IEM and Wireless Mics decisions (frequency bands)

M

Matt Vivlamore

Senior
Jan 11, 2011
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Southern MD, USA
www.meerkatsound.com
I am at a cross roads with my RF Rack… I did a goof purchase and ended up buying a couple IEM systems in the same band/group as my wireless mics. Depending on what you all suggest, I am going to sell either a pair of IEMs or Wireless Mics, but I am not sure what would be the best approach to the gear that I already own. Ideally the goal is to run 2-5 Wireless Vocals/Horns and 6-9 IEMS mono mixes (using 1 Tx with 2 Rx's).

Here is what I have.

2x ew500-G3 e935 in A band
2x ew300-G3 IEM in A-Band with 3 wireless beltpacks
1x ew300-G3 IEM in G-Band with 2 wireless beltpacks
(2x Shure SLX for horns are being replaced with ew300-G3)

Now I need to buy 2 more ew300-G3 IEMs systems with 4 beltpacks; which frequency band should I buy the next IEMs in?
I want to keep all the G3 IEMs in the same Band so that I can take advantage of the Engineer Mode feature.
 
Re: IEM and Wireless Mics decisions (frequency bands)

My only comment - stay the hell away from 2.4gHz.

I was on a corpy earlier this week where the AV contractor sent 3 new ewD1 lavalier units. All worked perfectly in rehearsal but when the 600 engineers and pilots came in, 2 went to shit (on the keynote speaker, we had 2 units on him on opposite sides of his jacket... 40 foot line of sight.

The same contractor also brought 6 Sabine 2.4G units that, even with the "paddle" antennae could not function with more than 4 units on and all but one would drop out or present weird artifact noises if the user got his hand close to the transmit antenna. Distance of 75', line of sight.

To say I'm surprised by the Sabine failures would be a lie, but I expected much, much more from Sennheiser and based on my experience yesterday they might as well shit-can the tooling now.

Good luck, Matt.
 
Re: IEM and Wireless Mics decisions (frequency bands)

Tim McCulloch said:
My only comment - stay the hell away from 2.4gHz.

I was on a corpy earlier this week where the AV contractor sent 3 new ewD1 lavalier units. All worked perfectly in rehearsal but when the 600 engineers and pilots came in, 2 went to shit (on the keynote speaker, we had 2 units on him on opposite sides of his jacket... 40 foot line of sight.

The same contractor also brought 6 Sabine 2.4G units that, even with the "paddle" antennae could not function with more than 4 units on and all but one would drop out or present weird artifact noises if the user got his hand close to the transmit antenna. Distance of 75', line of sight.

To say I'm surprised by the Sabine failures would be a lie, but I expected much, much more from Sennheiser and based on my experience yesterday they might as well shit-can the tooling now.

Good luck, Matt.
Click to expand...

Yea I am staying away from the 2.4gHz stuff... and building on the ew300/ew500 platforms.
 
Re: IEM and Wireless Mics decisions (frequency bands)

There's nothing really inherently wrong with having mics and IEMs in the same band, as long as you are careful about frequency coordination and antenna placement. What you might want to do is use Shure's Wireless Workbench to run a few test coordinations for locales you're likely to be working in, just to see what does and doesn't fit.

Bear in mind that (parts of?) the 600MHz range are going to auction probably next spring, so either stay below 600MHz or have a strategy to make enough ROI up high while you still can.
 
Re: IEM and Wireless Mics decisions (frequency bands)

Scott Helmke said:
There's nothing really inherently wrong with having mics and IEMs in the same band, as long as you are careful about frequency coordination and antenna placement. What you might want to do is use Shure's Wireless Workbench to run a few test coordinations for locales you're likely to be working in, just to see what does and doesn't fit.

Bear in mind that (parts of?) the 600MHz range are going to auction probably next spring, so either stay below 600MHz or have a strategy to make enough ROI up high while you still can.
Click to expand...

I agree. I have six Sennheiser G3 EW300s IEMs and two Sennheiser G3 wireless mics and they co-exist easily. Just do an RF survey at the venue and you will be fine !
 
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