This page covers the design and prototyping of my new Allen & Heath CQ18t based “mostly-stationary-at-home-occasionally-mobile” PA rig in a gator case.
I have a small PA that primarily resides in my home, where I host micro concerts and movie parties. I used to do small event sound/PA work, but have mostly retired from that.
But every once in a while, my rig still needs to go mobile… With that in mind, placing all the equipment in road cases means they can be easily moved when needed, and kept free from dust and accidents when not in use.
When I started doing sound, there wasn’t no “fancy digital stuff”, it was all analog.
You had to lug around your speakers, amps, mixer(s), effects racks, a long snake with a stage box, and lots of AC and speaker and mic cables, and adaptors, and… Eww.
Over the years things got a bit more streamlined, but it wasn’t until recently I felt the urge to update. The kicker was the introduction of digital mixers with reliable remote control and low latency. After a lot of evaluation, I selected the Allen & Heath CQ18t as the heart of the new system. 24/96 operation, 18 audio channels, 6 aux outs, some basic FX and routing, and a built in touch-screen for operation (and for when when the remote system crashes.)
A key benefit of a remote control surface is you can set up the entire PA system close to the stage (less heavy cabling cabling to run), and use the remote control surface to roam the audience or go on stage to dial in the sound. Faster and easier load-in/out, better sound (in theory), and a lot less running back and forth from mixing station to stage.
A case study, or, what to put it all in
Now that I’ve got a handle (heh) on what I want to do, time to shop around for the case (heh) to use. I don’t do heavy duty or frequent traveling, so the lightweight Gator cases are my usual goto. They make a series of cases for mini mixers, and after some thought I settled on the “Gator GRC-10X4 10U Top / 4U Front Console Audio Rack”.
It has a slanted top rack for the mixer, and the 4U front handles the furman power distro, Driverack PA and a 1U Carver power amp in a handy one piece shell. A nice touch is the back of the case also has rack rails.
Looks like a perfect match… in theory….
Prototyping the build
Planning is always key for this sort of thing, but you eventually reach a point where you have to try it out and see if theory matches up to reality. That means it’s time to prototype!
First, attach the mixers rack ears and estimate a placement. I immediately saw the headphone jack problem. (This is why we prototype!)
Behind the mixer is a 19″ wide touchscreen with a micro PC attached to the VESA mount. This allows a second “view” into the mixers operation, and will usually be the “meter bridge” via mixing station. Behind the monitor, an upside down rack “U” panel provides a secure spot for the monitor leg. The screen and PC lifts off the mixing station and fits into a soft carry bag easily,
The touchscreen is a “EPORMOT Portable Monitor Touchscreen 21.5 inch”. It uses a single USB C cable for the touchscreen interface, video, and power, and I used a right angle C cable to keep the profile neat.
The Micro PC is “GEEKOM A5 Mini PC, AMD, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Pro” with a VESA mount. (Windows 11 because the dbx app and a couple other apps I use for audio video work aren’t on anything else a common platform.)
The touch PC runs the dbx PA2 software for config setup and room tuning, then I switch over to Mixing Station for running the event or as the interface to streaming system. Mixing Station makes for a nice input meter bridge!
I can also run the control app for the BlackMagic ATM pro, REW, and other useful apps and tools. A wireless keyboard with a touchpad finishes off the PC stuff.
I got the Micro PC and Touchscreen on Amazon, and it all set up easily. The most complicated thing was disabling all the sleep, hibernate, and auto power-off options in Windows 11.
Below the mixer and touch PC space is room for the dbx driverack PA, a Carver power amp, the Furman power conditioner, and a rollout keyboard tray. (For bigger gigs, I have a QSC PLX 3102 in a separate case).
(pic here)
Network connectivity
One setup challenge is the networking, as the CQ18t built in wi-fi doesn’t work for me for multiple reasons:
1) The driverack PA and the touch PC also need network connections.
2) Even if the above wasn’t an issue, there’s no “location” or “venue” option to configure and save/restore various systems settings, like the wifi config. And changing this stuff around is always a PITA, especially when you’re in a hurry during load-in.
3) Lastly, wireless is unreliable in high density settings and it goes flaky at the most inopportune moments. By going wired, I’ll still have the mixers built in Ux and a 2nd view via the touch PC that is immune to wi-fi interference issues.
My current plan is the three devices will connect to a 5 port hub for all the in-box network connections. I’ll then plug in a wired connection at home, or a small hotspot module for the on-location use. No reconfiguration needed.
A minor issue is the awkward use of 1/4″ TRS connections for the six mix outputs.
That’s easily resolved by some short TRS to XLR adaptor cables, but why is this an issue? I standardized on XLR cabling for all the line and mic signals; other connector type cables add transport weight and are another point of failure.
The last setup issue (so far) is the awkward location of the headphone jacks. In a rack, that location requires a 2RU space below the control surface to plug/unplug the headphones. Ugh. I solved this one by getting a couple of right angle adaptors, which means a more palatable 1U space at the bottom is now sufficient spacing, and still adds a little more cooling space.
UPDATE #1: Predicting the flow of disasters…
– I programmed a “panic” button (mutes all outputs) and knob 1 as a DCA “volume” control for the main output(s). These are problem solver shortcuts, very handy when things go sideways.
– I dug out an old synth keyboard dual foot pedal; it works great with this mixers foot pedal input. Programmed one pedal to mute the first 8 channels, typically what I use for mics. The other pedal mutes all the FX(like reverb), great for those “in between song” chats.
(more to come)
Last Updated on 2026-04-16 by Daev Roehr