Humey Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 I am looking at purchasing 4 wireless handheld mics to use in events ranging from music to spoken word. I have looked at the AKG WMS 40 and the KAM KWM 1940 as these are in my budget (£250 tops). Does anyone have any experience with the aforementioned units? Are there any other I should check out? Finally, is there anything I should take into consideration when researching these apart form the usual frequency response, wireless range and battery life? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 Do you intend buying channel 38 units and a licence to use them, or will you "take your chance" and buy channel 70 units? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humey Posted July 4, 2012 Author Share Posted July 4, 2012 I believe both these units are Channel 70. I think for my budget and needs I will need to go for a channel 70 unit. Is it worth the risk or will it become more of a hinderance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_s Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 don't know about the AKG mics, but so far we haven't been able to get four of the KAM KWM 1940 to play nicely together. We're told it should work, so we're persevering... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GR1 Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 The KAM website states that each transmitter has to be 0.5Mhz apart from the nearest one. Given that Channel 70 is only 2 Mhz wide you can only use 3 together unles you try to sit on each end of the Channel which may leave you open to interference. I would suggest that the OP buys some used Sennheiser Evolution G2 Hanhelds from Ebay which you should be able to do for £250 each. Not only will they sound much better but you can use them closer together and will be able to operate 4 within Channel 70 reliably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Steve Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 As much as I don't like to make an ill-informed post.... I find that with wireless kit you get what you pay for. I would recommend second hand Sennheiser G2 as GR1 mentioned. I have not used the AKG WMS range, but I know that KAM make disco tat and I would be wary about the quality of their radio mics, in terms of the capsule / sound quality and the RF quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speakercon Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 We use 2 of the KAM mics (VHF ones), and I was very pleased with them regarding the very low price, they're not bad (though no match for the G3's) however I have also had no luck getting 2 twin packs to work together. Try these - http://cpc.farnell.c...hone/dp/MP33874 I consider true diversity a must really. http://cpc.farnell.com/productimages/farnell/standard/MP3387407-40.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 Now that RF electronics have settled down, it's not technical very difficult to make UHF radio systems that sound and perform quite well for little money. The problem is that the difficult bit is maing systems with wide audio frequency response that can fit into a small bandwidth - so you can get more channels working together happily. The Chinese copies of the Sennheisers so common on ebay are a good example. Many people don't even know they have a counterfeit item. On it's own - it's happy. However, it's more prone to interference from other transmitters. Receiver filtering is something that can be removed, or just not done so well without ruining the individual system's performance - until you add another. This means you cannot dismiss the cheap Kam as being rubbish, because if it sounds good, doesn't go "phutt" too often and is reliable - why is it bad? I don't know the unit, but at the price - I'd suspect the real problem is simply it doesn't work so well close in frequency to others. If you want to have lots of systems in a small band - they just need to be well designed ones specifically produced to be able to work with others in RF and physical close proximity - and that just gets more expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_s Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 It's all very well suggesting second hand gear at twice the budget specified by the OP, but the possibilty of stretching the budget may not exist. In our case, that's why we went that way, 250 quid for four mics on a show with NO budget ... and we asked the shop if four would work together before we bought.... But apart from the budget issue, what GR1 describes is exactly what we've found, though the shop we bought them from says if we take them back they will set them up properly for us! Sound wise they aren't bad, we only wanted them for speaking really, not music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Set them up properly? Do these units not have switched frequencies? So all you can do is switch them each to a different channel. If its an MI shop the perhaps assume you have them all on the same channel. Many of these shops never even try four together so may be unaware of problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revbobuk Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 I've tried KAM, W-audio and many more. One issue few have mentioned is clipping. If you are using the cheaper mics for singers, they will, without any doubt, clip on the peaks. Even the Trantec s4 linked to above - typically around £100 - will do that, and is significantly more prone to it than the s5 series. Nevertheless, I reckon the s4 or the Freeport (same mic, different badge) to be the minimum worth having - and I've seen so many cheap radio mics installed in churches. The Audio Technica 2000 series work well with 4 in Ch70, although they are a little more costly than your budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timtheenchanteruk Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 the original WMS40 system, you could get 4 in the Ch70, however, the new system can only do 3, 863.100, 864.375 & 864.850the only other frequencies avaliable (according to the manual) are 660.700, 661.100 & 662.300, which I believe are US frequencies, so, even though the manual says they are ok for the UK, they are not (at least not under de-reg or shared licencing.) I also had range issues with the original WMS systems, even tough I bought the diversity receivers, 30 feet was about the max reliable reception for the body packs, the HH may be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owen123 Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 I have used sennheiser g2s and they are good, but bare in mind you can only legally use 3x g2 frequencies because of digital TV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shez Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Not quite true. G2s can operate on a whole range of frequencies, some of which are licence exempt and others of which require you to buy a licence. In the licence exempt part of ch.70, you can use four together without a problem. Elsewhere, with a suitable licence, you can use lots of them.As always, JFMG are the people with all the answers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 And just to add to Shez's post, it's unlikely that you will find any new G2 Sennheisers around (unless of course they are copies from auction sites!). G3 Sennheisers can squeeze six units into the licence free slice of spectrum, but they are considerably more expensive than the OP's budget... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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