Will Allen & Heath launch a slightly refined SQ series at NAMM 2026? A crossover between the recently launched SQ Rack and Allen & Heath’s Award-Winning Avantis Solo with its cool philosophy, awesome and robust design. Listen to SQ hardcore users what needs updating and refinement. Is the SQ series' lifecycle second to the new QU series? Given its lifecycle since launch, does the SQ series feel a bit old in the tooth.
When the new QU series was launched, an updated rack mixer with the ability to connect a digital stagebox eg. Qu-SB/QU-Pac, was missing. Especially when the CQ series does not have that option and the SQ rack is too similar-ish to the SQ5 in pricing. A digital stagebox with 24 or 32 channels at a reasonable price was also missing and so forth.
Just some product and investment thoughts for the future!
Translation for those that don’t want to have to scroll back and forth to read it all:
Will Allen & Heath launch a slightly refined SQ series at NAMM 2026? A crossover between the recently launched SQ Rack and Allen & Heath’s Award-Winning Avantis Solo with its cool philosophy, awesome and robust design. Listen to SQ hardcore users what needs updating and refinement. Is the SQ series’ lifecycle second to the new QU series? Given its lifecycle since launch, does the SQ series feel a bit old in the tooth.
When the new QU series was launched, an updated rack mixer with the ability to connect a digital stagebox eg. Qu-SB/QU-Pac, was missing. Especially when the CQ series does not have that option and the SQ rack is too similar-ish to the SQ5 in pricing. A digital stagebox with 24 or 32 channels at a reasonable price was also missing and so forth.
Just some product and investment thoughts for the future!
The SQ series seemes like it’s been on the back bunner since it came out. Such a great board, with the smallest stuff keeping from stomping out its competition.
I’m convinced that it’ll be a cold day in heck before they modernize this console. I’m getting ready to sell mine for a Wing. The amount invested in this ecosystem for what you actually get compared to other mixers in this price point is borderline unethical on their part.
“oh but you get 96k” yeah I don’t care. No one can hear that in FOH. Let me send to Matrices from a channel and give us the PSE for the love of all that is holy.
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A&H did just “revamp” the QU lineup, so it is possible they would do it for the SQ series as well. However I have to assume that any major revision would result in a completely new product being released (just like the new QU 5/6/7 models) and wouldn’t simply be a software update for the old models.
I say this because I suspect that A&H is pretty much at the limit of the SQ processing power as it sits today which means any major revision is going to require an entirely new processor.
Given that A&H just spent a lot of resources to design, build and release the SQ Rack, I have to assume this isn’t something they are looking to release anytime soon. It doesn’t make any sense to spend the resources needed to release the SQ Rack if a “new and improved SQ series” was on the horizon. A&H would have just waited and released the SQ Rack as part of the new hardware series.
That’s just my personal opinion as an unaffiliated customer however. I have no idea of any of the internal workings of the company or any technical aspects of these consoles to back up my gut feeling.
EDIT - I’ll add that I don’t think that A&H will release a new product that falls in-between the SQ and Avantis either. The “space” between these two products is too small IMHO and A&H would be better off spending their resources updating the SQ lineup. Now it’s possible that they release a new product that doesn’t hold on to the SQ name, but I think it would be designed to be a SQ replacement rather than a new product that falls between the SQ and Avantis.
Agree on your edit, and I’d add that the timescale for any replacement is a couple of years off. Qu 5/6/7 was released around 11 years after the original series, so perhaps they’d follow a similar path with SQ.