New desk fro school- Yamaha LS9 or A+H QU32

[paulears]

The X32 does seem to be attractive to high end hire companies and people at the bottom. User base is very big and growing steadily, and there is a whole family of the things to choose from. behringer now have a service backup many others would be proud of and with most dealers giving three year warranties - it's a popular device. Mines done a lot of miles, and the nice thing is there are three users I personally know (thanks to Facebook friends) that are in my own area, and this means any of us who did have a problem could simply borrow one. We've all already arranged this, about a year ago - and so far, never been needed.

 

quite a few hire companies swapped out their Yamahas for double the quantity of Behringers, and they're doing well. Very few adverse comments on the net from people who have them, only from the old Behringer bashers - who frankly nobody listens to any longer as the tales are too old.

 

There's a current topic about hiring the P16 monitors and people are reporting plenty in hire stocks.

[sam.spoons]

+1, Actually Behringer themselves offer a three year warrantee so it doesn't matter if he dealer does as well or not. http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

[S&L]

another vote for the x32 AND the Qu.

x32 is more comprehensive and to be honest has a stunning and ever growing array of features (via software updates)

Qu is more streamlined (less versatile) - and probably the perfect console for dry hire.

for a school application, I think you will get on with either and no local professional will turn their nose up at working with either if asked in for a production.

you can hire either local to the OP - I can recommend blackpool suppliers (just up the road from blackburn) to hire both consoles.

If you don't want to hire to try, most qu dealers seem to offer in house hands on opportunities. the x32 isn't as easily available in a shop/dealer setting but I would be happy to stick my x32 in the boot of my car, pop over and give you a guided tour (subject to availability, see back of pack for details)

 

given the environment, I may lean towards the behri with a 3 year warranty though if you buy from a certain german supplier, all products come with a 3 year warranty.

given the budget seems not to be a problem, I would be tempted to get x32+x32 rack+s16 for stageboxes which would also give you a tablet operable back up should the worst happen, while it's away for repair.

[sam.spoons]

I would be tempted to get x32+x32 rack+s16 for stageboxes which would also give you a tablet operable back up should the worst happen, while it's away for repair.

 

That is just what I'm about to do (Rack now, S16 to follow later probably)

 

 

 

[andycat]

Thanks for all the advice chaps!

 

So where within an hour of Preston could I go and see the Behringer, Yamaha and Allen and Heath QU? Are there any dealers/suppliers that have them in stock? Don't mind a day out :-) !

[taylord]

We are in the same boat here! A school currently running a Yamaha MG24/14fx and looking to upgrade to a digital desk with a minimum of 24 ins. I have been looking at the QU-32 for a while now but since reading through these, I am slowly having my head turned by the X32. We have stage boxes installed at various locations around the hall so the QU would suit us better I think with not having to purchase digital stage boxes - I may be wrong though? http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif

[jackgraham]

... We have stage boxes installed at various locations around the hall so the QU would suit us better I think with not having to purchase digital stage boxes - I may be wrong though? http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif

 

There's no need to use the digital stage boxes, there's full analogue IO on the back so will connect to any tails you already have. The digital stuff is a nice add on however for venues without the infrastructure in place.

 

Jack

[MarkPAman]

I've got a Qu myself, but have to admit that in buying for the college, I've ended up recommending one of the X32 series. Exactly what combination is still to be decided - one of smaller versions. with a stage box & some monitor mixers may give better options for what we do.

 

There's no need to use the digital stage boxes, there's full analogue IO on the back so will connect to any tails you already have.

 

Though only the big one has 32 mic preamps - the rest have 16 IIRC (except the core which has none)

[taylord]

So it's straight toss up between the QU-32 & the X32! Decisions!!!http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/huh.gif

[Bobbsy]

Others have gone into the detail but I'll just say that previous bad experiences with Behringer products shouldn't colour your decision on the x32. It's a very different kettle of fish than what they've done before and have gone all out to produce a reliable, nice sounding product...and they succeeded.

 

However, just an old fogey note here...is there a technical reason for your move to digital or is it just a case of "everybody is doing it"? I ask because I've had to train a lot of school-age operators and, while they are quick to grasp digital technology, before they get to that they need a good idea of how signal paths through a mixer work. In my experience, it's easier to train starters about auxes and groups and so on when they can see all the controls at once and how they inter-relate. Once they've got that, then it's easier to get into layers and "virtual auxes" to onboard effects and so on. In the ideal world, I'd have a small, basic analogue board (like a Mix Wizard) to start with and for simple shows, then the digital for bigger stuff.

 

Old fogey note ends.

[andycat]

Others have gone into the detail but I'll just say that previous bad experiences with Behringer products shouldn't colour your decision on the x32. It's a very different kettle of fish than what they've done before and have gone all out to produce a reliable, nice sounding product...and they succeeded.

 

However, just an old fogey note here...is there a technical reason for your move to digital or is it just a case of "everybody is doing it"? I ask because I've had to train a lot of school-age operators and, while they are quick to grasp digital technology, before they get to than they need a good idea of how signal paths through a mixer work. In my experience, it's easier to train starters about auxes and groups and so on when they can see all the controls at once and how they inter-relate. Once they've got that, then it's easier to get into layers and "virtual auxes" to onboard effects and so on. In the ideal world, I'd have a small, basic analogue board (like a Mix Wizard) to start with and for simple shows, then the digital for bigger stuff.

 

Old fogey note ends.

 

We've got a Yamaha 8 channel Analogue desk that I think I might leave for basic stuff, but I think the music tech lot (6th form too here) need some digital experience alongside.

 

We also do some quite big shows (Les Mis this year coming up) with full orchestras/bands so like the idea of everything in one desk..

[ojc123]

We've installed a Soundcraft expression 3. Easy for old codgers like me to transfer and the kids take to it like a duck to water. Lots of flexibility and routing options.

[soundspider]

I've used both the QU-16 and the QU-24 as my first forrays into the digital world, and are not nearly as scary or as difficult to pick up as I was expecting, so I'd definitely give the QU range the thumbs up. No experience of the Behringer X32 to compare with, unfortunately. But yeah, QU series very easy to use, pretty close (as close as I think you'll get these days) to analogue, and sound nice to my ears.

 

HTH

 

Alan.

[andycat]

So, any ideas where I can go and try/look at desks?

[peza2010]

The only reason I went for the qu instead of the x32, was the qu's ability to record multitrack directly to a usb hardrive, rather than via a host computer. Both desks did everything else I needed equally well.