Sennheiser EW300/500 G3

[DavidHart]

Thinking of buying some racks of Sennheiser EW500 G3's with belt pack and handheld transmitters to replace my Trantec S5.5's.

 

Was wondering what your thoughts were on this system compared with the trantec S5 range?

 

Many thanks.

[Jon Wiles]

Hi David

Are you keeping the Trantecs as we have 16 and could cross hire . Based in Winchester, but live in Bournemouth. Your profile says Dorset.

 

Cheers

[Stuart91]

Any particular shortcomings with the S5.5s that makes you think it's time to get rid of them? Or is it just a case of what your customers are expecting/demanding?

 

We have been very happy with our Sennheiser G3s, but to be honest it was an almost automatic choice because we had such a large stock of mics with minijack connectors. I'd looked briefly at Trantecs - a friend of mine holds considerable stock of them - and was impressed. If we hadn't had our existing Sennheiser stock I may well have gone down that route in order to be able to cross-hire with him.

 

One wee thing to take into account is that whilst the Trantec transmitters take a single AA battery, the Sennheiser take two. I'm not sure how the run time compares. So you may need to factor in a small increase in running costs.

 

 

 

Bottom line, which option is going to make you the most money over the next few years?

[Jon Wiles]

Stuart

That's the reason we went for the Trantecs. We had had Shure ULXP before and had a stock of Countryman B3 mics.

Didn't like the ULXP from the moment we bought them (lav tx) - the Beta 57As we had were great though.

 

Being AA has it's advantages too........10 hrs for 25p or 10 hrs for £2.40 ULXP took a PP3 that lasted about as long as a sneeze- a no brainer really.

 

We've been really happy with the S5.5. Got them when we did the Equinity thing and could get more Trantecs for the money

 

For the jobs we do, a radio mic is a radio mic

[pete10uk]

 

One wee thing to take into account is that whilst the Trantec transmitters take a single AA battery, the Sennheiser take two. I'm not sure how the run time compares. So you may need to factor in a small increase in running costs.

 

Or you can just use rechargeable batteries. Annoys me people seem not to use these more. I get 6-7 hours out of uniross hybrio batteries which are 2 years old and regularly used.

[Stuart91]

Or you can just use rechargeable batteries. Annoys me people seem not to use these more.

 

Whilst I can see this working for systems that are permanently in the same venue, I've looked at the logistics of maintaining rechargeables for hire stock and decided against it. We dry hire to all and sundry, often at very short (i.e. no) notice, and our own use at events we cover can be pretty sporadic.

 

Add into all this that if a battery dies prematurely in an important transmitter, that may well cost me the gig, wiping out at a stroke any savings I might have made by going rechargeable.

[sam.spoons]

Duracells all the way for me, rechargeables are great for non-mission critical applications but even the most occasional failure is a major embarrassment at best and a gig breaker at worst when you're being paid to provide the service. I just sleep easier the night before a job if I have a box of fresh duracells in the mic box.

[paulears]

Rechargeables are hugely better than they were, but the charge is only as good as the person who remembered to put them in the charger, and implement a regime that guarantees the box of charged cells really is full of charged ones! Only on two occasions have I had a dead Duracell, but my experience of video batteries is enough to prevent me doing sound with them. At least with a video camera the viewfinder tells you how close to doom you are, and then you can swap them in seconds, unlike radios where getting them off the person, swapping and putting them back on is rarely a simple or quick process.

 

I can see some people having a system in place that is effective - but too risky for me.

[pete10uk]

My use of rechargeable!s is not financial, I hate waste and the majority uses I have and mostly see out and about are under 4 hours, we'll inside a rechargeable's capabilities. Using duracells for this time would mean they would be chucked half full, I would say it is very rare that a mic is gone for 6 hours without the possibility of changing the batteries.

 

I've never had a skip using them, and I have for the past 7 years ( last 3 using hybrio)

 

Quite honestly if you can manage to get a booking, load a van and turn up on the right day ( which is something I've had a little trouble with recently) you can for sure charge some batteries.

[DavidHart]

Cheers guys.

