samchurchill

Yes, my favourite that I've found in that space is https://www.andertons.co.uk/behringer-bh470u-premium-stereo-headset/, but might have to superglue in the mic so it doesn't go missing! Any reviews of ones people have used very welcome.

Hi, I'm looking to buy a couple of headsets for our Blackmagic cameras to use with talkback, but am drawing a bit of a blank in the mid-market i.e. not £15 as can be found on Amazon, but below £100. They need to have a 3.5mm TRRS connection (I'd prefer not to solder on a new plug, but can if absolutely necessary) and I'd prefer isolated. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks, Sam

Hi, I like the look of the TV stand they’re using on the BBC coverage of the snooker at the moment. See attachment for a blurry screenshot. Does anyone know where to get one, or do you think it’s been custom made? Thanks, Sam

Thanks everyone for your responses - no-one is saying “no”, so it’s probably worth me giving it a go. The AD903 is on the same comms circuit, but I have previously modified it to add a push-to-talk button which affects whether the comms chatter goes to the line output, so it needs to be local. I guess the other option would be to add a remote for this switch, but that would require far more surgery on the AD903!

Hi, I've got an "outpost" in the front row for our stage management team that needs a standard belt pack and a TecPro AD903 4-wire interface, both connected to our Clear-com party line system. As we have a fairly mobile setup, I'm looking into ways of doing this with a single CAT5 cable and some break-out boxes on each end. Something like this for the CA5 cores: 1-3: party line comms 4: spare 5-6: AD903 input 7-8: AD903 output Do any of you think this is a silly idea, and can come up with something better, or think having those signals running down a single CAT5 together might cause a lot of interference? Given that the CAT5 has twisted pairs, would it matter which cores I chose to use for each purpose? Am I right in thinking off-the-shelf CAT5 breakouts aren't appropriate for comms because of the power on the line? The alternative would be a loom (whether with proper multicore cable or just 3 lots of mic cable in some braided sleeving), but CAT5 just seemed like a good idea as it's plentiful. Thanks!

I’m really sorry, I’m not sure I can remember what I did in the end, but I suspect we might have just bought a Rode Wireless Go as I don’t think I “created” anything.

Thanks for the advice and info everyone. I think, at least temporarily, I’m going to go with just keeping the AVIO plugged into the rack’s analog inputs, which will go into the video switcher’s inputs. It’s not quite as tidy as keeping it all inside the rack, but will do the job. This might seem a bit mad, as using 3-pole switched jacks is the “correct” way to do it (given XLRs aren’t available). However, we don’t have XLR-to-Jack cables anywhere else in our setup, and I’ve been caught before with them going missing if they’re not used on a regular basis.

I went almost to the end of the rainbow and found https://www.neutrik.com/en/product/nc3fbv2-sw - shame there’s only one set of NC contacts! Unless anyone has any better ideas, I guess I’m looking at the above with a relay (frustrating as I was hoping to stay passive) or building the balanced combiner circuit.

Ah, thanks, sockets with break contacts would be a great low-tech solution. My Google powers seem to be deserting me - any idea where I’d find such a thing?

Great, thanks very much - looks like I need to make a balanced summing box. I guess this is what something like https://www.studiospares.com/Microphones/Splitter-Combiners/plc21-passive-line-combiner-by-lambden-audio-458220.htm is doing? I’ll be able to make two circuits in a single small box, which is great.

Hi, I'm building a rack that includes a video switcher with analog L+R audio inputs. Normally these will be fed via Dante from an AVIO adapter, but I want to add analog XLR inputs onto the back of the rack in case we're running a simpler setup where we don't have Dante. As there should never be a time when there's sound coming in through both Dante and the rack's analog inputs, I'm looking to combine them in the simplest way possible. Ideally I don't even want to need to switch anything or twist any knobs. If I just combine them with no electronics, would a line level signal on the rack's analog inputs have the potential to damage the AVIO adapter? If so, are there any small passive combiners that any of you can recommend? Or, if I choose to build something myself, would it just be a matter of adding a couple of diodes to stop the flow of any current back to the AVIO adapter? Thanks in advance!

Perfect, thank you!

Well, the good news is that I’ve tested the cable again and found that a short had appeared on pins 1+2 between when I built it and when I first tried to use it. Having fixed it, I’m now hopeful that it’ll work when I am next at the venue. This would actually be really handy, in case others start plugging it in - is it just a case of adding a diode on pin 2 of each of the XLRs connecting to the single-channel loops? thanks again

Thanks, that makes sense, and is indeed what I’m wanting to do. However, the strange thing is that the test I did was only connecting it to one single-channel loop (i.e. I left the 2nd xlr unplugged), so is that not still a mystery?

Thanks everyone. So, unless I’m missing something in your replies, it sounds like there’s no fundamental problem with the design of the breakout cable I’ve made, which is good news. I’ve asked the venue’s technician who lent me the fender bender to test that it see whether it crossed pins 2+3 over. I’m also going to retest all connections I’m my cable and replace the XLR male with female so the gender bender isn’t even needed. It also sounds from James’s reply as if I shouldn’t connect it to both powered channels - luckily this was just a nice side benefit - it’ll almost always only be needed on a single channel, so will tackle that when we come to it.