Topic: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6

[rick.lang]

On the question of power to the MixPre-6 II:
The DC Power supplies 5V.  Okay.

The recorder can run from a four battery sled.  The batteries can be 1.5V.  Used serially, the batteries are 6V one time use or about 5V rechargeable.  I have a Li-ion non-rechargeable.

I bought larger Sony L-series batteries so I wouldn’t have to think about batteries on a very long day.  The salesman over the phone suggested the Sound Devices XL-B3 and I ordered two with charger.  The online documentation for the MixPre says you need to mount two of the large batteries.

Today I got them and each battery is 7.4V 7800mAh.   It looks like it will take forever and a day to charge one battery in the puny single battery charger. 

Does anyone know if both batteries are required to be mounted in the MixPre sled for proper operation?

If both are required, just how many hours will these batteries last between charges, 600 hours!?


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[darby]

On the question of power to the MixPre-6 II:
The DC Power supplies 5V.  Okay.

The recorder can run from a four battery sled.  The batteries can be 1.5V.  Used serially, the batteries are 6V one time use or about 5V rechargeable.  I have a Li-ion non-rechargeable.

I bought larger Sony L-series batteries so I wouldn’t have to think about batteries on a very long day.  The salesman over the phone suggested the Sound Devices XL-B3 and I ordered two with charger.  The online documentation for the MixPre says you need to mount two of the large batteries.

Today I got them and each battery is 7.4V 7800mAh.   It looks like it will take forever and a day to charge one battery in the puny single battery charger. 

Does anyone know if both batteries are required to be mounted in the MixPre sled for proper operation?

If both are required, just how many hours will these batteries last between charges, 600 hours!?


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You can run the MixPre with only one L-Mount in the sled... they can be hot-swapped also.
I could easily get 5+ hours running 2 channels P48 on a single L-Mount like the ones you described.
You can buy inexpensive Kastar L-Mounts and chargers on ebay... check them out.
I gave up on L-Mount because of size and weight... good luck!

[rick.lang]

Thanks for the insight.  At least I know they’ll come in handy on a very long day which can happen.


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[rick.lang]

I’ve been charging one new unused battery for 6.5 hours and it’s still showing a solid red on the charger.  How may hours will this require to recharge fully?


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[rick.lang]

Over 9 hours and still a red light on the single battery charger.


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[voltronic]

On the question of power to the MixPre-6 II:
The DC Power supplies 5V.  Okay.

The recorder can run from a four battery sled.  The batteries can be 1.5V.  Used serially, the batteries are 6V one time use or about 5V rechargeable.  I have a Li-ion non-rechargeable.

I bought larger Sony L-series batteries so I wouldn’t have to think about batteries on a very long day.  The salesman over the phone suggested the Sound Devices XL-B3 and I ordered two with charger.  The online documentation for the MixPre says you need to mount two of the large batteries.

Today I got them and each battery is 7.4V 7800mAh.   It looks like it will take forever and a day to charge one battery in the puny single battery charger. 

Does anyone know if both batteries are required to be mounted in the MixPre sled for proper operation?

If both are required, just how many hours will these batteries last between charges, 600 hours!?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You can run the MixPre with only one L-Mount in the sled... they can be hot-swapped also.
I could easily get 5+ hours running 2 channels P48 on a single L-Mount like the ones you described.
You can buy inexpensive Kastar L-Mounts and chargers on ebay... check them out.
I gave up on L-Mount because of size and weight... good luck!

I just bought these batteries for my Zoom F6, because I was wary of using the cheap brands of L-mounts you find on eBay and Amazon.  There are lots of reports of false capacity claims and not holding a charge after a short time period of use.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1373127-REG/dracast_drbk2npf2ch6600_2_x_np_f_6600mah.html/reviews

[jerryfreak]

Over 9 hours and still a red light on the single battery charger.


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does the charger list charging current? some are designed to trickle charge for various reasons

[shijan]

I still use Classic MixPre plugged to R09HR recorder which is ok for my field recording purposes, but 32 bit recording is something that may worth move to new MixPre. Seems i need to read slowly earlier discussion and collect info in my head... I have one main question - did someone test old MixPre preamps plugged to line-in vs new MixPre-3 preamps?

