Browse pro audio websites and magazines, noting the advertisements and product reviews, while, of course, keeping these two aspects in their proper perspective.
Make note of candidates that pique your interest while realistically fitting both system and budget needs.
Visit the web sites of manufacturers who offer possible choices, and by all means, explore the web sites of all pro audio manufacturers you can think of in order to see if they offer any units you weren’t aware of.
None of us can ever possibly know everything that’s available.
What Is Requested
Your list should now have a number of viable “possibles” on it – time to start narrowing the focus. Here’s where keeping all those riders of past bands/gigs can come in handy. (You do keep old riders, don’t you?)
Search these riders and see what the band engineers have requested in the recent past. (Don’t go too far in the past, because technology keeps advancing, especially these days.)
Are there trends? Does anything stand out as requested repeatedly? AND: is there anything that some have specifically listed as taboo?
At this point, your list should be reduced to a much more manageable size. Time to compare apples to apples, and I do this by carefully reading the published specifications for all units on the list.
For more information, look up manufacturer sales representative firms (reps) serving your region. If this isn’t provided on the web site, call the manufacturer to ask. You’re likely going to place an order with one of these rep firms anyway, so it’s good to make contact before your final decision.
Besides, any good rep will bend over backward to do whatever it takes to get your business.
Your list should now be quite short, and after consideration of the various bells and whistles on each unit, you might be down to the final candidate. But what if there are two candidates and you just can’t pull the trigger on a final decision?