Who's familiar with Alto gear?

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 7:17 pm

I’ve been lurking around these spaces for ages and have found lots of useful information/opinions on all sorts of gear. There is one brand of gear that seems to be almost invisible on the web.

Alto. (http://www.altoproaudio.com/)

Does anyone have any first hand experience with this manufacturer? I must admit that they seem to have slipped below my radar until the last year or so. I’m just a little concerned about the build of the gear and naturally, how it sounds.

I’m in the market for a mixer and they have one of the only units that matches my requirements. Just for the record, I’m looking for a small 4 buss mixer to be used for outside broadcasts and recording of live gigs. All I do is take a feed from the main mix, plug in a couple of crowd mics (phantom powered) and maybe a talent mic for a local announcer. I also have a feed coming back from the studio and that’s about it. Not a lot of channels, but I need the 4 buss to set up mix minus’s to the studio and recording mixes with and without crowd. It's also gotta be light.

I thought that posting in the “Budget Gear” Forum was the best because this gear is as cheap as it gets. I'm just wondering why it's so cheap.

Cheers.

r.

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 7:42 pm

Alto is pretty much in competition with behringer, similar build quality, features, price etc etc etc... Basically, it will do the job for you, but don't expect it to last much outside warranty if it's getting a lot of use and don't expect to be amazed by the sound. As long as you realise you get what you pay for you won't be disappointed with it either.

Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 5:13 pm

That sounds fair enough.

I'm not looking for anything with an "amazing" sound. The specs look good enough on paper - 10Hz - 55KHz (+-3dB), 0.005% THD and a noise floor down below -100dB. Heaps better than FM broadcast. And for broadcast I don't care what the eq is like - it's almost never used.

I must admit, I'm happier throwing one of these little things over my shoulder rather than lugging a Soundcraft into a club. So long as it doesn't die mid-broadcast I'm happy enough.

r.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 2:05 pm

I used an Alto S-16 16 channel mixer for about 8 months...it was decent for what i used it for .. the preamps were clean which is what i was mainly looking for in a mixer at the time...anyhow, have since sold it so i can't tell you how it stood up after a year of use...

Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 3:19 pm

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