Buying guide

[MitchParticipant]

Hello, I’ll be in charge of a band tour that need 38 inputs.
For the 6 musicien I need 7 mixes (4 IEM and 3 wedges)
After touring with in house console of each venues, i’m thinking of buying a console + stage box.
Working sometime with Dlive make me think that the low latency and the phase alignement of the A&H consoles is a priority.
The musiciens all agree on the “better” sound when giging with A&H Dlive.

Dlive is out of budget for that projet, so plan is SQ5 for portability with stage box.

With the cost of SQ5 + Case + Cat5/50m and the Comp+MB plugins bundles, my options are from low to most expensive :

– AR2412 + AB168 (Total 7429€)
– AR2412 + Slink + DX168 (Total 8084€)
– GX4816 (Total 9176€)
– 3*DX168 + DXHub (Total 11227€)

As I’ll use it in the my home studio (Focusrite Clarett 8Pre + Arturia Audiofuse on ADAT) I don’t want a downgrade in Pre/convertion.

The dream rig we’ll be the last one (Quality of the Dlive Pre/convertion and 3 stage box for better placement (need 2 Cat5 though) but the budget is too high for now.

1) Is the GX4816 as good as the DX168 in studio use ?
2) AR2412 + Slink + DX168 seems more flexible live and in studio, but is the latency differences (48khz and 96khz) can cause problèmes (that the GX4816 will solve ?)
3) Or i’m too concerned and the AR2412 + AB168 (at 48khz) combo will be good enough even in studio compared to my actual Clarett 8Pre ?
4) In live situation having to deal with 2Cat5 cables (option 2 and 4), isn’t that the best way to create problems, most venue work with only 1, and don’t ever look at Spec Sheet ?
5) In studio USB recording of 32 tracks is enough for me, but is it rock solide ? Or do I need Dante ? (I’m using Mac with fast ssd)

I’m happy to hear your expérience of quality vs modularity/convenient both live and in studio with the SQ série and différent stage box from A&H.

[HughParticipant]

Your best sonic quality/value will be the SQ5 & GX4816. With it’s identical D-Live elements the GX4816 offers 48 inputs and 16 out puts all in one expansion stage box. A critical assessment of the sonic resolution and dispersion patterns of the FOH speaker stacks and floor wedges will be very important. Investing serious cash in front end capture gear and processing will be wasted unless the balance of the system delivering your sound is well matched in a linear fashion.
Hugh

[MitchParticipant]

Thanks for your clear answer Hugh.

[Nicola A&HKeymaster]

One point to consider for studio use is how close the GX or DX expanders will be to the recording mics. The DX168 boxes use passive cooling whereas the GX4816 has a fan. While very quiet, condenser microphones in a quiet room will likely pick up some fan noise.

[MitchParticipant]

I found on this forum that the fan of the Sq is not really a problème in studio but i didn’t have think about that the stage box could make noise.
Great point.

[HughParticipant]

Mitch, In all honesty I have never needed to work with more than a dozen channel inputs so my work flow is with a DX32, loaded with primes in the studio and a DX168 for road gigs. All of my 50+ years of experience has been focused on the acoustic Americana genre (mostly Bluegrass) so dealing with drummers and hot backlines have never been a concern for me.
You may be better off with a DX hub port for your SQ5 that will accommodate as many as 4 DX168s. Another possibility would be to deploy a pair of DX168s that would provide 32 inputs on stage. In the event you choose to deploy the desk in the stage area the internal SQ5’s 16 inputs would also be available.
Weighing out all of these options probably will put you back in the GX4816 camp that is realistically a better bargain, if you absolutely have to have 38 stage inputs available. 3 DX168s and a DX hub will place the I/Os much closer to the users, however they will require more than a $5,500. investment. The question is will eliminating the GX4816 potential fan noise be worth the additional investment?
Hugh

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