Crest Audio X-Rack Mixers

Sidivan

Fractal Fanatic
Does anybody have any experience with Crest Audio mixers? I'm looking at building a monitor rack and while digital is awesomely cool, it's also super crazy expensive. I'm thinking of picking up the X 20RM as it has 12 AUX outs, which would give us each a stereo in-ear mix. Currently, we rely on the FOH guy to send back mixes and we often find ourselves sharing mixes, using wedges, or some combination thereof.

Used, they are about 1/2 this price, but here's a link: Crest X20RM Rack Mixer, 12 Mono x 4 Stereo, 20 Mic Inputs | Full Compass

Edit: I accidentally posted this in the general section instead of the lounge.
 
Last edited:
I have no experience with that mixer but have looked into this before... check out the Allen and Heath mix wizard wz3, cheaper, still pricey. We ended up going with the new mackie digital thingy with the ipad. it has 6 auxes, not everyone gets stereo but not everyone is on ears or "needs" stereo either so it works out.. best part is we can run monitor mixes and foh mix from up to 10 devices wirelessly.. so i can control my monitor mix with an ipod touch or iphone.
 
The Crest is excellent. Very high quality gear.

I'm going through a similar thought process at the moment - the digital route makes a hell of a lot of sense but in the heat of battle having a physical knob for everything can be crucial.
 
I believe the fader will go the way of the 8-track before long. The mackie eliminates the need for a snake, clears out a bunch of room wasted out front where people can sit, and I can turn myself up in a second instead of yelling through the pa for the sound guy to turn up more snare in my mix. Some guys dig knobs, just like valves ;)

We used it this weekend at a private party, and there was a point where the singer said "i need more of your vox in my monitor", I looked out for the soundguy (habit), then immediatly went to my ipad and done. The sound guy was nowhere to be found at that moment, like most sound guys.
 
As a monitor mixer, no physical knobs are needed for me.

As an FOH guy running lavs etc for theatre, I need groups and physical faders so I don't need to be in the right "view" to fix a problem.
 
I discussed it with the guys and as it turns out, everybody WANTS stereo, so if we're spending $1k+ on a mixer, might as well get what works for everybody. I pulled the trigger on a crest board on Ebay after chatting with the seller. Picked it up for $1050 shipped. I'm going to have Vafam make a panel since all of the inputs are on the back. Ordered up a rack and a 15' patch snake from audiopile.net to house everything. The goal is to be able to wheel in our rack, plug everything into that, then the house snake, and be totally seamless to the FOH guy.
 
So, does the Crest board or the Mackie board dpeterson is using have pass throughs for all of the inputs so that the FOH gets a direct feed?
 
The Crest console has a built in passive splitter.
The A&H also has a passive splitter and the in/out panel rotates to give access to the patch.
 
Uh-oh... You just added another piece of gear to my "must-have" list. I had no idea they made mixers with built-in splitters. That's awesome!
 
The Crest console has a built in passive splitter.
The A&H also has a passive splitter and the in/out panel rotates to give access to the patch.

Cool. I have a 4 channel mixer for my old Shure P4M IEM that has pass through inputs. I didn't know you could get mix boards like that.
 
Back
Top Bottom