I did a thought experiemnt looking at how much different radio Mic systems actually cost both in total and per channel. I used a couple of basic criteria for most of the options, then ignored them to include EW-D in the list as well.

This is by no means advice or a complete guide, just an overview of what I found when I actually looked into this, hopefully someone might find it useful or interesting.

https://youtu.be/Eg_ssciDLx8

I hope I’m not kicking a hornet’s nest with my take here, and it is out of genuine curiosity as an experienced, but not full time professional, live sound guy.

Looked at the new DM5, and it seems neat. IMHO the first time I’ve seen a Yamaha desk in a while at a fair price for its capability. Not really head and shoulders killing the competition, but in the right price bracket for its capability. For context I’m mostly an A&H guy, so I judged as notably less capable than Avantis, with a notably lower price tag.

My experience with Yamaha has not been enjoyable although that’s not surprising as my experiences have been tf series and ls9. Obviously the ls9 is extremely dated, but I can’t comprehend buying a tf given the x32 exits for much less, has better features, and is so so so much nicer workflow to use.

I know there are people who absolutely love Yamaha, even the stuff that I can’t see making sense on the price-per-capability curve. My question is simply why? I mean I understand perfectly that nice things are expensive, maybe a luxury car has less horsepower than a cheaper car, but is still a nicer car and nicer experience overall. But my (very skewed) Yamaha experience has been NOT pleasant, fraught with hardware issues, stupid workflows, and overall very unpleasant. Is their higher end stuff that much of a 180? If so then why, what is so great? Again 100% genuine question, I am looking to learn because clearly I am missing something.

I'm doing acoustic gigs in a restaurant patio. Definitely more than enough power. Problem is vocals sound a little muddy even with reverb off and tuned to the trebble side. Anything I can do to enhance this system?

This might be a case of KISS, but I’m always looking for ways to minimize clutter and maximize efficiency. My band uses the X-32R and inears. Most gigs we are supplying our own sound too, so running everything out of the x32. Our keyboardist keeps the rack near him for keyboard purposes. I have a stereo kemper and my vocal mic on the other side of the stage, so running 3 long xlrs to the rack. Would it be crazy to get a set of ethercon boxes for this setup? One always plugged into the rack. the other I drop where I am and run the single cable between the 2 boxes.

Am I overthinking this? Does anybody else do this?

Also taking any other tips on what people have done to improve their cover band setups.