing: Typical small to medium-sized loudspeaker cabinets, for physical reasons that have nothing to do with their make or quality, exhibit distortion in the transient response of the woofer. Since neither graphic nor parametric equalizers can do anything to alleviate this problem, the PowerMate offers a configurable LPN (low-pass notch) filter. Depending upon the size of the loudspeaker cabinet being used and also to adjust to problematic acoustics (such as those of bassy, boom-ridden rooms), the LPN filter can be set to either High or Medium. The result is considerably greater punch (e.g. from the bass drum), an extension downwards of the frequency response, and improved transparency in the bass and midrange.
• Speaker Protection: This menu allows you to match perfectly the continuous power output of the PowerMate’s power amplifiers to the connected loudspeakers in the interests of greater operational safety and reliability. Through dynamic limiting of the maximum power at the output, loudspeaker damage due to thermal overload can be avoided, without the wide dynamic range of the power amplifiers being sacrificed. Once the maximum permissible power handling of the connected loudspeaker cabinet has been selected from the menu—the actual peak dynamic power handling capacity in audio applications of almost all loudspeaker cabinets is many times this nominal value—the speaker protection supervises permanently the amount of energy being fed to the loudspeakers, only limiting it in the event of a threatened overload, and even then, doing so softly and inaudibly.
• Professional Class-D High-Performance Power Amplifiers: The PowerMate is equipped with a professional, extremely powerful, stereo power amplifier that uses modern and highly efficient Class-D technology. What this means is that at a nominal output of 2 x 1,000 watts RMS into 4 ohms (or 2 x 1,350 watts RMS into 2.7 ohms), comparatively little dissipation is generated within the device, and the power consumption is thereby dramatically reduced—by more than 55% compared with conventional power amplifiers! The minimal load impedance at the output is 2.7 ohms, making operation with up to three 8-ohm loudspeaker cabinets per channel, connected in parallel, possible with no problems.
• The PowerMate is equipped, naturally, with all the protective circuitry familiar from DYNACORD power amplifiers and satisfies even the extreme demands of hard tour use. The power amplifiers are protected against thermal overload, short-circuit, back EMF and no-load operation as well as high-frequencies or DC at the output. Both outputs, here, are supervised independently so that, should a fault occur, only the channel affected is shut down. When the device is powered up, there is a delay before the power outputs are connected, to obviate the risk of noise.
• The thermal stability of the PowerMate is assured by two very quiet fans the speed of which is continuously variable. The front-to-rear airflow allows the device to be used in large or small racks; furthermore, the PowerMate is equipped with a processor-controlled thermo-limiter, so if ever the threat of overheating does arise, the clip limiter intervenes in a highly musical way, acting only upon the peaks. In this way, a total shutdown of the power amplifiers is effectively prevented, as is any obtrusive fall in the overall volume level. The PROTECT and LIMIT LEDs on the front panel indicate the current operating state of the power amplifiers.