"The monitor application has grown dramatically in recent times with the evolution of multiple wedge and stereo in-ear systems, which can quickly exceed the mix capability of all but the most expensive consoles," explains Allen & Heath's head of design, Carey Davies. "The GL2800M adds a fully-featured yet affordable dedicated monitor console to the popular GL Series live sound range. It is compact, easy to use, offers the best of analogue reliability and sound, and has a capability that rivals that of much bigger and more expensive consoles."
Mechanically similar to the GL2800 with individual card and nutted pot construction and small footprint, the GL2800M is available in 24, 32 and 40 channel frame sizes. It presents the monitor engineer with a compact, easy to use desk capable of mixing a large number of wedge and in-ear sources. Its 16 mixes can be globally assigned as mono or stereo, and each stereo mix provides level and pan control as well as stereo AFL signal checking. Mixes may be configured as 'wedge' or 'IEM' so that AFL automatically routes to the engineer's speaker or in-ears as appropriate.
"We have looked at the many issues unique to the monitor engineer and have crafted the GL2800M's feature set to make the job a lot easier, from setting up the system using the built-in oscillator/pink noise generator, to running the sound check with independent talkback to each performer and to the FOH console," continues Davies.
"There are many other benefits, including using external inputs for the house engineer to talk directly to the monitor listen wedge or in-ears, dialling in the swept HPF on each mix to cut unwanted low end and improve amplifier efficiency, using the master polarity switching and EQ to clean up the overall stage sound, hitting the dim buttons to quickly catch problem feedback, and plugging the ear piece directly into the console's headphones socket."
The GL2800M is available from August 2006. The console will make its public debut on Allen & Heath's stand (L39) at the PLASA show.
(Chris Henry)
