Yamaha M7 or LS9

I wanted to follow up with some of the other key sound components of the video venue. When designing the venue one of the big technical and financial questions we had to figure out was what sound board to use in the space. Before this project we where using a Yamaha M7CL 48 in our main worship center. (Yamaha M7 48)

Moving to that sound board was one of the best moves we ever made. Prior to creating the video venue we had to move our sound board station to the back of the worship center, away from ideal location on the floor (Due to needing to free up more seats). The ability to mix well from that location was nearly impossible, so we added an iPad to our sound setup and currently we are mixing for the worship service primarily form the iPad from the center of the room, the ideal location. (Yamaha M7 iPad app)

This has been on of the best tools I have ever encountered for resolving the problem so many churches encounter, where to put the sound board.

With our current experience with the Yamaha M7 getting that board in the Video Venue was high on my wish list, but that wish game with a big price tag.  I explored the Yamaha LS9 series, comparing what we would loose if we went to the model that is the next step down.  (LS9 Pic)

A few of the big differences is the loss of the touch screen. Plus the largest size of an LS9 is 32 Channel. (Visit Yamaha.com for more differences). I added an LS9 16 Channel to our youth area this past year so we where fortunate to have experience with both of the Yamaha series.

I decided that it was important (for cross training purposes) to have the sound boards in the two different venues be the same in functionality and use so that techs could cross locations without needing to learn a new process for mixing. That landed us on the M7 model, now to decide between the 48 channel model (like our worship center) or the 32 channel model. (Now we are just talking money)

The budget was still the issue and I didn’t want to spend more then was wise so I admit, this was a tough decision for me that I had a very hard time making. However, a week before completion, I decided to go with the M7 48. I didn’t know how this new venue would be used in the years to come and, as I wrote in my previous post, I was not going to go with sub par options and regret it a few years later like they did when building our main worship center. So the M7 won out and I have NOT regretted that choice ever since.

(On a side note we also have an iPad for the video venue we use with the M7 – later I will do a post on how that has changed our mixing, EQing, and monitor checks in a way that I can’t ever see going back)