Stuart91

Was that meant to be "kidneys" failure, by any chance? I initially pictured her being stroppy to medical staff... Let's face it, we could all do with a good laugh at the moment. The outlook is grim. Interestingly, I still have people getting in contact to book kit for gigs in the coming weeks. Can't fault their optimism but it's hard to see how anything will be going ahead.

Same reason why a lot of bands specify bi-amped wedges on their riders, since it's just not available on cheaper, nastier models, and easy to verify. It doesn't improve the ROI any unfortunately - you still need to make the money back before they fall out of favour.

An RF overload at the receiver can cause a dropout - it's the equivalent of "clipping" the Rx circuit but instead of the distortion you'd get with an audio signal, it just cuts out. If the signal strength meter on the receiver is showing a good level during the dropouts then that's an indication that it's overload rather than lack of signal causing the problem.

I have no direct experience but they don't look promising. I'd take either the LD or the Trantec ahead of it. Have you any idea why you were getting problems with the other systems? Dropouts might be due to clashes with other systems rather than an inherent flaw with the kit. The Trantec in particular is decent quality and not one that I would expect to be inherently troublesome. My own preference is Sennheiser, and when I've been out playing myself, it's most often an elderly G2 system on Channel 70 that I end up using. I can't remember a single dropout, in a variety of hotels and other venues.

I had similar issues with a rack full of Phonic amps. (Low powered models that were handling a distributed system). The symptom was that they wouldn't pass audio when first turned on. It would sometimes take a few attempts before they would make any noise. They definitely hadn't been abused, but there was a heater sitting directly opposite blowing warm, relatively moist air into them. The cheapness of the amps meant that we didn't bother trying to replace components, instead they were replaced with QSC GX3 models, which apparently don't use a relay for their switch-on protection.

ROI of many items in our industry is equally poor, though. What sort of return do you get on lanterns, stage deck, etc.? There aren't many easy cash cows around any more. Yes, there's money in corporate (current virus-related slump notwithstanding) but that comes with different expectations for the cosmetic condition of the kit and the level of service.

My other favourite of late has been the newer Pioneer players that need linked to the mixer with RJ45 leads as well the usual phonos for audio. Of course the person providing hasn't included any leads, and of course it's utterly vital to the performance. More than once we've had to take shells off of our spare Ethercon leads to get it working.

We found that one particular group were unhappy with a year-old model and were adamant that they wanted the latest version. I remember looking at spreadsheets for both and was struggling to see any differences between the two, apart from "MkII" being added to the silkscreen. Some customers will be more relaxed about this than others. The folks giving us bother weren't spending their own money, it was a well-funded council event that they were using as an opportunity to play with the latest toys. The problem is that in a major city there will be other hire outlets available. I often find that customers have come to us for PA, and hired in CDJs and mixer from somewhere else. Those guys don't carry any speaker systems at all, so it works well. If I was trying to eat into their market, my options would be to invest in the latest and greatest, and hope that I can generate the ROI, or offer deep discounts on older kit so they have an incentive to get it from me. Getting everything from one source just means a saving in delivery charges, little else.

I deliberately don't carry CDJs, turntables, or DJ mixers for this reason. It seems like every month there is a new model that becomes the only acceptable option on riders. I've no idea how people generate the return on investment when kit becomes unfashionable so quickly.

I don't think there's many individuals or companies that will find it easy to survive 3 months of close to zero income. Of course, business is booming for the media outlets that are whipping up most of the panic surrounding the outbreak.

It's a real dilemma for manufacturers - if you've got a product ready to launch, with marketing campaign and materials primed, do you hold off for 8 weeks, or just release it anyway?

I've sold and installed a fair amount of the Crown XLi and QSC GX3/5 ranges. For my money, I'd take the Crowns now. For installation purposes the fans are quieter. Whilst I wouldn't say that the GX series is unreliable, we have had a few of them fail. We've not had any of the Crown die yet, but haven't put as many into service. One weakness with the GX seems to be that they are vulnerable if they are powered up whilst there's a high signal level running through them. (We had a couple die that way, although it might be coincidence) I also had a bit of an issue at one installation where GX5 amps were popping breakers on power up. It was to do with low impedance on the incoming mains line, but we have been able to pop the odd breaker elsewhere with the ones in our hire stock. I'm not sure if the XLi is any gentler on the mains supply, but we've not had any problems yet.

