Allen & Heath CQ desks

[Woodinblack]

11 minutes ago, LawrenceH said:

I was under the impression that suppliers or manufacturers have a potential obligation for several years, regardless of stated warranty period.

 

Well, it should be fit for purpose for a period that would be reasonable of its type, which probably in this case is at least 3 years.

However, as it is a refurbed unit I am not sure how that plays out

[Al Krow]

42 minutes ago, LawrenceH said:

I was under the impression that suppliers or manufacturers have a potential obligation for several years, regardless of stated warranty period. In any case I would be looking to return this to Allen and Heath or at least have a phone conversation with them about what to do.

 

This is an expensive item to have develop such a serious fault, and likely requires specialist product knowledge that would make it too time consuming for an independent repairer to trace economically. A&H will have a service manual or similar for in-house engineers.

 

Thanks. Unfortunately Allen & Heath don't involve themselves in repairs "please note that all service and repair enquiries will be routed to our distribution partners" and given that it is out of 12 month warranty, I'm going to struggle to get them interested. Maybe a possible angle under the Sale of Goods Act with Andertons, but this was bought as B-stock which they have 3 month return / warranty cover policy, and they will no doubt seek to argue wear & tear? Which I guess ties in with Woody's comment above.

 

Update: I have, however, raised an enquiry with A&H and sent them a clip of the desk spiking with no inputs, which I posted on the previous page of this thread. Will let you all know what they say in response.

 

On 27/01/2026 at 09:06, warwickhunt said:

Not the same noise but we had a proper b4llache dealing with a pulsing 'noise' through our desk.  We thought we pinned it down to the sax players Zoom effects unit (when disconnected)... only to find that if he was plugged in and one of the guitar Helix was unplugged it went off!  Argh. 

 

I would very much love to hear from warwickhunt what PSU make and model he is using with his desk?

 

Edited Thursday at 15:37 by Al Krow

[warwickhunt]

47 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

I would very much love to hear from warwickhunt what PSU make and model he is using with his desk?

 

 

Fidus label on the power supply

 

[warwickhunt]

[Al Krow]

31 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

 

Thanks - that's the exact same one as I am using for gigs i.e. Fidus 12V 5A 60W centre positive PSU

 

Interesting - was just thinking of getting another Fidus to replace my home use PSU from another Chinese supplier, but this thread is a little worrying about their efficacy:

 

CQ18T POWER SUPPLY DIED - CQ / CQ General Discussions - Allen & Heath Digital Community Forums

 

@LawrenceH did yours come with a supplied PSU?

Edited Thursday at 16:44 by Al Krow

[LawrenceH]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

@LawrenceH did yours come with a supplied PSU?

Mine is the CQ20B which for good or ill has an inbuilt PSU. But I'd be disappointed if A&H don't offer any support for your case, key thing is usually to try and speak to someone directly rather than end up in the email void.

[Phil Starr]

I think any 60W 12V power supply would be ok to try. Obviously it should be DC and one not designed for this purpose might not be as quiet but it would let you test to see if it is the power supply. @Chienmortbb is more up to date than I am on these things so maybe wait for his input before trying that.

 

https://cpc.farnell.com/c/electrical-lighting/batteries-power-supplies/power-supplies/12v-power-supplies/12v-5a-power-supplies

 

Edited yesterday at 17:10 by Phil Starr

[Phil Starr]

On 05/02/2026 at 16:19, Al Krow said:

 

Thanks - that's the exact same one as I am using for gigs i.e. Fidus 12V 5A 60W centre positive PSU

 

Interesting - was just thinking of getting another Fidus to replace my home use PSU from another Chinese supplier, but this thread is a little worrying about their efficacy:

 

CQ18T POWER SUPPLY DIED - CQ / CQ General Discussions - Allen & Heath Digital Community Forums

 

@LawrenceH did yours come with a supplied PSU?

I've just had a read of that discussion and it looks like a reasonably common problem. These power supplies are usually pretty reliable so this is looking like a lack of quality control. They are the same sort of supply we rely on for running laptops and pretty much anything nowadays and the 5.5/2.1 mm plugs are pretty much standard too, though I'd expect better on an £800 mixer. The standard price for these seems to be around £12-13 and it looks like people who have the same problems as you are just buying them with a backup. Looking at them they are all very similar whatever the branding with a suspiciously similar sized case. Sadly it looks like Allen and Heath have cut corners with the power supply and haven't done the quality control, they've just bought them in.

 

In your circumstances I'd just order one up from Farnell or even Amazon and try it. If it works then get a spare just in case. 

[Al Krow]

I've taken up folks' suggestion to raise this with A&H, and they have been supportive so far and allowed me to make a warranty claim with Audio Technica, notwithstanding the fact that it is outside the 12 month warranty period. Very reassuring customer service by them so far!

 

[Al Krow]

8 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

I've just had a read of that discussion and it looks like a reasonably common problem. These power supplies are usually pretty reliable so this is looking like a lack of quality control. They are the same sort of supply we rely on for running laptops and pretty much anything nowadays and the 5.5/2.1 mm plugs are pretty much standard too, though I'd expect better on an £800 mixer. The standard price for these seems to be around £12-13 and it looks like people who have the same problems as you are just buying them with a backup. Looking at them they are all very similar whatever the branding with a suspiciously similar sized case. Sadly it looks like Allen and Heath have cut corners with the power supply and haven't done the quality control, they've just bought them in.

 

In your circumstances I'd just order one up from Farnell or even Amazon and try it. If it works then get a spare just in case. 

 

Thanks Phil - that's reassuring. I have a spare one already which I use at home and have the original one for gigs. I was mainly wanting to rule out the PSUs as being a potential source of these noise spikes.