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[BradPinder]

Hi All,

This is a really broad question, but how long should gear last? If we are talking an SM58, the answer could be forever  ; but just about everything else will have a lifespan and need replacement at some stage. i am wanting to prepare some kind of register for our leadership to indicate when funds may need to be budgeted for replacement of major items (wireless mics, IEMS, speakers etc) rather than using gear until it breaks, then having to scrounge funds for this "unexpected" event. Does anyone have any rules of thumb as to lifespan, or a good way of handling this?

Thanks

[Caleb Dueck]

Hi All,

This is a really broad question, but how long should gear last? If we are talking an SM58, the answer could be forever  ; but just about everything else will have a lifespan and need replacement at some stage. i am wanting to prepare some kind of register for our leadership to indicate when funds may need to be budgeted for replacement of major items (wireless mics, IEMS, speakers etc) rather than using gear until it breaks, then having to scrounge funds for this "unexpected" event. Does anyone have any rules of thumb as to lifespan, or a good way of handling this?

Thanks

Lots of variables.  How high a quality is the current system components, how well designed, how well installed, how well maintained?

Assuming brand new and high quality, rough rules of thumb-

3G-SDI video infrastructure and video switchers, cameras - 10-16 years

Laser projectors - 10-15 years depending on duty cycle.

Flat panel displays - 5-10 years (NEC for example, not Hisense etc)

Lighting fixtures, non mover, LED, Chauvet Pro or similar - 10 ish years

Network infrastructure - 15 years

Speakers - 10 years, maybe 15
Amps, DSP - same

Microphones - depends on abuse level and quality, condenser or dynamic - 10+ years

Wireless - depends on FCC.  😉  Depends on quality, QLX-D or better should last a decade as long as they are in decent spectrum.

Audio consoles - 10 years.

Overall 10-15 years, give or take.  The quality and how it's treated can vary quite a bit.

How old until it's replaced?  Every last bit of hissy, duct-tape-goo wrung from it, or resold while there is still some value?

Big picture upgrade path - main worship center to youth room, then youth to kids rooms?  Or main room to dumpster? 

Personally I like staggered 10 year cycles.  That way, every 2-3 years another subsystem is upgraded.  If money isn't spent on that cycle, it stays in the tech "pot", it's not "spend or lose". 

What is the annual consumables budget? 

[Steven Cohen]

In addition to what Calieb has stated, which is spot on, now that equipment is in the digital domain, it may become obsolete before being worn out. For example, we recently sold a functional Yamaha MCL 7 because we needed more mixes, and Dante networking abilities for every channel and now gain compensation for a monitor mixer. We have analog support amps for dressing room monitors that are 30 years old!


We are now in the process of changing our first 1080P 3 chip, DLP projectors purchased around 2007 due to component failures. We will see in ten years if laser illumination and 4K have a longer life cycle.

The SM58 will still be here with Keith Richards on the business end of it, with a Marlboro red.


 

Lots of variables.  How high a quality is the current system components, how well designed, how well installed, how well maintained?

Assuming brand new and high quality, rough rules of thumb-

3G-SDI video infrastructure and video switchers, cameras - 10-16 years

Laser projectors - 10-15 years depending on duty cycle.

Flat panel displays - 5-10 years (NEC for example, not Hisense etc)

Lighting fixtures, non mover, LED, Chauvet Pro or similar - 10 ish years

Network infrastructure - 15 years

Speakers - 10 years, maybe 15
Amps, DSP - same

Microphones - depends on abuse level and quality, condenser or dynamic - 10+ years

Wireless - depends on FCC.  😉  Depends on quality, QLX-D or better should last a decade as long as they are in decent spectrum.

Audio consoles - 10 years.

Overall 10-15 years, give or take.  The quality and how it's treated can vary quite a bit.

How old until it's replaced?  Every last bit of hissy, duct-tape-goo wrung from it, or resold while there is still some value?

Big picture upgrade path - main worship center to youth room, then youth to kids rooms?  Or main room to dumpster? 

