Yamaha Rio3224-D2 Dante Stage Box

The Rio3224-D2 is Yamaha's full-size Dante stage box — the piece of the rig that lives at the front of stage and turns 32 microphone lines into network audio. It pairs naturally with CL and QL series consoles, and shows up regularly on Rivage systems as well. What sets it apart from smaller IO boxes is the output side: 16 analog outputs for wedges, side-fills, or amp feeds, plus four AES3 pairs that hand clean digital splits directly to a broadcast truck or recording interface without touching the analog domain at all.

In practice, 65 watts nominal draw on a 5U frame means it fits comfortably into a standard powered stage rack without crowding your power budget. The 364mm depth is real — this is not a shallow box, so measure your road case before you commit. Dual EtherCon ports matter: the secondary Dante port is a live redundant path, not a daisy-chain tap, so a cable pull on the primary during a show drops to the secondary without an audible interruption. Word clock I/O keeps everything locked when the Rio is sharing a stage with other digital gear that needs a common reference.

This box is the right call if you're already on a Yamaha digital console and you need the full 32-input complement in a single unit — no stacking two smaller boxes, no patching around limitations. If your show is a 16-input club rig, the Rio1616-D2 covers the ground at lower cost and in fewer rack units. And if your console ecosystem is something other than Yamaha — a DiGiCo, an Avid, or an Allen & Heath — you'll need to verify Dante interoperability carefully before spec'ing this rather than a manufacturer-native option, because preamp remote control typically requires Yamaha's own protocol layer.