Sidestep for PLX

Ben Lawrence

Ben Lawrence

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Mar 2, 2011
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I have some PLX 3402 and 3002 that I am thinking about upgrading at some point in the not so distant future. Whats the current equivalent for these units? Weight and reliability are the biggest factors. Not particulary looking for an upgrade in power or anything just newer gear. On board DSP is not necessary.
 
Re: Sidestep for PLX

the direct replacement for the amps would be the PLX3602 and 3102... that being said I am still using my old PLX series amps with great results, Why do you want to replace them?

It seems like unless you are looking to upgrade in power or some other features you should stick with them if they are working for you.
 
Re: Sidestep for PLX

I disagree, the new PLX are not direct replacements as the gains are different for each model in the line. The "old" PLX were all 32db, x40.

Luke Robinson said:
the direct replacement for the amps would be the PLX3602 and 3102... that being said I am still using my old PLX series amps with great results, Why do you want to replace them?

It seems like unless you are looking to upgrade in power or some other features you should stick with them if they are working for you.
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Re: Sidestep for PLX

I am still getting good results with them and they have had no issues but would like to move to a newer model mostly for peace of mind. I am in no rush at the moment but with the cold weather coming its time for me to look at updating some elements of my systems.
Guessing the newer PLX line is the obvious move. Just wondering if anyone had some further suggestions to look at.

Luke Robinson said:
the direct replacement for the amps would be the PLX3602 and 3102... that being said I am still using my old PLX series amps with great results, Why do you want to replace them?

It seems like unless you are looking to upgrade in power or some other features you should stick with them if they are working for you.
Click to expand...
 
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Re: Sidestep for PLX

I have both 3602 and 3402 amps. If there is a difference in their performance, I haven't heard it. I'm from the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of thought. I think replacing 3402's with 3602's is a waste of money. The PL series would be a more logical move.
 
Re: Sidestep for PLX

Agreed, Simon.

In business there is almost never a legitimate justification for lateral moves replacing working products. Size and weight directly affect the costs of racking/transportation/warehousing and can justify otherwise "technical" sideways moves if the acquisition costs can be amortized across less that the life of the product. If it takes 10 years to recover the cost of new amps via savings in handling, you need to use those amps 20 years...

Ben doesn't say how many units he'd be replacing, but I'd spend that $$ on something that brings in more/new work or lets me increase revenue from existing customers.
 
Re: Sidestep for PLX

Tim McCulloch said:
Agreed, Simon.

In business there is almost never a legitimate justification for lateral moves replacing working products. Size and weight directly affect the costs of racking/transportation/warehousing and can justify otherwise "technical" sideways moves if the acquisition costs can be amortized across less that the life of the product. If it takes 10 years to recover the cost of new amps via savings in handling, you need to use those amps 20 years...

Ben doesn't say how many units he'd be replacing, but I'd spend that $$ on something that brings in more/new work or lets me increase revenue from existing customers.
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And if there are concerns over reliability, buy a spare and keep it on hand.
 
Re: Sidestep for PLX

Tim McCulloch said:
In business there is almost never a legitimate justification for lateral moves replacing working products.
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I disagree with this statement. If you plan and budget the life of a product, replacement should be scheduled before reliability goes down. Amplifiers don't last forever, thus planning to replace them after a certain number of years or shows is good practice. There is a point where older gear still has a decent resale value, so timing the life of your gear so you can sell it before resale falls through the floor is ideal.

Having a budget an planned buying cycles is a much less stressful way to operate than buying when you don't have another choice.
 
Re: Sidestep for PLX

Brian jojade said:
I disagree with this statement. If you plan and budget the life of a product, replacement should be scheduled before reliability goes down. Amplifiers don't last forever, thus planning to replace them after a certain number of years or shows is good practice. There is a point where older gear still has a decent resale value, so timing the life of your gear so you can sell it before resale falls through the floor is ideal.

Having a budget an planned buying cycles is a much less stressful way to operate than buying when you don't have another choice.
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Really? Is that the way you run your business? You replace perfectly good equipment just to avoid future replacement? You know a good amplifier can easily last 20 years!
 
