Radio Mic System

[Ian der Laan]

Hi,

I have been asked to source some radio mic's for a college. Their primary use will be conferences but I'll also use them for singing assessments so I'd need hand held type.

I'd like any suggestions please!

 

Budget £600 (absolute max) -

Mic's required = 2.

 

Thanks!

[boatman]

You're probably aware of all the digital dividend stooshie that's going on just now and that radio mics which operate in the licence free band of channel 70 will not be affected. Trantec S4.4 handhelds will probably be a good bet for you until the future state of the market is more certain. Unfortunately the battery life isn't great and they use PP3 rather than AA, but they are very cheap.

[Ian der Laan]

Thanks, I'll check those out. My initial reaction is that battery life will be rather important as, I'm sure you're aware, conferences can drag on!

[boatman]

The Sennheiser Freeport is a clone of the Trantec S4.4 and you can find the user manual here. Battery life is stated to be 10 hours and mine certainly run that long on Duracells.

 

Edited to add:

 

I've just had a look at the CPC website and they are offering this as an alternative to the Trantec. Battery life claimed as 10 hours from two AA cells which sounds better. I have no experience of these at all, but they might be worth a look.

[Ian der Laan]

The Sennheiser Freeport is a clone of the Trantec S4.4 and you can find the user manual here. Battery life is stated to be 10 hours and mine certainly run that long on Duracells.

Forgive my ignorance but why did you choose the Sennheiser?

[boatman]

Sorry, we crossed messages there and I added another link to my previous post, which you may have missed.

 

The Sennheiser Freeport and Trantec S4.4 are identical apart from the badge and when I bought mine a couple of years ago they were on special offer from CPC.

[Shez]

Their primary use will be conferences but I'll also use them for singing assessments so I'd need hand held type.

 

I would have thought that for conferences, tie clip style would be more useful. Or wired lectern type mics. And for singing assessments, I'd go for wired any day of the week - sounds better, more reliable and a lot more cost effective.

 

For me, wireless should only be used if a wire is absolutely impracticable e.g. the talent is running all over the stage and would end up in an almighty tangle. That might just be me though...

[Ian der Laan]

Their primary use will be conferences but I'll also use them for singing assessments so I'd need hand held type.

 

I would have thought that for conferences, tie clip style would be more useful. Or wired lectern type mics. And for singing assessments, I'd go for wired any day of the week - sounds better, more reliable and a lot more cost effective.

 

For me, wireless should only be used if a wire is absolutely impracticable e.g. the talent is running all over the stage and would end up in an almighty tangle. That might just be me though...

 

The 'talent' is moving around the space interviewing people from various locations. We need handheld.

 

Similarly, for the singing assessments, some of the students want to incorporate movement into their work. They will be able to choose between the 58's which we already have, and the radio mic's I am currently sourcing.

 

A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on.

 

Sorry, we crossed messages there and I added another link to my previous post, which you may have missed.

 

The Sennheiser Freeport and Trantec S4.4 are identical apart from the badge and when I bought mine a couple of years ago they were on special offer from CPC.

Thanks for this. I'll let you know what I decide to go for!

[Simon Lewis]

You're probably aware of all the digital dividend stooshie that's going on just now and that radio mics which operate in the licence free band of channel 70 will not be affected.

 

It's worth pointing out that although channel 70 may not be affected per se, the countless hordes who are using channel 69 at present may find they cannot use their existing frequencies come DSO and will have to use channel 70 instead (or sell / scrap their radios).

 

Therefore, channel 70 may well become pretty congested.

 

Simon

[Ian der Laan]

@boatman

Thanks for your help. I've taken your advice and gone for the Sennheisers (because the course co-ordinator prefered the square mesh).

Cheers,

Ian.