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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

HELP, wireless lav advice needed!

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Finner

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So the post adoption/abortion training video I received HDV camera advice on from a bunch of you on is happening in 1 month and I am thinking I should finally stop renting wireless mic's and just buy some. By the way thank you all for your camera advice it was a big help. Now as I mentioned I am in the market for some wireless lavs and thought I would get some advice from all the knowledgeable people here. Because on bigger budget things I hire a sound guy I am not looking to purchase the best out there. I am looking for a budget friendly mic that offers a lot of quality for a fair price. I have found quite often that to buy equipment that is quite good tends to be a fairly reasonable price but after a certian point quality does not go up that much but price tends to sky rocket. So any personal experiences or links to good lav mic tests/comparisons/recomendations would be great.

I would like to put an order in online by Monday for the mics so some quick advice would be appreciated.

thanks all,
Daren
 
I use the Sennheiser EW112P-G2 UHF kits w/ omni-directional mic. I have been very pleased with them for my purposes. But I would like to know more about other wireless lavalier systems myself.
 
A good lav isn't that expensive compared to other equipment like the wireless system, but it will make a significant quality difference. I have a set of Sanken Cos-11 which gives excellent audio quality and they run around $300 or so. You'll need to have the correct connector made for it though depending on how you intend to interface.
 
Does anyone know of a good website that does comparisons and reviews of these mics? I tried to find one and could not but am not nearly as good at searching as some of you guys. Here's a chance to show off your incredible searching skills! Okay sure I am trying to butter some of you up but I am just frustrated that I can not find anything.
 
Following from what Jeff and Opcode said, I have a Sennheiser Evolution UHF kit, but have replaced the mic with a Cos-11. This gives a pretty good value for money setup. The Evolution transmitters/receivers are good, but the mic that comes with them isn't so good.
 
Go with the Sennheiser Evolution. You will not regret it. If you get anything cheaper, you will probably have more problems with dropouts and whatnot. It'll cost you around $500 for that, and if you can afford it, I would replace the mic with either a countryman or tram mic. The stock mic isn't bad, but one of those will give you a much warmer, clearer sound.

Matthew
 
I've used Sennheiser evo wireless kit for the last 4 years on everything from TV studios to single-camera doco and narrative to huge multichannel live theatre rigs. The RF side is impeccable.

That said, the stock lavalier mic is pretty ordinary. The stock handheld is really quite good, but probably not what you're after.

Luckily, the evolution series uses a reasonably standard 3.5mm socket on its transmitters, so you can shop around for your microphone. I can personally recommend the Countryman B3 for a lapel-style use, but you should do your own tests.

http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/productdetail.asp?transid=G2-5

The ME4 is a decent cardioid, and will fit until you find a better microphone. Omnidirectional's handy if you don't want to worry about placement and orientation but you will get a lot more ambient noise at a given distance.

I wish Sennheiser made 300 series portable receivers, but given that your choices seem to be 100 series or 500 series, you should go for the 100 series (the 500 will be way too much). The difference is in the accuracy of the RF tuners - you can run a lot more 500 series in the same area in a given frequency range than you can 100 series.
 
Check out lectrosonic wireless stuff. It is for sure a step up from Senheiser. I second the Sanken mic as well. I got my setup at this place and they were great people.
www.locationsound.com
 
I bought a couple of Lectrosonics UCR201 transmitters and UM200C receivers a couple of years ago. They provide a display of existing traffic throughout the available frequency range so you can pick the best of 256 possible frequencies, and also have fancy electronics to minimize noise, but they're pricey at $1,800 per set.
 
I know some pros that use the 100 series from lectrosonics.

they are less money but still do a good. I have always had lectros and
they are well worth the money.
 
The Lectrosonics do look interesting. I'm sure they're better than the $500 Sennheiser Evolution G2 kits. Or I should hope so, given the prices. :) I wonder how they compare to some of the higher-end Sennheiser stuff that's in a similar price bracket? The Lectros have a nice feature set, definitely looks like a good option.
 
Hi Jeff,

I have had great luck and clean sound w/ minimal hits using a variety of Lectrosonic wireless gear for ENG/EFP, Cine, doco., and sports photography. I have had mixed results with Sony; however, I own a set of the wrt 800 series trans/reciever (no longer for sale) and I have never had a problem-- clean audio, great sound (standard lav mic). Lectrosonic has always been good to me in the field. Sorry that I do not have comparative info on mics, been some time since I have been in the market.

Cheers,

Andrew
 
Josch said:
One disadvantage of the Sennheiser is their popularity. I shoot a concert 6 weeks ago where there were so many of them on stage, that the sound guys would not give me a wireless feed (with *my* Sennheisers) from the PA.
Click to expand...

Brand doesn't matter, if your wireless kit is in the same range as their wireless kit and they've filled the spectrum there's nothing you could have done.

I have heard really good things about Lectrosonics kits, but the price differential vs. an evolution G2 100 series is too high for someone entry-level given the high quality of the Sennheiser gear.
 
i have the sennheiser G2, but i need a 2nd set-up. does anyone know of any online comparisons between sennheiser, sennheiser with mic upgrade, lectrosonics, or the new AT 1800?

i am pretty satisfied with the sennheiser sound, but i'd like to hear some comparisons, if anyone knows of any....
 
So it looks like the obvious choice is the sennheisr G2 system. Is anyone savy at finding the best price froma reputable online store? The best I could find was $462.12. I have not purchased that much online so I really don't know who is good or bad to buy from. I have a prize for the person that can find the best deal (best store & price combo). The prize is a personally delivered strip-O-gram from my good buddy HOFF. How can any of you resist that? I bet Brook is just chomping at the bit to be the big winner. It will be shipped to my place in Astoria Oregon if that makes any difference.
 
Josch said:
They´ve asked me if it I have something else. Different brands transmitting on a different band.
Click to expand...

There are different transmission ranges but there's only so much unlicensed RF space in your particular country. And anyway, Sennheiser (like most of the major brands) makes versions of most of their gear for all of the different unlicensed RF bands. So again, the fact that you were both using Sennheiser doesnt really matter; even if you'd had Lectrosonics, or something really shonky like Chiayo if they had saturated the RF band you were trying to use then you'd have the same problem.

EDIT: If, on the other hand, the engineer was assuming he'd used all the RF and you actually had a differently-ranged Sennheiser system which would have presented no problem, feel free to kick his arse for me.
 
cailyoung said:
If, on the other hand, the engineer was assuming he'd used all the RF and you actually had a differently-ranged Sennheiser system which would have presented no problem, feel free to kick his arse for me.
Click to expand...

Guys was quite nerveous. Big gig, couple of high profile bands, some already had their soundcheck when I arrived, didn´t look like they had the time or oversight to search for free frequencies.

And my Sennheisers feeding one stereo master channel back into the PA would have created the mother of all feedbacks.

Jochen
 
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