Allen & Heath AB168 Stage Box

About the Allen & Heath AB168

One Cat5 cable replaces a multicore. The AB168 sits on stage carrying sixteen mic and line inputs and eight balanced outputs, and everything travels to the console digitally over dSNAKE across a run up to 120 metres. That is a cable a single person can pull, coil and carry, on a job that used to need a snake and a second set of hands.

Typical applications

• Any stage further from front of house than a multicore wants to reach
• Ballrooms and marquees where the cable path is long and awkward
• Bands, where sixteen inputs covers a standard backline in one box
• Monitor sends back to stage on the eight outputs
• Extending an SQ-5's input count past its own sixteen preamps

Plug in and go

There is nothing to configure. The mixer recognises it, the channels appear, and firmware updates happen from the console. Each input has up to 60 dB of gain, a 20 dB pad for line level sources and its own phantom power indicator LED, so the state of every channel is readable from the stage without asking front of house.

Room to grow

The expander port daisy-chains a second AB168 or an AR2412 AudioRack for a bigger input count, or feeds an ME personal monitor mixing system so players run their own in-ear mixes. It works across Qu, SQ, Avantis and AHM, so it moves between packages rather than being tied to one console.

Hire the AB168

4.8 kg with rubber bumpers and a carry handle, built to live on a stage floor. Available across the Gold Coast, Brisbane and South East Queensland. Pairs with the SQ-5.