Thanks, Kerry - this is a very useful antidote to some of the scaremongering going on in parts of the media. I've already had people wondering if their events are going to be affected - for your typical non-professional (e.g. the people organising local gala days, or dance school teachers etc.) it all seems a bit terrifying.

My experience has been similar to Paul. Well over 100 raw connectors bought and made into cables, and I can't remember a single failure. One thing to bear in mind is that, compared to the originals, they won't put up with as much roughness during the assembly process - I think I wrote a couple off by cross-threading or chewing screw heads. However that won't be an issue if you are buying pre-made cables. Adam Hall are a reputable supplier so I don't doubt that they'd deal with any problems that might emerge, so probably a better bet than random eBay or Amazon Marketplace sellers.

eBay does occasionally offer deals where final value fees are reduced or eliminated. So if your money laundering requirements aren't particularly urgent, you can wait until then. Listing fee is pennies, and then you're only losing PayPal's percentage. This can also sometimes explain the rather "optimistic" Buy It Now listings that seem to appear when these offers run.

Not really "kit", but I've got some flightcases that have been gigging for 15+ years. One in particular (a rack case with mixer space on top) has been through umpteen upgrades, starting with a Spirit Folio desk and going through two iterations of digital console. It's still used on a nearly weekly basis.

I've had bad experiences with one particular brand of double-drop screen. I'm not sure if the problems were specific to this one manufacturer, but it's made me wary of them in general. How far are you needing to drop? One option I've used in the past is a custom screen with additional black fabric above the projection surface. Seems to work pretty well. Get a tab-tensioned model so that the edges don't curl in. There's a limit to how much extra drop you can add, but we've done a 12ft drop above a 6ft high screen in the past without problems.

If they use discharge light sources, could it be an issue with the power factor correction? I've had this happen on branded equipment as well as generic Chinese units. (Some folks I know got some moving washes which had no PFC fitted, the PCB was marked with a position but the components hadn't been fitted in the factory) See if there are any sickly-looking capacitors inside.

Do they need to be Doughty? If not, one equivalent is these. Same 100kg SWL, should be significantly cheaper. If you don't need the full weight capacity, these have a SWL of 30kg. We've used them on single lanterns with very satisfactory results. I'm a dealer for Prolight who distribute them, but they're available from a wide range of outlets.

Yes, I did think it was a bit of a "generic" title for the brand. I might see if I can get a demo from the UK distributors - will report back.

We had some similar machines back in the day. (JEM Sharky if I remember correctly) The thing that annoyed me about the IEC remote arrangement was that if someone plugged the remote into the wrong cable, you could easily find yourself creating a live-neutral short on the mains. Now this is unlikely at the machine itself but if someone was extending the cable the length of a venue it's easy to see how a mistake could occur.

I'm wondering if anyone on the forum has had experience with AVMatrix branded switchers. We're looking for options for an upcoming project and this model ticks a lot of the boxes, at a fairly reasonable price. What's holding me back is that I've not heard of the brand before, or come across any of their products. It looks like it could be a badge applied to generic Chinese products, and whilst that isn't a deal-breaker I'd be keen to hear from anyone who's had direct hands-on experience with them. With a product like this, there's plenty of scope for problems if the specifications listed are "optimistic". On the other hand, it could be a hidden gem just emerging onto the market.

I heard someone refer to this as "a forest of twigs". Range and pickup quality can be quite seriously impaired compared to proper distribution. The other thing budget-wise is to make sure you have an ongoing allocation for replacement headsets. They will break, no matter how careful people try to be with them. Sometimes it's possible to re-terminate the connectors but often the broken mics are a write-off. You don't want to find yourself in the position, a few years down the line, where the school have to approve an emergency £300+ spend to get the radio systems serviceable for an upcoming show.

I can't think of anything that would cause problems with this. As you suggest, it's quite a common setup. If you're wiring XLRs onto a panel, make sure that pin 1 is not tied to the shell. (Same goes for your cables too). That can be a source of some problems, although I've tended to come across it more on the audio side of things than with DMX.

We found a bog-standard flight case, and had some foam pieces made up to size. We build a "batten lasagna" with six battens per layer and foam in between. You need to be careful that the lenses are sitting down onto the foam rather than bumping off each other. This gives us 30 battens in one easily moveable case, and cost very little. 18 months on from building it, we don't have a single breakage.