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Allen & Heath
CQ-20B Ultra-Compact Digital Audio Mixer with Wifi
CQ is Allen & Heath's most compact digital mixer range ever. Built on a 96kHz processing engine, it's rich in connectivity with Bluetooth, wireless options, SD and USB audio recording and playback. Focusing on speed and ease of use - brand new Quick Channels, Gain/Feedback Assistants and signal conscious FX enhance the world-renowned audio and build quality that users expect from Allen & Heath. Offered in three form factors - two desktop models with hands-on control and one stage box model.
All utilise the same technology, apps, and UI but with slightly different feature sets and price points. With the CQ range, Allen & Heath have created a super portable and fun to use, but still fully featured digital mixer, suitable for technical and non-technical users alike. CQ is designed to be used anywhere high-quality sound processing and summing is required, from bands and producers to AV and rental, from the main mixer in a small venue to a sub mixer on the largest stage.
96kHz Processing Engine
Under the hood is a powerhouse of processing with Allen & Heath's renowned 96kHz FPGA technology. Including brand new smart tools and signal conscious FX to get you a better mix, faster.
Quick and Complete Channels
Quick Channels offer instrument and application specific processing. Dial in a full channel of processing with a single knob. Switch to a Complete Channel for advanced tweaking.
Gain Assistant
CQ's gain assistant saves you time by automatically and accurately setting preamp gain for you. It can then keep an eye on your preamp levels to prevent nasty peaks.
Feedback Assistant
Find and remove feedback frequencies at setup using fixed mode and then watch out for feedback throughout the show across all outputs with live mode.
FX engines
Including brand new signal conscious reverbs, delays and modulation units which dynamically respond to signal.
AMM
Improve clarity and reduce background noise for speech applications without needing to lift a finger. Available on every input.
Remote Apps
Control the mixer from (almost) anywhere with free apps for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. CQ-MixPad gives the engineer complete control anywhere in the room and CQ4You allows the performer to adjust only their mix and hear exactly what they need to.
• 2x Balanced stereo line input, 4x TRS
• Main LR, 2x XLR
• 6x Monitor Mixes, 6x XLR
• Assignable Stereo Line Out, 2x TRS
• Assignable headphone output, 6.35mm TRS
• 24x24 USB-B interface
• 24x24 SD record/playback
• Stereo USB record/playback with dedicated input channel
• Stereo Bluetooth playback with dedicated input channel
• 4x FX engines
• Dual Footswitch connection
• Built-in dual band 2.4G/5G AC Wi-Fi with auto channel select
All utilise the same technology, apps, and UI but with slightly different feature sets and price points. With the CQ range, Allen & Heath have created a super portable and fun to use, but still fully featured digital mixer, suitable for technical and non-technical users alike. CQ is designed to be used anywhere high-quality sound processing and summing is required, from bands and producers to AV and rental, from the main mixer in a small venue to a sub mixer on the largest stage.
96kHz Processing Engine
Under the hood is a powerhouse of processing with Allen & Heath's renowned 96kHz FPGA technology. Including brand new smart tools and signal conscious FX to get you a better mix, faster.
Quick and Complete Channels
Quick Channels offer instrument and application specific processing. Dial in a full channel of processing with a single knob. Switch to a Complete Channel for advanced tweaking.
Gain Assistant
CQ's gain assistant saves you time by automatically and accurately setting preamp gain for you. It can then keep an eye on your preamp levels to prevent nasty peaks.
Feedback Assistant
Find and remove feedback frequencies at setup using fixed mode and then watch out for feedback throughout the show across all outputs with live mode.
FX engines
Including brand new signal conscious reverbs, delays and modulation units which dynamically respond to signal.
AMM
Improve clarity and reduce background noise for speech applications without needing to lift a finger. Available on every input.
Remote Apps
Control the mixer from (almost) anywhere with free apps for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. CQ-MixPad gives the engineer complete control anywhere in the room and CQ4You allows the performer to adjust only their mix and hear exactly what they need to.
Features
• 16 Mic/Line preamps, 8x XLR + 8x XLR/TRS "Combi"• 2x Balanced stereo line input, 4x TRS
• Main LR, 2x XLR
• 6x Monitor Mixes, 6x XLR
• Assignable Stereo Line Out, 2x TRS
• Assignable headphone output, 6.35mm TRS
• 24x24 USB-B interface
• 24x24 SD record/playback
• Stereo USB record/playback with dedicated input channel
• Stereo Bluetooth playback with dedicated input channel
• 4x FX engines
• Dual Footswitch connection
• Built-in dual band 2.4G/5G AC Wi-Fi with auto channel select
Q & A
There are currently no questions for this product.
Reviews
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Product Experience I own it
Closest Store Toronto (Bloor St.), Ontario
This is my first digital mixer, and I thoroughly researched the market segment before buying it. Ultimately, the A&H came in front on the spec-sheet. Features like direct to SD multi track recording, a personal monitoring companion app, and hopes of a more modern internal wifi system (which typically are a weak point of most stagebox digital mixers), I decided to grab a CQ20b.
Live use:
The wifi is solid and connection drop-outs from the mixer haven't been a practical issue. I've used it in hall/warehouse environments, often being 40-50 from the mixer. If you put the app in background, you'll often be prompted to re-connect to the mixer, worth noting. More of a minor inconvenience than an issue. I don't feel the need to bring an external router to gigs, though maybe I'll grab a cheap one incase the antennae breaks at an event.
