Mackie Onyx 4880 Live Analog Mixer

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Product Info

A NO-COMPROMISE DESIGN
Priority one for the Onyx 80 Series was to create a live sound console that made absolutely no sacrifice in sonic integrity at any stage of the design. So the Onyx 80 Series engineers started with the highest quality analog components available—from premium op-amps to IC chips costing exponentially more than previous designs. By utilizing semi-discrete eight channel modular circuit boards, the Onyx series combine the flexibility of single PCBs for each channel, with the cost advantages and minimal cabling of large-scale integrated circuit boards.

No corners were cut; Every Subgroup, Left, Right and Center main bus is electronically balanced for an uncompromised signal from input to output. All-new summing bus circuitry was designed from the ground up to maximize master section headroom, while minimizing noise and crosstalk. And most notably, we developed premium Onyx mic preamps and Perkins EQ circuitry specifically for optimum performance within the total Onyx system.

Mackie also went overboard on the "toughness" factor, even by Mackie standards, building the Onyx 80 chassis with beefy aluminum extrusions and steel bulkheads for over-the-top physical protection of the technology inside.

ONYX MIC PREAMPS
Creating the flagship Onyx mic preamps presented a unique challenge. On one hand, Mackie wanted to deliver traits more commonly associated with boutique studio mic preamps: a tight, focused high end, superior ambience retrieval, detailed lower bass octaves, and highly textural midrange—no matter what you plug in. On the other hand, they knew Onyx mic preamps would have to function in the real world of live performance, which often includes high levels of radio frequency and microwave energy, long cable runs and the occasional “hot-patched” cable.

INTERNAL ARCHITECTURE
As important as great mic preamps and musical EQ sections are, they are only part of the reason we can confidently call the Onyx 80 Series a "premium" live sound console. Equally as important, though admittedly less sexy, is the Onyx mixers' proprietary negative-gain architecture and minimized signal path.

For those of us who don't speak electrical engineer, negative-gain architecture means that by running at internal levels of -6dB, Onyx mixers can handle up to four times the number of hot signals of regular mixers before clipping. Minimized signal path, on the other hand, is the reason the Onyx mixers' EQ section is above the Aux assignments - creating a linear signal path from the mic preamp to the EQ, through the Aux sends and on to the channel faders - resulting in a 50% shorter path (and less noise) than many competitors' mixers.

"BUILT-LIKE-A-TANK" CONSTRUCTION
Extreme chassis rigidity is achieved in the Onyx 80 Series from the tough-as-nails modular monocoque design, then reinforced with beefy aluminum extrusions, plus strategically placed steel bulkheads. Then, the console is torture-tested for impact, shock, heat, vibration and humidity—it's even dropped repeatedly from a height of three feet! So a block of onyx stone is gonna flex before an Onyx 80 Series chassis does.