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Crest Audio XR-20
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Crest Audio XR-20
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« Best submixer ever »

Published on 06/23/20 at 06:39
Value For Money : Excellent
Audience: Advanced Users
- The original version of the XR-20 "XRack", manufactured by Crest, is superior to the latter Peavey owned era model.
- It sums VERY clean.
- It has a pretty good sound. Perhaps Midas Venice 320 league but better low end, more solid and defined.

- Mind that these are OLD now (in 2020) so probably it will have old capacitors.
I had to fully recap mine and it was 4 days x 8 hours work, but the results were brilliant.

- EQ is good, useful. Cool frequency bands, low distortion. Better than Midas equivalent by far.

- The HP filter is very well chosen, it is silent and sounds good.
Everything is pretty good in this mixer really!

The XR20 has a sound very close to a big console. Punchy, great transient, good headroom, great highs, and quite transparent summing.

It is a great submixer for drums. It takes saturation very well without losing low end, and produces clean punchy mixes. Plus it is great also to perform in the studio, layout is great.

The thing is that the designers went for a minimum phase shift between channels, and achieved a good low end integrity. Solid!

I cannot think of other equivalent mixer or even close, and I have tried all classic options (Soundcraft, Midas, Ramsa, Mackies, etc.). This one is the very best! I have it paired with a D&R Dayner (my main console) to handle all my drum duties and some effects, and it kicks ass.

The original model XR20 is the same like current APB DYNASONICS "ProRack". APB was indeed founded by the members of the Crest design group who developed the XR-20. They decided to split and continued developing their concept a APB, adding a variable HPF to what already was a good design.

I spent only 150 euro for my XR20, but then I had to spend another 180 euro in capacitors, plus a LOT of work.

But hey, there is something to going the hard route, right?

Now I have a unique sounding piece that I helped to bring to life in 2020, with audio-grade capacitors in it.