The damn things don’t hold value well, do they? Any rational user would expect to see no more than a 1 year ROI on this kind of technology, but who's counting?
Monday, October 8, 2018
DiGiCO ROI Baseline
In case you thought I was being hard on the Red Wing goofballs who grossly overpaid for the theater's DiGiCo SD9, here's what the resale is on the big boy's DiGiCo, the D5 Live (https://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/msg/6717399160.html). The D5 Live is a substantial improvement, user-friendlyness-wise, over the SD9 with 4 much more user-friendly screens that actually make a little sense when you use them of the one poorly located screen that is totally disassociated from the channel faders. This used Craig's List console comes with a "road case and 100 meter coax cable. Also have a second D5 with bad power rail and needs power supplies rebuilt. the 2nd can be used for spare parts or fixed and it comes with a brand new road case and I'll just let you take it for free. I have put the engine from the broken console in the working console and it works fine so it would give you a spare engine.” So you get 1 ½ Digico D5’s, a road case, and coax cable for $3200? Red Wing paid $60k-80k (depending on how you read the bid) for a D9 that still can’t talk to any recording rig and was about 90% of the way to End of Service (EOS) and nearly out of warranty (a measly 1 year warranty, the industry minimum) before it the installation was complete.
The damn things don’t hold value well, do they? Any rational user would expect to see no more than a 1 year ROI on this kind of technology, but who's counting?
The damn things don’t hold value well, do they? Any rational user would expect to see no more than a 1 year ROI on this kind of technology, but who's counting?
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2 comments:
A number of years ago, the church where I serve purchased an SD9 to replace a failing Mackie board of 25+ years. I don't specifically recall the price point being anywhere near what you're suggesting here, but I can relate to the total lack of connectivity to other devices or recording rigs (without additional purchases being made, of course!) and I can lament with you over the lack of ROI for either the lesser or greater model. The thing works just fine, but when you look at companies whose product lines are far more accessible like Behringer, or companies whose products have much more longevity like MIDAS or YAMAHA, I don't see why people would land on something like DigiCo...
W
DiGiCo prices are coming down, although not as low as they should be. The basic SD9 is about $22k (https://vintageking.com/digico-x-sd9-2p-ws?cr_campaign=PV%20Shopping%20-%20Lowest%20Priority%20-%20Brands%20-%20New&gclid=CjwKCAjw3qDeBRBkEiwAsqeO7i2542otS857EPcfxIoWdROQknegNS3kFcseLpgVdHijRI-OHt6twhoCypgQAvD_BwE, I think the Sheldon's contract was for $35k), each of the D-Rack stage boxes are $10k (the Sheldon has 3 and they paid more than list), the never-functioning DigiGrid interface box was about $1k, and the assorted junk that the contractor added to the installation probably could have bought a space shuttle.
I wasn't in Red Wing when the contract was written or debated. I arrived about the time the nitwit installer was mid-way through the cobbly installation. Stuff like putting the power amplifiers on the 4th floor so the speaker runs could be 200' each was decided purely out of incompetence. The installer tried to tell me that a couple ohms resistance with a 500W power amp was "no big deal." Just 3dB of wasted power on a 4 ohm load, that's all. I could go on, but it will just piss me off more.
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