Only from reading and doing research. That said, it appears the A&H are very high quality consoles.

I'm trying to talk my partner out of buying a new Mackie and get the A&H instead, for live performance mixing.

I've own an A & H system 8, and I now own an A & H sigma 24 bus inline and I love A & H

how does the AH compare to the souncraft spirit line?

I believe that the Soundcraft Spirit line is mostly known for it's use as a live board.

I have a Mix Wiz and love it. Much nicer sounding than my old cheaper Mackie. I got a great live recording of a jazz piano trio using the A&H.

I haven't used the Soundcraft Spirit, but it is also a nice line. What I understand is that the Spirit pres are based on the Ghost boards. Don't know if they're the same. Several folks steared me toward A&H over the Spirit line as a better board for recording. Spirit is a lower end product that Soundcraft absorbed, but the Spirit line is below the Soundcraft in quality.

All I can say is that I'm very happy with A&H.

If I were you I would research this deeply.Somewhere in my library I have the A&H fishwrap on this line.If I remember correctly, these were a modular design and didnt have a long shelf life for the company.Also it was an early midi controlled unit.I think its the one I remember but dont quote me yet.A google search may yield results for you.I can say that these are NOT the GS or the GL line of mixers and these(GL/GS) are very very good at what they do.As for Soundcraft, I own a Ghost and would not trade it for anything in its price category and would be hard-pressed to trade it for a lot of boards in the mid-ranged console price level.It just does everything well.

As usual, I have to put in my $0.02 for the Midas Venice. If you like the simplicity of small-format mixers but hate (or don't love) their sound, this is THE board to check out.

Originally posted by Clueless:
As usual, I have to put in my $0.02 for the Midas Venice. If you like the simplicity of small-format mixers but hate (or don't love) their sound, this is THE board to check out.

:) That IS a cool looking board too! I saw some pictures a while back in a thread. Reminds me of the original A&H minimix when they went to colored knobs and a silver face.

--Rick

I've recently bought an A+H GL2 used off a buddy. This particular board has had some mod work (Burr Brown op amps I believe) and I gotta say it smokes the the Mackie 1604 VLZ I've been using.