Most of my live mixing prior to this has been on boards like the A&H mix wizard, which are great, flexible analog boards. It can't be overstated however, how nice RTA, parametric EQ, gating/compression on each channel and output is. Creature comfort features like auto-gain, and autofeedback are also big time savers. I know these are standard to digital mixers these days, but the amount of rack gear this replaces , in such a tiny box, is incredible.
Studio Use:
If you're using this to replace your audio interface, you will need to get acquainted with the work flow. For example, monitor routing confused me slightly at first, and flows like re-amping a guitar require the use an input on the mixer to send audio from your DAW. It's a different paradigm, but after reading the manual (novel idea, I know), and doing my research, the benefits outweigh the slight inconveniences.
The flexibility and workflow of using a digital mixer for monitoring in studio environments crushes any software mixer I've used that comes with an audio interface (yes, even UAD's console). Sure, the effects may be more basic, but that's fine for me when they're just used for monitoring. The ability to give people a companion app, combined with a headphone amp that can handle individual mixes, gives you a cheap personal monitoring system. If you've ever looked into purchasing one of those, you'll understand the value ($$) here of having personal mix control in this box.
The mixer itself doesn't use any fancy drivers, so on mac it's truly plug and play after figuring out how the channels are routed.
I've been using this in rehearsal, having a click track sent over bluetooth, and its worked flawlessly for that, it has made that band a better band. We record our rehearsal to SD, and I can get a clean recording to know what we need to work on the following week, all without a laptop.
Caveats:
If the mixer loses power while recording to the SD card, consider your files gone. There are guides to recovery, but the haven't worked for me. If recording a performance is crucial, I'd suggest using a laptop to record via the interface simultaneously for redundancy.
Posted by MB on Mar 22, 2024
Protect your investment with the Long & McQuade Performance Warranty
A warranty can be a very important factor when making a buying decision. Because repairs can be very expensive in terms of parts and labour costs, manufacturers usually only provide one year limited warranties that generally only cover items that malfunction due to a manufacturer’s defect. With an important purchase such as a musical
instrument or piece of studio gear, however, many people want to have the peace of mind in knowing that their investment will be protected should the product no longer be performing at 100%.
Because of this, Long & McQuade provides our customers with a FREE one-year Performance Warranty on most of our products. The Long & McQuade Performance Warranty supplements the manufacturer’s warranty to ensure that our customers receive complete “no hassle” warranty coverage within their first year.
How does the Long & McQuade Performance Warranty differ from most manufacturers' warranties?
- Performance Guarantee: Normal wear and tear is covered, so your product will be performing as well as the day you purchased it for the entire duration of the coverage. Band and Orchestral Performance Warranty does not include replacing pads or cleaning for woodwind instruments, unless deemed necessary by our repair staff. Ultrasonic cleaning for brass instruments will be provided if deemed necessary by our repair staff, but is not routinely offered under the Performance Warranty.
- Product Replacement: If your product cannot be fixed or costs too much to fix, we will replace it with the equivalent model for no additional charge. If this is not possible, a full refund will be provided.
- No Lemon Policy: Your product will be replaced should the same problem occur multiple times.
- Convenient: Easy drop off and pick up of the product at any Long & McQuade location.
- Guitar Setup: Guitars purchased at Long & McQuade come with 1 free setup, to be redeemed within 1 year for new guitars and 90 days for used guitars.
- Loaners Available: A loaner product may be given while the product is being repaired.
- Power Surge Protection: Your product is covered even if damaged from a power surge.
- Accessory Coverage: Any peripheral devices or accessories that come with your product (i.e. foot pedal, case) are also covered.
- Commercial Use Coverage: Music and recording professionals who purchase gear for “heavy-use” commercial purposes will still be covered.
Long & McQuade reserves the right to restrict the purchase of additional years of Performance Warranty. Used products come with a 3-month Long & McQuade Performance Warranty. Some products (i.e. computers, software, cymbals and other items) are covered only by the manufacturer‘s warranty. Consumables (i.e. strings, reeds, drum sticks, batteries, tubes, cross faders) are excluded as they are designed to be replaced. Cosmetic Damage, Accidental Damage, or problems caused by Humidity or Temperature Issues are not covered. Speakers damaged by overpowering are generally not covered. Our coverage does not provide compensation for loss of use. As of June 2018 the Performance Warranty is no longer transferable. The warranty is only valid in Canada.
Purchasing additional years of coverage
Some manufacturers provide warranties for longer than 1 year; however, these are usually limited warranties that do not provide the same coverage as the Long & McQuade Performance Warranty. Customers interested in more complete and convenient (but not necessarily longer) coverage are still able to purchase additional years of the Performance Warranty.
If you are interested in receiving this coverage for longer than one year, you have the option of purchasing additional years of the Performance Warranty. The pricing is as follows:
- NEW products: 4% of the current new selling price to double the warranty from 1 year to 2 years. 4% for each additional year.
- USED products: 4% of the current new selling price to increase the warranty from 3 months to 1 year. 4% for each additional year.
- GUITARS: 4% of the current new selling price to double the warranty from 1 year to 2 years. 4% for each additional year. $45 maximum. An additional free setup is not included with additional purchased years of Performance Warranty.
- BAND and ORCHESTRAL instruments: 4% of the current new selling price to double the warranty from 1 year to 2 years. 4% for each additional year.
Great Additions
Reserve in Store
| Product | SKU | Qty |
|---|---|---|
| CQ-20B Ultra-Compact Digital Audio Mixer with Wifi | 794100 |
