Dante Yamaha Stagebox with MT mixers

[GaryH]

At one time I became very curious about other manufacturers Dante enabled stagebox systems, specifically using them with a Wing or an M/X32 mixer. I have done a decent amount of research and so far found that at least 2 manufacturers have models that will work just fine. Allen+Heath iDR boxes (16/32/48 ch) and Yamaha TIO 1608's will work with both Wing Dante and X-Dante at 48K. I just learned there is also a TIO1608 V2 now available that can also run at 96K. Maybe a good idea if planning a mixer upgrade to 96K at some point down the road. No idea of price or availability of those, or really all their features. I do keep an eye on several A+H auctions on Ebay and Reverb but these devices also require a Dante card to go in them. The cards alone are selling used for well over $1000 and the stageboxes anywhere from $500 to 1200, most over $1K. So you are talking as much as $3000 and more for used equipment. The iDR series are no longer made so buying used is the only real market save for a scarce few still in dealer stock. I am sure they would be a great solution but the expense seems to me to be a tad over the top considering used. You get what you pay for? Perhaps. So i focused on the TIO versions from Yamaha. They are not exactly cheap either but they come with a Dante card installed and run roughly $1200 NEW, many available used for 900-1I00. I can now confirm that these will work very nicely in for our Dante enabled Wing and M/X32 mixer systems. You also need a program Yamaha supplies called R-Remote which runs on Mac and Windows formats and controls headamp and phantom power as well as offering a per channel low cut filter. They sound really good. As good as any Behringer preamp and to my ears sound every bit as good as the Midas Pro versions. The build quality is impeccable. Documentation and support is refreshing compared to what we go through with MG these days. Yamaha knows how to do things the right way. I have used their mixers where I work for many years so I am familiar with their approach. I still would love to try the A+H models but have not yet had the chance. Maybe I find one at the right price point some day, I keep watching.

[pmaillot]

Thanks Gary, that's quite interesting.