What I'm seeing overlooked in the discussion of analog infrastructure is the method of routing that up to the control booth from the in-house mix position. Copper can be (relatively) inexpensive, but only if the means exist to route that where you want without much hassle. If no suitable trough/
conduit/pathway exists, it's much easier to have one new CAT5E or *CAT6 cable run than it is to run 64 pairs for mic lines/returns.
If you did go analog and purchased a
snake, make sure it's a fan-to-fan
snake. The previously mentioned Medusa product is box-to-fan, which you'd then need another 48+10 cables to go from the box into your existing mic
line runs and returns. Don't go this route.
If you do need to go through
conduit, a pre-made solution will not work for you and you would need someone to pull the
wire and field-terminate it onto panels. Not a big deal, but don't rule it out as it is a cleaner solution for an install than having a
portable mic
snake permanently routed around their theater.
I would forego the
coax unless you need it. Someone else brings a
console into your space with a
coax or fiber digital transport from their
console to their
stage boxes, they'll be bringing their own snakes. For that matter, they'll be mixing from the in-house mix position. Should you buy a new
console that requires it, you can add it then and
build it into the price of that project at that time.
(* tempting to think you'd be future-proofing by installing CAT6 instead of CAT5E, but be warned that shielded CAT7 is about to be the next big thing, at least for video-over-CATx cable because of the impending move to 4K video)
