Whoa, this community is really educating me and helping me about the technicalities. Thanks a lot guys! Looks like i need to consider that too. as of now, yes we're about to
purchase the X32!
We might not use the full of it for now, but eventually we will. 32 to inputs, good sounding
mixer and 16 auxiliary outs... who doesnt like it? i think a
mixer like that is just so flexible. I guess we'll look for a sound engineer for now to evaluate the place. About taking pictures of our equipment and the area of our church, i will post it as soon as i have it.
For now, if possible can you guys suggest somebody or yourself in my area(Houston) who can help me with this? we badly need a real sound engineer who can setup and train.
So, without taking into consideration factors such as:
-Capacity of the
house
-Budget of the congregation vs. actual operation costs
-talent and composition of talent
-Composition of materials in the
hall in reference to their acoustic properties
-Size and dimensions of the
venue in question
-Orientation of the audience in regards to the talent on
stage
-Application outside of
FOH use for the
system
.... You have determined that you *need* a Behringer x32
console. Pardon me for speaking out of turn, but the "reasons" you give pretty much sound like marketing campaign talking points from Behringer, and not in regards to any assessment to the
venue you are actually going to be using it in. From my professional experience, VERY few houses of worship require a 32
channel console week to week with full digital function, especially since houses of worship operate with volunteer staff who have very little if any education in show production, audio engineering or mastering. You pithily ask "Who doesn't like it" in reference to the
console, being the only component of what you seem to be working towards of a highly complex
system that may be out of your bounds. Well, this audio engineer here sure would not spend thousands on a Behringer without knowing what the full application of the
system will be and the
venue it will be in. Then again, Behringer has a dead reputation in pro audio at best and a joke at worst... but admittedly their sales department and marketing are hard at work trying to convince those not familiar with their blunders of the past otherwise. Many are willing to give them another chance... I'll give them another couple of years before even taking that
road again. But that comes from personal experience and the desire to
build the best
system with the least risk and the most reliability and
ease of use/
ease of repair in the long term. And, that is a professional "opinion". Others disagree, others agree. That's another aspect of designing a
system that makes things very complex. And, to sort out what works for your
venue takes time and a lot of collated data.
But, as many have pressed to try to help you not make any missteps, you haven't even presented data that could help determine if you even NEED a digital board, much less the amount of coverage, speakers,
power or treatment the room may need. Have you factored room treatment in your budget? I would assume not since you keep going on about the shiny audio
console when the room may be a disaster for sound without major treatment work to help it get the most out of whatever
system you put in. How about flexibility for talent coming in? Are you even going to have any other talent than the
house band? What about
power, as in actual 110/220? Have you even determined if you
house wiring is even up to spec for a
system? You may have
ground issues or other clean
power issues that could ruin the install of a good
system due to faulty or inadequate wiring which could sound horrible at best, and be dangerous and possibly deadly at worst.
I'm not trying to be a know it all... far from it! I don't know your qualifications or background and you may be the perfect person for the job setting up their new
system. But there are A LOT of unanswered questions that need to be addressed before one
bit of patch cable is even purchased. For a *true* high end
system, you could be spending anywhere from $500 to $20,000 to get the
venue up to spec acoustically and electrically before you can even get to talking about what kind of gear to use.
There are many well-experienced people on here who are trying to help, and they are all saying the same thing: Brand A or Brand B isn't going to give you an out of the box perfect sound. It simply ins't that easy, and they all would love to save you headache and money. I would listen.