 

I do like the Trantecs a lot but want nicer handhelds for the corporate and live music gigs, also really like the monitoring software.

 

But... I do prefer the single battery and mini XLR on the beltpack transmitters ** laughs out loud **.

 

Anybody else got experience of both these systems...is there any differences with RF stability/audio quality/general build quality etc?

 

Thanks :)

[smalljoshua]

I operate a dozen or so EW300G3 units and the IEMs too over the summer at festivals. I've used the S5.5 in theatre so not a direct comparison.

 

I much prefer the Senn software, it just sits nicer with me. The networking is a bit plus too.

 

The beltpacks are nicely built and are pretty strong. I've had issues with ours where the down button gets stuck and has to go off for repair. It may be that cornish sand though...

 

Overall, I don't think you'll be disappointed with them.

 

Josh

[Bazz339]

I did a corporate gig for someone once who had decided Duracells were too expensive and was fed up with throwing away ones that had only had slight use. He decided to use Ever Ready Silver Seal. The quality was consistent they all failed within about a quarter of an hour, 1/2 an hour before the end. Afternoon session, new batteries at lunch break. Very embarrassing.

 

What I used to find with rechargeable on theatre shows was that the receiver (Probably going back to the days when Micron were popular) was that they would show full battery at the RX and then die very quickly after any sort of low battery warning possible due to the fact that the batteries were a lower voltage in the first place. I know thing have changed and that batteries and available charger have improved.

[DavidHart]

Hi Jon,

Not sure if I'm keeping them or not at the mo, tried selling them but haven't had a lot of interest.

Keep thinking about moving over to Sennheiser though for the reasons mentioned.

Good to know that your local, can you pm me your details, kit, pricing etc?

Cheers mate.

 

 

[DavidHart]

Has anyone used the Sennheiser EM2050's?

Are they more solid/sound better?

Very expensive though.

[TonyMitchell]

I do like the Trantecs a lot but want nicer handhelds for the corporate and live music gigs, also really like the monitoring software.

 

But... I do prefer the single battery and mini XLR on the beltpack transmitters

 

I'm in very much the same place as you on this, David.

 

We have 24 channels of Trantec S5 (12 channels of S5.3 and 12 channels of S5.5).

 

The initial attraction was the metal beltpack transmitters, single battery, good reviews and the keen pricing was a bonus.

 

We use them predominantly with DPA4080 lapels and DPA4066 headbands, occasionally with the Trantec own headset boom for outdoor sport jobs that don't warrant a DPA.

 

Apart from my definition of "Ready" (in the context of "Racked & Ready") being at disparity with TOA/Trantec management's definition (a different & long story, which I won't go into now, as have discussed before) I've found the S5 systems, for use with TX packs are all round good kit, when used with decent mics.

 

BUT, (and it's become a big BUT), the Handhelds are a very weak link in the S5 system. We have eight of the S5.xHDX handhelds and have had numerous problems.

 

- The most common one is the plastic on the flimsy battery compartment shearing when removing/inserting cells. Once it has sheared, there is insufficient spring in the holder to keep the cell in place, manifesting in either intermittent or permanent cut-out, as the cell does not make proper contact.

 

- Last year we had a new S5.5HDX handheld with the base LED dead on delivery.

 

- The LED in conjunction with the mute switch is not intuitive and results in inexperienced users/ mic runners turning the things off inadvertantly.

 

IMO these handhelds are a poor product. I'd gladly pay more for a premium product, if it existed in the range. However this doesn't seem to be TOA/Trantec's ethos. I've found their answer/caveat for everything to do with S5 revolves around it being a cheaper option than G3/300. I've also found they don't take constructive criticism in the spirit in which it is intended.

 

Having used this kit for coming up four years - will we be buying more of it? Highly unlikely, 80% because of the poor handhelds and 20% because of the Trantec ethos - like reselling £4.26 BNC cables (still in the CPC bags with a CPC SKU code) for £33.79 each, then arguing the toss with a loyal customer with £25k+ of TOA/Trantec inventory.

 

UHF-R or 2000 series for us next time round.