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[Scott Holtzman]

Yeah I don’t think high end gear is worth it to me I prefer reliability over anything. Which is why I’m getting a tried and tested analog board over a digital. Less to go wrong in my opinion.

This rig will mainly be used by the bands I play in and the rooms we play just don’t justify high end gear. Hard to justify a 10k PA rig for a 600 dollar bar gig. Around my parts most guys are using old Peavey mains and monitors for everything. I’m looking for a step above that but keeping price reasonable (600-700 per box max). I’m slowly building this and making due with what I have now or borrowing/using a bandmates gear too. Trying to do the buy once cry once method just doing it slowly.

The analog board is a complete waste of money.  It has far more parts count than the digital, much fewer monitor abouts and no dynamics.

Digital had been out for 20 years, the bugs are worked out.  I  don''t thing we have heard of a single failure in a small, stage box style digital mixer.  The XR18/12's are the value leaders, the X32 is my favorite.  Fans of the A&H and Soundcraft on here too.

[Stephen Kirby]

On the level of QSC K12 mains the RCF might be on the higher end.  It depends on what's running though them and how loud the stage volume is.

Based on positive comments here I bought a couple of Alto SXM112 powered wedges.  ~$300 each.  After using them a bit, I bought 2 more.  If I was pushing upmarket, the dB Tech or RCF boxes would be the obvious choice, but for $300 the Altos are great small gig vocal monitors.  The have that steep angle that lets you put them right in front of you and hear clearly.  And they have a sort of midrange punch that gets the vocals up over the stage noise in a way out of proportion to their price.  I only use them for vocal or horn wedges.  I understand they have a following with folks using guitar modelers like Kempers and Fractals, but I don't use mine for keyboards or anything full range.  I think you have to at least go to something like a DXR10 for that.  I regularly play in front of both K10 and DXR10 monitors and the Yamahas are much more articulate and easy to hear yourself.  I've brought the Altos to gigs where folks had EV ZLX, and various Mackie things and I can hear my singing though the Alto way over several other larger boxes the same distance away.

[Will Knight]

On the level of QSC K12 mains the RCF might be on the higher end.  It depends on what's running though them and how loud the stage volume is.

Based on positive comments here I bought a couple of Alto SXM112 powered wedges.  ~$300 each.  After using them a bit, I bought 2 more.  If I was pushing upmarket, the dB Tech or RCF boxes would be the obvious choice, but for $300 the Altos are great small gig vocal monitors.  The have that steep angle that lets you put them right in front of you and hear clearly.  And they have a sort of midrange punch that gets the vocals up over the stage noise in a way out of proportion to their price.  I only use them for vocal or horn wedges.  I understand they have a following with folks using guitar modelers like Kempers and Fractals, but I don't use mine for keyboards or anything full range.  I think you have to at least go to something like a DXR10 for that.  I regularly play in front of both K10 and DXR10 monitors and the Yamahas are much more articulate and easy to hear yourself.  I've brought the Altos to gigs where folks had EV ZLX, and various Mackie things and I can hear my singing though the Alto way over several other larger boxes the same distance away.

Steve beat me to it....
+1 for the Altos or DXr.  They both within your budget.

[JustinRamsey]

The analog board is a complete waste of money.  It has far more parts count than the digital, much fewer monitor abouts and no dynamics.

Digital had been out for 20 years, the bugs are worked out.  I  don''t thing we have heard of a single failure in a small, stage box style digital mixer.  The XR18/12's are the value leaders, the X32 is my favorite.  Fans of the A&H and Soundcraft on here too.

I’ve not been impressed with my bandmates QSC touchmix. Played a gig with it over the weekend and when the venue had a power fluctuation the board complete reset itself to the saved mix resulting in a lot of headache. We had a power conditioner but not one of the battery backup ones.

I’ve mixed on the X32 before and I don’t dislike it. I find the effects a little odd but useable. Overall I’m just more comfortable with an analog board for what I do I guess.

[Rick Powell]

Yeah I don’t think high end gear is worth it to me I prefer reliability over anything. Which is why I’m getting a tried and tested analog board over a digital. Less to go wrong in my opinion.

This rig will mainly be used by the bands I play in and the rooms we play just don’t justify high end gear. Hard to justify a 10k PA rig for a 600 dollar bar gig. Around my parts most guys are using old Peavey mains and monitors for everything. I’m looking for a step above that but keeping price reasonable (600-700 per box max). I’m slowly building this and making due with what I have now or borrowing/using a bandmates gear too. Trying to do the buy once cry once method just doing it slowly.

You could just get some more K12s, that way you’d have consistent equipment that could be swapped out as needed and also could serve as an emergency replacement if one of your mains died on a gig.