Personally I like staggered 10 year cycles.  That way, every 2-3 years another subsystem is upgraded.  If money isn't spent on that cycle, it stays in the tech "pot", it's not "spend or lose". 

What is the annual consumables budget?

[Ken Webster]

In addition to what Calieb has stated, which is spot on, now that equipment is in the digital domain, it may become obsolete before being worn out. For example, we recently sold a functional Yamaha MCL 7 because we needed more mixes, and Dante networking abilities for every channel and now gain compensation for a monitor mixer. We have analog support amps for dressing room monitors that are 30 years old!


We are now in the process of changing our first 1080P 3 chip, DLP projectors purchased around 2007 due to component failures. We will see in ten years if laser illumination and 4K have a longer life cycle.

The SM58 will still be here with Keith Richards on the business end of it, with a Marlboro red.

All good points and I agree with them especially about "it depends"  If you have very good gear and it is able to be serviced, it is usually much less expensive to get a professional recap and service than to replace.  This is because top of range gear has very good design.  The problem is that parts wear or drift out of spec, capacitors particularly go out of spec faster than most other things.  controls like pots and faders wear and tend to loose contact, get gritty and crackly and trimmers particularly accumulate oxides on the contact surfaces so the circuits drift out of calibration.  For these reasons, regular services are required to keep gear working to it's potential.

All that said, you may wish to upgrade the technology anyway, but if you do want to go with the pro service and recap option, then you need a good repairer who attracts a high end clientele because they use only quality parts.  This is important because electronic parts of the same spec values do not all fail in the same way or have the same life.  Cheap parts can cause catastrophic cascade failures throughout a circuit, simply because of the mode of the initial failure.  It simply isn't worth saving a few bucks on a part only to have your entire amp go up in smoke.  So don't just get the local repairer to do it because that's the easy option.  Check out who has the reputation for excellence.

Our system is very much analogue and people tell us it is the most true sound reinforcement system of any church that they have heard.  That relates to house sound but there are issues on stage because of it's poor location, which is to be addressed, hopefully around the end of the year.  The gear is mostly 80s-90s and the speakers are home built and similar vintage.  I do most of the maintenance but for things I can't handle, I use a high end pro repairer.  Funding has historically been exceedingly tight so I attend to what is possible and reasonable to achieve with what we have.

Speakers can last really well, but you need to recap XO around 10-20 years at least, perhaps your using a system XO and can by-wire instead.  We have replaced blown drivers and I know someone who can service drivers to some extent, like replacing the surrounds.  Finding the servicing contacts, it is possible to much with little funding.  But you do need to start with gear that it is worthwhile.  It seem a fundamental truth that top of the range quality gear from the performance development 80s-90s era purchased and professionally serviced, repaired and recapped etc at a similar additional cost, can out outperform it's original spec and anything bought new today for the same total investment.  The only issue really is how it integrates into a modern system.

Regards,
Ken

[BradPinder]

Thanks all. some good advice in there! your help is really appreciated.

Thanks again.

[frank kayser]

Thanks all. some good advice in there! your help is really appreciated.

Thanks again.

Thanks, Brad, for a good question - one I was about ready to ask this very day!  Timing was perfect!


As always, thanks to The Brain Trust for well reasoned answers.


frank

[Brian Jojade]

Following what others said, try to have a budget to replace everything at least once per decade.  Some stuff will certainly outlast that, but at that decade point is where you'll really start to see unexpected failures spike.  If you're ok with continually patching instead of replacing, you might be able to save some money, but at the expense of labor.

Then, all you need to do is decide if you want to operate with a complete overhaul each time, or stagger the upgrades/replacements.  Some like to put in a system, use it for the scheduled time, then rip it out and start over.  Others will build on a system and replace certain segments. This means changes more often, but also means the ability to address shortcomings more often as well.  Which approach you take will depend on how you like to operate.  If your users fear change, one big change a decade is better than smaller changes each year.

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