This isn’ t a new question for sure. I’ ve even written about the topic before in the hallowed pages of Worship Musician. But I think we might put the car connection to work here to take a bit of a different swing at answering the console question. I often think about things like“ if Allen & Heath was a car brand, what would it be?” or“ Is SSL more like a Ferrari or a Lamborghini?” I don’ t think my opinions on these random car connections are much help here, but I do think there are similar sorts of core questions that do arise in selecting the‘ best’ car for your family and the‘ best’ console for your church. Let’ s head to the car lot!
CHAMPAGNE TASTES ON A BEER BUDGET? If you have $ 5,000 to buy a car outright you probably won’ t need to search for the closest Mercedes dealership. The downtown used car lot is going to be a much better bet. As simple as this sounds, it helps in the first step for both cars and consoles to get a real-deal accurate take on what your price range is going to be. I’ ve had some really in-depth conversations at trade shows or on social media with interested customers who spend a lot of time and energy asking about the flagship Allen & Heath dLive digital console range before they share their ZED-like analog desk budget range. Of course,
I’ m always happy to chat about anything live sound, it’ s all good. But just as cars can range from a $ 2500‘ just get‘ er done!’ second-hand Buick to a crazy Mercedes AMG SL 63 racer starting at over $ 200,000, mixing console pricing also varies widely.
For some very rough analogies, small analog mixers and used compact digital mixers are
about what you can hope to drive for under $ 1000. There are a ton of cool options for new compact digital mixers in the $ 1000- $ 5000 range. Fancier‘ pro’ mixers start to push $ 10K or so and the sky is the limit depending on the complexity of your particular audio system design. Putting this into car terms, most new compact cars and small trucks( if there is such a thing anymore!) that sell in large quantities are roughly akin to the compact digital mixers like the Allen & Heath CQ and Qu Series, etc. These consoles fill the proverbial parking lot and freeways— very accessible and very much the norm for small and medium-sized( church) families. For everyday sorts of driving in good weather, they’ ll be just fine!
If you need an SUV or to do some off-roading or just want to have some extra oomph, then we’ re starting to look at something that is a bit more specialized. Think A & H SQ Series at this level, much more interconnectivity and‘ pro’ features starting to pop up as options. You could get up the hill and through the stream in the compact car, but you’ d probably wish you had 4X4 and bigger tires. You could mix the Easter gig on a Qu Series, but it will require some extra careful driving and planning your route vs. the SQ. The Qu might get stuck on
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