Fostex LR16 for a Cafetorium?

[Ety]

I was asked for recommendations for a sound setup at my town's intermediate school. They currently have speakers and an amp connected to a cd player and a wireless mic. To run a show we usually run XLRs right into the amp then a snake to the back of the house. They want to be able to run sound without needing a complex setup and not have to borrow a board ect.

I went to AES to take a look at what they could get. I found the Fostex LR16 mixer and it looks perfect for the application. You install a stage box backstage then the board is basically just a controller that runs over Cat5, so they wouldn't have to buy a snake. Then if they run a line to the back of the house they would just need to connect one wire and they would be setup. It also has a built in hard drive and can record the mix or each track.

I was wondering how Fostex's products are and if they're is anything that would be better.


LR16 16:4:2 Live Recording Mixer

[museav]

The LR16 may be a good choice but a few questions to ask yourself before settling on it. Do you need multi-track recording? Does it fit your potential needs as far as capabilities and functionality (e.g. are three aux send with one pre, one post and one switchable sufficient for any envisioned growth or might that quickly become limiting)? Is a single unbalanced, stereo input at FOH sufficient? Is having the power button on the rear panel of the main/rack unit a potential problem? Would the run from the main unit to the work surface be less than 160' (think about the actual run length including vertical elements and not simply the direct distance between the two points)? How do you get the inputs to the main/rack unit and would you still need a snake or stage boxes for that?

The reason I suggest asking such questions is that an analog mixer with equal I/O and mixing functionality can be had for under half what the LR16 costs. At the same time, something like the PreSonus StudioLive is not that much more. I also believe there is a less expensive Fostex LM16 mixer only version without the recording functionality that has been introduced in some areas of the world, one has to wonder if it might be coming here.

[renegadeblack]

Something else that I would ask is whether or not a different board can be used with this digital snake. It appears to be that it connects directly to the board. This could be okay, but keep in mind what happens if you want to change something (whether it be an upgrade or the board breaks), you have this proprietary digital snake that can't be used with anything other than their equipment. I also don't know if that's how all digital snakes and boards work, but it's something to be wary of, at least I would be.

[FMEng]

Fostex's thing is breaking price versus feature barriers. They come up with some interesting and worthwhile things. But, in my experience, the products may be less durable or less intuitive to use.

I have to admit the LR16 looks tempting. I haven't seen how this thing is built, but I suspect it might not hold up well in a school environment. They had to cut corners someplace to do some fairly sophisticated stuff for less than $2,000.

With a digital product, one good whack and it's dead. With an analog console, one connector or input channel might get broken, but seldom do they fail completely. An analog console is just a much simpler device inside, and easier to build for durability.

If all you are mixing is a couple of mics and a CD player, a $500 Mackie or Soundcraft (or a multitude of others) will do the job, and you still have a bunch of money left over for cables and other goodies to make set up relatively easy.

[metti]

If quick setup is a priority than I would look at getting a cheaper mixer (possibly a mackie or yamaha) and then using the rest of the money to get a custom snake that perfectly fits your needs made.