DSP5D integration

Has anyone had a chance yet to play with a PM5D connected to a DSP5D? How seamless is the integration from the point of view of the operator?

Background: We bought a non-RH PM5D two years ago, and while due to lack of funds the RH was never a possibility, all of the operators in our venue frequently lament the lack of recallable headamps. This month I was approached with a generous offer to pay for an "upgrade" to get recallable headamps. While I've known all along that the console can't simply be upgraded to the RH version, I was willing to investigate swapping it out for an RH if we could get the difference in funds.

Our dealer is suggesting that rather than replacing the PM5D with the RH version, for about the same cost we could add a DSP5D instead and get recallable headamps that way. This sounds like a reasonably good option, so I am investigating whether or not we could make it work well for us. I was curious about how easy it is to control from the PM5D control surface. I'm assuming that we would basically get two more channel layers, making a total of four that we'd end up switching between for the 96 input channels. I'd hate to add a lot more complexity to the operation of the board just to get recallable headamps. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

I'm also curious what people here consider the current market value of a used non-RH PM5D. Our dealer's saying probably only about $24,000, even though it's never been moved from our facility and is in like-new condition. Do you concur?

Lyle

It's funny how different users have different needs. We have a very busy roadhouse softseat venue, that has three years in with two "Non RH" 5Ds, and the lack of recallable pres has never been an problem for either house, or touring operators. It was something that was discussed during purchase, but has turned out to be a complete non issue for us.

With using the "digital" gain stage of a channel, unless you are hot patching radically different direct inputs, I can't really understand the issue myself, but I realize different strokes for different folks.

I have no idea about used prices, but that does seem low for something that is extremely current in demand.

We didn't think it would be that big of a deal for us initially, but it's turning out that we're having a lot of situations like this: Wed: Rehearsal for event "A", Fri: Rehearsal for event "B", Saturday Afternoon: Event "B", Sunday Morning: Event "A". Of course all the settings except for the gain values get stored as part of the scenes for each event, but the operator for event "A" has to write down all his gain settings just like "back in the analog days..." ;-)

I could certainly see how if you generally have only one event happening at a time in a particular venue that it wouldn't come up much.

It IS interesting seeing how needs differ.

Our rental shop could not get by without recallable headamps. We just recently did an event with one backline for nine different acts. Our 5D-RH was at monitors, and I definately would not have wanted to do the gig without it.

Sounds like a DSP5D would be great solution for you guys. With the new cabling unit, you could leave the DSP on stage and eliminate need for a snake. Sounds like a back-saver to me.

Rock