upgrade recommendations?

[NJLX]

I have until tomorrow morning to come up with recommendations for a senior class gift to our school, something for the auditorium. Total cost must be between $1300 and $2500.

my ideas so far:

new followspots
new monitors
wireless mics(to add to the 3 we have, not really necessary)
lights (not really practical, until we get new dimmers)

new sound board(anybody have a recommendation on this?)

 

[erosing]

What do you have already? What would have made productions better during your time? Do you have enough safety equipment? Any cords that should be replaced? Need a new floor?

 

[NJLX]

well, what we need most are new dimmers (35 old analog ones don't do much), but that's well out of our price range.

our sound board is slowly dying (3 of the inputs don't work)

I'll probably include a few safety cables in whatever we end up getting, but other than that no safety equipment we need

maybe some scrollers/other accessories, although we'd have to run DMX to do that, as we don't have any DMX runs from the booth to anywhere

our current inventory has 13 fresnels for downwash, a bunch of ellipsoidals FOH, some parnels FOH for wash, cyc lights, and striplights

some moving heads would be nice, but for the price, not all that useful

 

[Footer]

You could buy a few things to learn on... if you have a "booth" computer, maybe a nice audio interface. I would buy one of these... ENTTEC - Lighting Control,RDM,DMX USB PRO just to have around.

I have a feeling the senior class won't be happy with the "we bought a lot of gel and some gobos thing...", so I won't even mention that. If you want a new sound console on a budget, go with the Yamaha 01V. You can pick it up online for 2400. Its a solid console that will get you into the digital world quick.

So, for 2500 bucks you can get a new lighting console (provided you have a computer) and a new audio console.

 

[NJLX]

we don't have a booth computer, and we just got an express 24/48 3 years ago, so we don't really need a lighting console

yeah, something bigger than scrollers/gobos, etc. would probably be nice, but they'll probably go with whatever i recommend(i'm a senior as well, so i don't get to enjoy any of this stuff )

the yamaha looks good, i'll put that on my list of recommendations

 

[avkid]

The Yamaha looks good, i'll put that on my list of recommendations

Just to clarify, this is the newest version.
01V96VCM | Mixers | Products | Yamaha Pro Audio

 

[highschooltech]

I would have to second the yamaha digital board. Great console learned it in a few hours. (Granted i have factory training on the LS9 and PM5D, but a good board and should last for a while). I also like the LS9 but not sure if it would be right for you or your price.

Edit:
Nevermind about the ls9 i actually costs way more than i thought it did after a quick search.