I was fortunate to have this particular SQ-5 delivered by Keith Johnson, Product Manager for the SQ range (and also the Qu and ZED series), so I was able to ask him about the thinking behind the SQ-series mixers. It's basically black, with a steeply canted upper section where the touchscreen and dedicated 'strip' controls live, making for a generous rear panel with plenty of room for all the I/O. The internal hardware is the same on all versions, so they all have exactly the same signal path, and all are constructed in the usual Allen & Heath 'brick outhouse' style with rigid, well-finished metalwork and a solid feel to all the rotary controls, which are directly nutted to the surface - no wobbly pots on this console! I'll gladly admit that the look and feel of a mixing console is a major factor in deciding if I'd like to own one and, ergonomically speaking, the SQ-5 racked up a big score as soon as it emerged from the shipping box.

The good people at Allen & Heath provided me with an SQ-5 to get hands-on with, but all three models are identical in terms of their channels-to-mix count and processing the differences are in the local input/output provision, physical faders per layer, soft controls and console dimensions. The series has recently benefitted from a major firmware upgrade to version 1.3, and a number of features have been added or enhanced (see box). There are three models in the SQ line all have similar mixing capabilities but the SQ-5, SQ-6 and SQ-7 have, respectively, 16, 24 and 32 channel faders, plus master. This compact yet powerful console puts Allen & Heath's touring-grade processing into a much more affordable package.Īllen & Heath describe the SQ series of mixers as the most powerful in their class, with 48 processing channels and a 96kHz mix core, all in a super-compact physical format.

Mixpad audio mixer unlock code