I built my monitors using B&C coaxial speakers and crossovers, and they sound pretty high end. Have about $500 into them apiece. DIY isn’t for everyone but it worked for me. Do a search for “Smithers wedge” if this sounds appealing to you.

[Robert Healey]

I’ve mixed on the X32 before and I don’t dislike it. I find the effects a little odd but useable. Overall I’m just more comfortable with an analog board for what I do I guess.

If you get a chance check out the A&H QU16. It's a very easy transition from analog and is much more flexible. It's ba

For the original question:

Passive wedge-shaped monitors: EAW VFM series, Renkus CF/CFX121M, and EV TX1122FM are a step up from the bottom of the barrel.

If you are looking at the bottom of the barrel, the Yamaha CM12V works pretty well if you need to go cheap with something that is still reliable.

[Stephen Kirby]

I’ve not been impressed with my bandmates QSC touchmix. Played a gig with it over the weekend and when the venue had a power fluctuation the board complete reset itself to the saved mix resulting in a lot of headache. We had a power conditioner but not one of the battery backup ones.

I’ve mixed on the X32 before and I don’t dislike it. I find the effects a little odd but useable. Overall I’m just more comfortable with an analog board for what I do I guess.

For the rack space size (and a bit less weight) of the MixWiz (I had one) you could get a QU16 or Expression 1.  I find my Expression 2 faster to get around on than the MixWiz or the larger GL that's buried in the garage now.  Sends on fader with one button call up for a given monitor mix is way faster than searching for the right aux send knob in the sea of knobs.  Especially if you're doing the playing while having the mixer on stage next to you thing.  I've worked with a Touch Mix and hated it.  Far too fussy to deal with while playing.  Probably good for simple taking head things where you can sit in a corner and mess with it.  If you're not playing, having a tablet to walk around with is much easier and more effective.  Where I'm providing and not playing, I probably am on the tablet 70% of the time compared to at the work surface.  Like you, I was not comfortable with a touch screen only.  Especially after dealing with the TouchMix someone brought to several gigs.
I don't know what you're spending on the MixWiz.  I sold mine for $350 before the bottom fell out of the market.  I certainly wouldn't spend more than that on one now.  And definitely not a new one if they still make them.  An Expression 1 might be an initial budget buster that would prevent you from buying upscale monitors, but it has full graphic and parametric eq on every send so you could temporarily make the best use out of what you have until saving back up for good ones.  This definitely a case of buy once, cry once.  The next time you're in the middle of a song and have to quickly fix something, you'll thank us.  Even if you don't use all the capabilities, they're there for when you learn how.  But even without that, it will make life easier now.

[Robert Piascik]

The analog board is a complete waste of money.  It has far more parts count than the digital, much fewer monitor abouts and no dynamics.

Digital had been out for 20 years, the bugs are worked out.  I  don''t thing we have heard of a single failure in a small, stage box style digital mixer.  The XR18/12's are the value leaders, the X32 is my favorite.  Fans of the A&H and Soundcraft on here too.

^^^ yep ^^^

I completely agree with Scott here. You say you’re gonna “buy once, cry once” except you want to do it slowly and go for budget monitors and an analog board??? So which is it??
IMO you’re missing the boat if you don’t get a digital board. Get educated on how they work and you will NEVER look back at analog. There are great choices for any budget.

[Steve Garris]

I went from an A&H Mixwiz to a Mackie DL1608 about 6 years ago. On the first night with the Mackie I noticed a huge improvement of the overall sound quality, and my ability to manipulate the sound from each channel improved tenfold. You have a very good parametric EQ on every channel, along with a a very good gate and compressor. There are 6 monitor sends, each with both graphic and parametric EQ, and compression. The effects are far better than my old Mixwiz, and you have 2 effect returns that don't use up your monitor aux's. I could go on and on....

Regarding the wedges, my first thought was the Alto SXM112 mentioned by Stephen. But I also agree with Rick that you'd be better off with more K12's. At the top end, I can recommend the Yamaha DSR112's that have been mentioned. That's what I use for wedges, but if you get them you should move them to your mains, as they are superior to a K12. I work at clubs that use K12's for wedges, and personally that is their best use IMO. I work at a club every week that has K12's as mains, and I'm trying to talk the owner into replacing them with the DSR's.
Another box that I can say sounds good as both wedge and main is the DXR12's that have been mentioned.
Be sure to get pricing on anything above from Mike Pyle on these forums - you'll be surprised at the price (forget Guitar Center).

[JustinRamsey]

Maybe I’m being too hasty in writing off digital boards. I have had a couple negative interactions with them that have soured me somewhat on them. But I’ll admit my training on them was limited to OTJ. Maybe I will look into something like the XR18.

[ProSoundWeb Community]