Re: Sidestep for PLX

Brian jojade said:
I disagree with this statement. If you plan and budget the life of a product, replacement should be scheduled before reliability goes down. Amplifiers don't last forever, thus planning to replace them after a certain number of years or shows is good practice. There is a point where older gear still has a decent resale value, so timing the life of your gear so you can sell it before resale falls through the floor is ideal.

Having a budget an planned buying cycles is a much less stressful way to operate than buying when you don't have another choice.
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I guess I should have put the phrase "almost never" in big, blinking red letters. Why? Because there are always exceptions.

We ran Crest Pro *001 amps for 20 years. The amps that replaced them are higher output, lighter, smaller, smarter and can currently be repaired... none of which can be said of our former Crest inventory. Not bashing Crest, we they did very well for us for a long time. But if we had decided to replace them 10 years ago we'd have wasted a big chunk of that investment.

I agree, however, that including the costs of repairs, preventive maintenance and eventual replacement in the total costs of ownership should be done so that those expenses can be factored into the "cost of services delivered" for cost accounting purposes. This is one of the things about "costing" that I didn't know or understand when I started my "van-load of PA" company 30+ years ago... and it was a lesson I learned only after I realized the severity of this ignorance.

After 3+ decades in this little psycho-acoustic endeavor, I can say the biggest challenges are not in making sound, but making a profit making sound.
 
Re: Sidestep for PLX

Brian jojade said:
I disagree with this statement. If you plan and budget the life of a product, replacement should be scheduled before reliability goes down. Amplifiers don't last forever, thus planning to replace them after a certain number of years or shows is good practice. There is a point where older gear still has a decent resale value, so timing the life of your gear so you can sell it before resale falls through the floor is ideal.

Having a budget an planned buying cycles is a much less stressful way to operate than buying when you don't have another choice.
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There's a difference between planned inventory turnover (which in some markets is good business practice) and lateral purchases. The former is typically done to keep equipment in "like new" condition for picky clients, or to maintain rider acceptance with "flavor of the month" equipment. It typically involves replacing existing equipment with as close to identical new equipment as possible, although it also typically is only common with companies that can carge the requesite premium for teh newer equipment that must be depreciated faster.
 
Re: Sidestep for PLX

This thread is interesting to me: I'm almost constantly sending my boss links to used iTech HD's for sale, I look forward to the day we scrap our racks of old Macrotechs.
 
Re: Sidestep for PLX

Some good advice on here. Some folks saying run what you can out of the system and some doing the turnover thing. Think I might stick with em for a bit and maybe grab a spare of a model Im interested in.
 
Re: Sidestep for PLX

Chuck Simon said:
Really? Is that the way you run your business? You replace perfectly good equipment just to avoid future replacement? You know a good amplifier can easily last 20 years!
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Yes, this is EXACTLY how I run my business. Each major piece of gear is purchased with a planned life expectancy. It's different for different types of gear. Eg, a pice of trussing is going to have a longer life in the warehouse than a mixer, but each will be inventoried with a set number of shows that it is budgeted to be on before replacement.

This allows me to more accurately track the costs of gear and allows me to sell gear and replace with newer tech more often. Since the product gets moved when it still has a decent resale value, the cost between doing that and running it into the ground isn't necessarily as different as one might think.
 
Re: Sidestep for PLX

Brian jojade said:
Yes, this is EXACTLY how I run my business. Each major piece of gear is purchased with a planned life expectancy. It's different for different types of gear. Eg, a pice of trussing is going to have a longer life in the warehouse than a mixer, but each will be inventoried with a set number of shows that it is budgeted to be on before replacement.

This allows me to more accurately track the costs of gear and allows me to sell gear and replace with newer tech more often. Since the product gets moved when it still has a decent resale value, the cost between doing that and running it into the ground isn't necessarily as different as one might think.
Click to expand...

If you have the clientele that is willing to pay what this costs it's a great business model.

I free lance with a local AV shop that was using the older "run til it quits" model and was facing challenges with new video formats, increased client requests for matrixed video switching/distribution, old cameras, etc. They've recapitalized much of their shop. I'll have to ask the GM if they've run the numbers to see if they should have gone the other way with capital equipment.

What we've learned is that most new technology isn't built to last 30 years or more (like stuff used to) and if we don't have planned replacement costs factored into the much shorter "commercial service life" (market factors as well as actual physical longevity), we'll be losing money at replacement time.
 
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