Bigger DX I/O box?

SQ SQ General Discussions
1

Hi,probably been asked many times, is there any chance of a new medium size DX I/O box. Sometimes the DX168 is a bit to small and the GX4816 is too big. I know you can cascade 2 x DX168 together, the size and expense is prohibitive.
A DX2412 would be a very useful size for club bands. I realise there is already the AR2412 48KHz box, trying to keep 96KHz the whole way in the SQ.
thanks

2

I have a 24/8 with my DX12.
Hugh

3

The DX32 would be a possible alternative. But it’s expensive. And it has no cascade mode.

4

Thanks for the comments guys, I do already use a GX4816 for larger shows, I was really hoping A&H may have a DX box in the works.

BTW Hugh, which 24/8 do you mean?

thanks

5

I have a DX32 (8 Prime pres & 8 Prime outs with 16 D-Live M-AINs) not a DX12. Blooming Typo I was in a hurry!
Hugh

6

Thanks Hugh, very nice, I thought you meant the DX32. Cheaper to buy another GX4816, and then some!
Greg

7

You are absolutely correct, A&H apparently is going to maintain tight control over their world class Prime I/Os: thus the $500.+ per channel investment required to deploy Primes via the Digico designed 4K DX32 housing will not be a viable option for most people. We must remember that A&H is the entry level entity in the Digico, Calred, A&H conglomerate: Digico sits at the head of the table and they certainly will protect the elite status they have historically enjoyed. It is clear to me the detailed transparency that primes deliver will be only for those applications that are capable of benefiting from that level of clarity: this pragmatical reality will exclude most commercial music produced in the world today from using Prime I/Os!
Hugh

8

Opps, another typo: should be Calrec, not Calred. The good news is I do not type documents for a living!
Hugh

9

There are several Options for you, but no one is cheap.

The AR2412 does not need the whole depth of a standard 19" Rack. There are some smaller 3U flight cases which could be used (some face-up if you want that). This seems to be the cheapest option you have. But it is only 48 kHz - on the other hand, if you do normal Band Stage Proceessing, that will be “good enough” by far as long as you don’t want dogs in your audience (and if, you need to spend much money for microphones that work at least basically usable beyond 24 kHz).

The DX32 could be configured by your needs but ist much more expensive, but a little more compat than the GX4816. And there is a DX012 for Outputs and DX164-W (for Wall mounts but could be mounted in some Case for sure, too). Both can be combined with the other rackmount-capable boxes.

You could also attach any 3rd Party Dante or AES50 Stagebox using a Dante or AEWS5 Expansion Card in the Mixer that fits your needs. There are some Models that give 24/12 or 32/8 in 3U Rackspace, none of them is really cheap especially with DANTE and a need for 96 kHz Sampling.

You also could use a SQ Rack as a “Stagebox plus” for your SQ. That would also give you some additional mixing capacities for havary situations or monitor mixes but is surely one of the more expensive ways.

I personally think, Splitting with two or three DX168 gives more flexibility on stage since your signal sources will often be spread over the whole stage area, too. So having 2 or 3 stage Boxes to choose helps keeping cables short. And you can choose to daisy-chain them or to use two CAT5 lines from Mixer to Stage which may bring in more security and flexibility.

10

This is an answer to an old thread.
I’m sure Greg is well-informed already.