Yamaha M7CL vs LS9!!!

[josejcl]

Hi,

I have been reading in your forum about these two mixers, everybody is talking good things about them I think they are really similar, my church is planning to buy one of these mixers but what is the difference between both?? I know the M7CL the price is higher but I'll to know really detail information about both and their differences!!!

This mixer will be used as FOH & Monitor, 6 monitor mixes, I'll be recording the worship and sending live to internet, soon we are going to be live on TV, we have a translator, sometimes we have choirs and orchestras that’s why I need a 48 channel.

I hope you guys can tell me more about these mixers!!!


Thank you very much and God Bless

[cmchamp]

There are only a few differences between the boards.
Work-surface and I/O.
The M7CL adds more motorized faders, touch screen and an optional meter bridge as well as more physical controls on the surface.
M7CL-48 has 48 analog ins, 16 analog outs with the option to add up to 24 additional analog outputs, or much more digital I/O.
The Yamaha Commercial Audio rep locally here gave me the schematic of the signal flow for the M7CL. The signal flow for the LS9 is identical.
Both boards have security features, play and record off USB Flash drives and have off line editing with software.
C.

[JHVideoGuy]

We have the M7. I haven't had any hands on time with the LS9. But from my understanding here are the major differences:

M7CL:
+More Faders
+Touch Screen
+More knobs
+Centralogic Section
+DCAs

This boils down to the M7CL being faster to use and quicker to navigate. How much faster? I don't know and does that added speed justify the expense for you?

Are DCAs important to you?

LS9:
+Can run 2 layers for expandability so the 32CH version can be expanded to 64CH on 2 layers.

They are comparable boards. If your decision is budget driven you'll be pleased with the LS9. If you can fit the M7 in your budget you'll be very pleased. It's supposed to be quicker to tweak settings from EQ to dynamics to the EFX rack. Plus having DCAs. But we had the budget to fit it in, not to mention the LS9 wasn't out but we have some other rooms I want to put the LS9 in.

[shayward]

We have an LS9-32 and love it. If you need the extra channels and can afford the M7CL its extra features (touch screen and meter bridge) are golden.

[Gracetech]

Speed is only negated by understanding. Neither console is faster than the other with enough time behind the wheel. The M7 will seem faster to those from analog training but over time that advantage would be almost mute. I do like the DCA's and wondered if i could get along without them and over time i have realized that i didn't need them after all. I also wonder if Yamaha will add the DCA's at some point with a firmware update since they did that with the o1v. Time will tell. The other differences that haven't been touched on yet are the M7 has one more YGDAI slot than the ls9/32 and the M7 has 8 31band eq's while the ls9/32 has 4 31band eq's that can also be 8 quazi 31band(it only allows selection of 15 bands amongst the 31 bands) eq's. Also the Matrixes can be use like auxes on the M7 since you can send from channels unlike the ls9 which can only send from the masters. Now the awesome thing is that the ls9/32 gives you more channels in less space and that to me is a big plus. I actually use the board in a FOH/Monitor setup that totally rocks. I have FOH on page 1 and Monitor world on page 2. All of the labels line up and their is less confusion for my volunteers when they use the setup this way. I honestly don't think their is enough difference between the two products to justify the price difference but that's just me. I'm sure after a while the M7 will start creeping down in price or a new console with more features will take the M7's place.

crt

BTW: Welcome to CMN!

Edit: I just remembered that the 4 effects of the LS9 could be turned into 31band eq's so you could technically have 8 31 band eq's at the expense of loosing your 4 effect units.

[visionmediaguy]

I am actually doing a show at a local Jr College and they installed an M7. We are using their equipment to saver them a little money. I actually have enjoyed the M7! It really only took me about @days to learn the basics of it and to be able to program and run the board. Now I dont know everything, but i know enough to get going! We are using 8 monitor mixes and 24 Senheiser body mics. I am running 92 cues and it is very easy. I am now trying to talk the guy I work for into buying one! Anybody want a Behringer 24? Lol!!!

Billy

[lauriejennifer]

Our ministry put in an M7 last year, switching from analog board (which was also a Yamaha). Now I work with the M7CL-48 six days a week. Initially, I was reluctant to make the switch from analog, but the M7 won me over. For a digital board, it's really easy to learn and work with, versatile, and signal flow is easy to follow. The touch screen is a nice "touch" (Ha! I couldn't resist!). Really, it gives the feel like you're operating a spaceship or something. I also like that there are multiple ways to do the same thing. You can develop your own preferences for navigating the board.

My home church has the LS and, while it certainly does the trick (especially for their smaller setting), I found myself pining for the extra bells and whistles of the M7. The LS felt cramped and a little confusing. The smaller screen was sometimes a little hard to make sense of (and I kept wanting to press it to pull stuff up. Old habits die hard).

Then again, I had only limited exposure to the LS on a home visit, while I interact with the M7 16 hours a week or more. I'm betting the LS is just as easy to master and work with. I've never had issues with any Yamaha sound equipment.

So, I guess it depends what you need the board for, and what your budget is (as others have all been saying). But the M7 is a lot of fun. Just saying.

[Les]

Both consoles are great and if I were buying a digital those would be the top 2 boards on my list for what I do.

I like both of them, but I prefer the M7 over the LS9 mainly for DCA's and some more flexible I/O options.

Are you planning on hosting bands at your venue? If you're a larger venue and think you might be hosting touring bands or trying to promote concerts then I would look at the M7CL. Usually most bands FOH engineers will accept an M7 (even when the rider calls for a PM5D or equivalent), but the LS9 maybe less known and less accepted.

Not that I agree with that logic as I think if you're under 32 inputs then the LS9 is great and just as acceptable, but that's been my experience with several Christian bands...

[lauriejennifer]

The DCA groups can be a lifesaver, depending on your situation. Here, for example, our drum kit is in an enclosed shield with close miking (8 channels total). When you have a nice even drum mix, it's nice to be able to adjust the kit as a whole if necessary, rather that have to move all 8 faders. This also goes for the singers. The worship leader (and associate, if applicable) gets his/her own DCA group, and all "BGV" their own (at least three of the "BGV" in this context will also frequently take turns with their own lead parts, hence the quotation marks).

If I'm understanding the LS correctly (I've had limited exposure to it), are you saying there's no way to sum channels? That can't be true. And if you can sum channels, then the lack of DCA groups wouldn't be as devastating.

[theatre4jc]

I'm not an audio guy so take what I say with as such. I was involved in a conversation tonight about this same thing. I was doing a load out with a production company and the owner enjoys running monitors for other groups, tours, and companies. Said he was thinking about buying a LS9 until his most recent show. They were just using it as a monitor board but he hated it. Couldn't get the control and speed he needed to set the monitors in a timely manner. Hated it so much that he decided not to buy one and instead purchase another M7 for his company. So instead of offering clients the smaller, slightly cheaper LS9 he decided to give them what he thought was a better quality product in the M7. Beyond hearing that for his reasoning I'm clueless about the LS9.

But as a lighting guy who has only worked on analogue audio consoles in the past I walked up to a M7 and was able to roughly and slowly navigate my way around. Had I had a few hours to play with it I could have easily mixed a show. Liked what I saw.

[Mikey]

Not that they are a replacement for DCA's, but you can link multiple faders together on the LS9. This gives one the opportunity to place a master fader for a group on the custom layer. Again, not a DCA, but it is helpful.

[starsound]

buy a M7CL you will get much more for the money

regards
StarSound