I also want to share some photos of MixPre-3 (first generation) internal components from this source https://fccid.io/2AKLX-739M3/Internal-Photos/Internal-Photos-3297643
I recover some info from PCB photos and found this:
AKM AK5558VN A/D chip https://www.akm.com/global/en/products/audio/audio-adc/ak5558vn/
ZYNQ 7000 SoC FPGA chip https://www.xilinx.com/products/silicon-devices/soc/zynq-7000.html







Looking at those photos i can't understand where are all those well known analogue transformers that amplify microphone signal? Are they change something and amplification is done in completely different way now?
Here is image of older "Classic" MixPre to compare. You can clearly see two large transformers.

[rick.lang]

Jerry, I’m using genuine Sound Devices branded Sony L-series batteries and single charger. The batteries each took about 9 hours to charge first time.  That may not represent reality once I’m using the batteries as they aren’t often going to near depletion.  Tomorrow is my first shoot with those batteries instead of the 4 battery sled.  I could use them for about five hours, but I’m going to use the DC Power adapter indoors when I can.  I’d say maximum 2 hours where I’ll be on the run and outdoors.  I was hoping to have the Sennheisers and the small Line Audio vocal mics in action so need to be cautious until I learn more about the batteries.


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[justme]

The firmware 4.0.1 appears to affect the memory card write performance.
After I was in contact with SD support, did another factory reset and cleared out all previously saved configs.

I actually manage to perform several recordings at max channels and highest bitrate to both my Kingston Canvas React 64GB cards. This card only managed 7 channels (5 ISO + 2 mix down) with firmware 3.0.3. Now it managed 6+2 without any problem. This is great.

On the other hand a Toshiba Exceria N302 64GB card that previously managed 6+2 at 96KHz but failed after 45 minutes on 6+2 at 192KHz, now with firmware 4.0.1 fails in under 5 seconds with 6+2 at 196KHz. It can not even handle 4+2 for more then a few seconds. 2+2 works.
This is actually really good. Failing after seconds if far better than failing after 45 minutes or a couple of hours.

The Integral Memory UltimaPro X Gold 128GB & 256GB or so far the best performers.
Low cost, high speeds and rock solid recordings. Both for audio and video.
A 5 year warranty is decent as well.

[datbrad]

Looking at those photos i can't understand where are all those well known analogue transformers that amplify microphone signal? Are they change something and amplification is done in completely different way now?
Here is image of older "Classic" MixPre to compare. You can clearly see two large transformers.

The 552, 302, MP-1, and MM-1 are the only products they make that still use transformer balanced inputs, everything else has transformerless active balanced inputs. The MP-1 and MM-1 have Lundal input transformers, but I'm not sure about the 302 transformers. Transformers are big, heavy, and power hungry and marketing trends imply transformers are old tech no longer needed. Other than the total galvanic isolation of current between components, the advantages of transformers aren't enough to warrant using them I suppose. Coloration and power requirements likely are the reason they seem to be used less and less in newer designs.

[justme]

Transformers handles saturation from loud signals very well.
But compared with 32-bit float - transformers are ancient.

[shijan]

But is it possible that transformers based systems add some unique character to the sound? As you know better tech is not always better art.  Anyway hope someone somehow will do side by side test.

[morst]

But is it possible that transformers based systems add some unique character to the sound? As you know better tech is not always better art.  Anyway hope someone somehow will do side by side test.

I don't want gear adding character to sound. I am not an artist.

[shijan]

I am also little confused with info form manual:
RECORDING:
MixPre-6ii = 8 Tracks: stereo mix + 6 ISOs
MixPre-3ii = 5 Tracks: stereo mix + 3 ISO’s

So is it possible to adjust MixPre-3 to record 3 mic inputs and aux stereo input same time (5 tracks total)? Or 5 tracks on paper appears 3 tracks in reality?