J Pearce

It's harder with bigger packs like G3/G4 or trantecs. Shure Axient ADX1M are perhaps the best thing for the job with recessed mic connector and internal antenna, but not cheap. I've also used Sennheiser's SK6212 and Sony's DWTB03R in wigs. I wouldn't try it with a 2xAA battery mic TX, but I'm sure it has been done. I'd recommend putting the pack in a fabric pouch (I usually use URSA pouches, but you can make something similar inexpensively), this helps with cable management and helps manage sweat ingress. If you can terminate your mic capsules with less cable you'll help matters too. If your mics will take flexible antenna that will help, though do test for rf performance issues and be careful that the antenna doesn't get bundled up in the pouch which will likely affect rf performance. In terms of cables sticking out or getting strained - I usually 'dress' cables coming out of packs with heatshrink or self amalgamating tape such that the cable folds back down. This helps sticky out cables but also massively improves resilience of cables being pulled. Outside of that it's largely in the skill of your wig maker to disguise the lump and manage the weight. Obviously big hairpiece wigs will work better than very naturalistic wigs with centre partings. In terms of other solutions for pack 'mounting', have a look at URSA's range of straps and undergarments-with-mic-pouches-built-in - either as a product or as inspiration for how you can hide a mic pack. Waist straps, thigh straps, chest straps, back of a pair of shorts, under the armpit - there's options, but depends on costume and physical activity. It's worth noting that fitting the capsule to a wig can be a really good solution for getting the mic in the same place every show, even if the pack ends up on the actor's body.

There are various stage boxes you can use with the S21, at various price points. They're probably all more than the equivalent A&H, which makes sense as both Digico and A&H have the same parent company, and Digico is seen as the 'premium' brand. Worth noting that you get 24 local ins on the back.

If anyone has the time to pursue leads, there is still a 520i sat in the LX booth of symphony hall (or was a few months back).

I'd suggest that a X/M32 is probably more fairly compared to the QU than the SQ. If you have the budget for the SQ then it's worth also looking at the Digico S21. I really like the S21 and find it a very powerful platform considering the size and cost. I've not enjoyed a single Presonus desk that I've sat behind.

I was lucky enough to see one of these items being dragged out of a store this week. Sadly I won't make it to PLASA this year, but it's good to see the industry making moves to preserve some of the history of how we got to where we are.

I'd argue that sound and lighting control positions should be subject to DSE assessments, and thus meet the spec as per DSE Regs (1992). We have some of these in our sound control positions (elevation is needed for sightlines), they're quite comfy without being a super padded gaming chair style.

I expect the ATEM unit is unbalanced, and the amp is balanced. This is a good use of a line DA - or using a separate output from the mixer if possible.

What are you sending the split output to? For most normal setups a XLR Y split cable should not affect level, as the destination should have a very high impedance input. Just to check - you've definitely made a parallel split and not somehow created a series split? A line distribution amplifier would solve the problem, but the symptoms you describe suggest that your system has issues that want addressing.

Try it. It works quite well. The natural HF roll-off combats sibilance, and if someone does grab it and go up close it's fine - unlike a fancier miniature lectern mic. Not the prettiest solution, but for simple/cheap/hardwearing it works well.

My go-to lectern mic is a DPA4099 but that's not much cheaper. However - I wonder if Thomann's 4099 alike might work well? If looks aren't important then a SM57 does a good job and is almost unbreakable.

There’s a very good chance that they could be. If you’re not confident in identifying asbestos cable you probably want to seek help (or dispose of responsibly).

Over the years I've done everything from schools to west end shows.

One of these 15W ESP8285 based LED bulbs gutted to its power module and LED PCB (retaining the heatsink part of the bulb housing), mounted on the lamp holder with some plastic bits and silicone adhesive. They run WLED so will listen to SACN over wifi - probably good enough for decor use, but not sure I'd want to use it for cued stage lighting due to latency over wifi. My use case is not work related, so I've not tried the SACN, but I'm led to believe WLED's SACN integration is pretty solid. You can't run the LEDs with RGB and both whites all at 100% without implementing forced air cooling, but with a bit of power limiting it's fine with passive cooling. You get a bit of flood/spot control, but not proper focussing as the source is so large. Brightness is 15W of LED, minus some losses through the lens etc. so not especially punchy, but for atmospheric or eye candy use, perhaps useful in work context.

I wouldn't attempt 12 channels with a budget system. It won't be reliable. Unless you're doing lots of shows a year, I'd suggest owning maybe 4 channels and hiring a good system when you need more. Additionally consider that budget systems are almost impossible to get spares for. By contrast I can still get spares for 10 year old Sennheiser packs, and they're mostly pretty easy to fit.

I’ve actually done this on a small low power scale on a pair of P123Bs, using the guts of a wifi LED RGBWW lamp (from Athom). The chip on board could run WLED and receive SACN or Artnet. The biggest issue is thermal management as LEDs need to run cool. I doubt you’d get good LED life out of anything much over 25W in a fitting designed for halogen lamps.

We've gone to digital networked comms in 2 of our venues - mostly due to needing more than 4 channels in production weeks and that becoming impractical on the extant analogue infrastructure, though our analogue setup was life expired, so it was a replacement as much as an upgrade. However, networked comms are vastly more expensive and vastly more complicated. GreenGo is good, but has a huge amount of user configurability - which can be both a blessing and a curse. After a period of hiring in various options, we settled on Clearcom Helixnet which felt better built and easier/faster to reconfigure as needed. To make either work you need someone with good computer network skills - including VLANs, broadcast domains etc. There's also Reidel and others if you want to get further down the rabbit hole. What do you need from a comms system? If you're doing rock and roll shout - then Glensound do some nice dante comms units, if you're doing theatre comms see above. But equally - if your analogue comms work well for you, what's the advantage of going to Dante? Cedd makes some good points about reliability and redundancy (for our Helixnet that's commercial switches on UPSs).

This was in a rather large establishment with corporate management chains, so the findings were reported up the chain - partly as a push to get a more specialist company in for our theatrical equipment.

Aside from arguments on what is required vs what is sensbile- in this specific instance, continuity testing extension leads was part of the agreed service level.

At a previous job where PAT was contracted out I always left a trap. It would be something that would fail PAT, but not be dangerous. As per your suggestion a missing fuse in an extension lead (so should fail on continuity) was a common one. They usually passed...

To go further down the rabbit hole - is a fitting setup with a plug-in ceiling rose hardwired or on a plug?

While I agree with much of what you say, venues with auditoria in the round come up with solutions for SL/SR on infrastructure labelling (N/S/E/W being the obvious, but there are other solutions).

Ampman repairs sorted my X32 rack when the PSU died.

If you can get at the part and measure the body and pins etc., you should find a suitable part, albeit maybe with a generic cap rather than the nice sennheiser one. The keyword for searches is “tactile switch”.

A quick google shows that the OP's Tannoy V12 have foam over the grilles.

To be clear, I'm talking about speaker grill foam (which I believe is what the OP is talking about), the discussion has since drifted across to cone surround foams. Yes, we keep a few rolls of thin and thick speaker grill foam in stock and replace grill foam as needed.