Allen & Heath: Find the Right Console for Your Space

All three run on Allen & Heath's 96kHz XCVI core with sub-1ms latency, so the sound quality is consistent across the lineup. The SQ+ is a 48-channel console built for compact worship teams and single-room installs. Avantis steps up to 64 channels, 42 buses, and dual Full HD touchscreens for larger productions and multi-purpose venues. The dLive C3500 is the largest of the three, with 24 faders across 6 layers, dual 12 inch touchscreens, and the Harmony UI, and it's designed to scale into a full modular dLive system as your needs grow.

All three support SLink networking for connecting to Allen & Heath's Everything I/O expanders, and each has audio networking card slots for Dante or AES3 to move signal across buildings on standard network infrastructure. That makes it straightforward to run a single Cat6 or fiber run to an overflow room or a second campus location instead of pulling new analog snake for every space. The SQ+ tops out at 128x128 SLink, while Avantis and the dLive C3500 add dual I/O card slots for even more expansion headroom on larger install jobs.

Yes. The SQ+, Avantis, and dLive C3500 all share the XCVI FPGA core running at 96kHz with latency under 0.7ms, so a mix built on one console will sound and feel familiar on the next size up. That shared DNA is exactly why so many churches start with an SQ+ and later add an Avantis or dLive system without retraining their whole tech team.

Yes. Education venues share a lot of the same requirements as houses of worship, including consistent sound for volunteer or student operators, flexible routing for assemblies and productions, and reliable networking for AV systems that get used by different people every week. The SQ+ is a strong fit for a chapel or smaller auditorium, while Avantis and the dLive C3500 suit larger auditoriums running graduations, concerts, and multi-camera streaming from the same board.

It comes down to input count, growth plans, and how many mixes you're running at once. Smaller and mid-size churches running a standard worship band usually do well on the SQ+, which handles up to 48 channels with room for stereo aux mixes and in-ear monitoring. Once you're managing a bigger band, streaming feed, and multiple monitor mixes at the same time, Avantis and the dLive C3500 give you the extra channels, buses, and dual screens to keep FOH and monitors from competing for the same board. A SoundPro Account Manager can walk through your current setup and recommend the right fit before you buy.

Avantis with dPack adds dLive-class processing to the Avantis platform, including up to 16 instances of Dyn8 dynamic EQ and multiband compression, DEEP Compressors, the Dual-Stage Valve Preamp, and exclusive RackExtra FX like Transient Controller and HypaBass. The dLive C3500, as part of the full dLive MixRack system, carries that same RackExtra FX suite natively along with the broader dLive processing library and modular I/O options, since it's built to scale into larger, more complex system designs. In practical terms, dPack brings dLive-grade processing into a fixed-channel console, while dLive itself stays the more expandable platform for teams that expect to keep growing their system.