Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT: Wireless Mics

My mother's church is in need of new wireless microphones. Anyone have a favored brand? My Dad said he looked at Audio Technica, Sennheiser, and Shure. (models Shure PGX, Audio-Technica AT-3000 and Sennheiser EW G2.)

What's the budget and do they need more than one? Are they in a "busy" area in terms of dealing with interference?

AFAIK, they need more than one. All of those mics are between $400-500. Currently, their wireless mic gets a fair amount of interference (I'm not sure what kind it is), and it's on the same frequency as the one Jazzersize uses. Which could pose a little bit of a problem... There's also a cell tower right on top of the church (literally). And it's in Long Beach, California, near the port. So um, yeah, lots of interference.

Yeah, it's between 4-$500 apiece. They need 2 handheld and 2 lavalier. And they need them before next Saturday...

Don't forget AKG wireless and lavs.

I think wireless anything is evil, so I have no constructive advice.

Bren R.

Thaaaanks... but it makes a lot of sense in a church (well, not high church) setting.

Ken:

I don't think I can be of much help either in this case.

I checked out a bit of info on all three of the systems (The A-T system looks like it might be discontinued?) and all three have the "basics" that I would have recommended: UHF band (gets you away from much of the lower-level, more common interference stuff), frequency-agility (try a different frequency in an RF-heavy environment) and true diversity (two tuners and antennas make a huge difference in dropouts).

I think it's going to come down to which set of frequencies is less problematic in the church (they're each in different frequency ranges in the UHF band), interface options (forgot which, but one touted balanced and unbalanced inputs though I would think each has line/mic level XLR three pin out) and even the type of mic element included with the bodypack (lav) setups… do they want an omni mic or cardioid mic (omni picks up all directions but is more prone to feedback, cardioid is less prone to feedback and picks up only the wearer. The mics can be swapped out for more expense, but….).

There's many smaller considerations that make a difference to me, but probably less so in this churchs' application: Are the lav mic cases metal or plastic? Easy to replace batteries in the dark and in a pinch? Does the handheld unit have a "too-easy" switch to turn it off? Can the systems use rechargeable batteries?

I really think someone from the church needs to talk to someone who is very familiar with each of the systems and the RF problems in the area of the church. I don't think any of the systems would necessarily be a poor choice, but it's hard to say which is preferable without much more info! It might be that each of the systems could serve their needs just fine and it's the little ergonomic points that decide between "It's OK" and complete satisfaction.

This is one of those times when I look to the sky and ask... WWJD?

Bren R.

Probably say something like, "Just talk louder!"