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Best value radio mic kit


Mr Steve

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Posted

Hello again,

 

I'm looking to buy two new lav radio mics, but am not the most experienced when it comes to specifying new sound kit. I like the look of the Sennheiser G2 EW100 series as these seem to be a decent brand. These will be used in a secondary school/6th form for theatre and open evening talks etc.

 

What would you recommend? Are there similar quality brands which would be cheaper, or more rugged?

 

EDIT: who do you find to be the best supplier of your radio mics?

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Posted
Hello again,

 

I'm looking to buy two new lav radio mics, but am not the most experienced when it comes to specifying new sound kit. I like the look of the Sennheiser G2 EW100 series as these seem to be a decent brand. These will be used in a secondary school/6th form for theatre and open evening talks etc.

 

What would you recommend? Are there similar quality brands which would be cheaper, or more rugged?

 

EDIT: who do you find to be the best supplier of your radio mics?

 

I recently bought some Sennheiser G2 EW322 mics to use for pretty much the same thing and they have been faultless. Sturdy, clear as a bell and useful features like battery indicator on the receiver, backlight changes from green to red when mic is muted or off. (Not sure if they appear on the EW100 series.) I haven't regretted buying them.

 

Also, they take AA batteries and two decent ones will last a good while (did two complete shows at least) which saves a fortune compared to PP3's.

Posted

Hi, what sort of budget are you working to here? My vote also goes to the sennheiser G2, good kit for the money. Can't say I've used the 100 series, but I've used the 300 series radios and in-ear systems several times and have always been very impressed.

 

Small things like the lock function are very useful, especially where wondering fingers of students may be concerned!!

 

With the old version of the evolution range I would have said to go for the 300 series if you can afford to, mainly because the 100 series only had a jack output, however from looking at the sennheiser website, it seems they've added an XLR output with the new G2 version.

 

There are other brands out there, Shure and Trantec also do good kit. I havnt used any Shure lavalier systems, but I have used the trantec S4000 and S5000 systems. Not too sure on the price of these, but I think for your use the S4000 system may be worth looking at.

 

Hope this is of some help to you.

 

Munky :P

Posted

I've seen the 100 series at around £300. We need two systems, so around £600 (less if possible). A dual unit would be good. I just want to find the best price for some good kit really. Are Shure/Trantec generally cheaper than Sennheiser?

 

There are so many packs and deals that I don't know where to start, which is why I asked here to see what others would do!

Posted

I think you'll struggle to find a dual system for that sort of money, sounds to me like your best bet will be two 100 series systems.

 

The trantec S4000's are (I think) around the same price as the 100 series, however they're are a bit more "plasticy" if you know what I mean. The S5000's are alot more money!!

 

Unless anybody else can suggest another system. The shure stuff is definately worth checking, but I don't realy know alot about their radio systems.

 

Munky :P

Posted

Well, my school's pair of ew100 lavs have lasted the year, not a single scratch. My advice would be to, whatever you get, make sure you get a decent case for them. We've got a foam-lined briefcase type thing, stanley knifed to create the right sized compartments (hope that makes sense). Being able to use AAs is, as others have said, a great plus. The colour change backlight is only on the 300/500s, the 100s only have a single colour (Green)

 

As you may have noticed, Senheisser do a rack-mount kit for the ew recievers, including a blanking plate for if you only have one.

 

They also do rechargeable packs for the 300/500, with drop in charger which allows them to be charged either on their own, or inside gthe beltpacks.

 

HTH

Posted
They also do rechargeable packs for the 300/500, with drop in charger which allows them to be charged either on their own, or inside gthe beltpacks.

 

HTH

 

About 50 quid each unfortunately. And when I can get 24 AA's for 7.99 at the local B&Q, I couldn't justify it.

Posted

The ew100's...... even tho they have a 1/4 socket on the back, it is balanced socket.

 

I would know this cos at church we have 4 of them. along with the 4 in 1 antenna booster/splitter.

 

 

 

Ben

Posted

Anyone tried the AKG WMS400 range. On paper they seem like a reasonable price/performance compromise, but real world experience is far more useful.

 

On a different front, these SmartWireless Twin Turbo units look too good to be true, which I'm sure is the case. Their feature count stacks up and they *look* pro & well made, but I feel sure there's a catch somewhere...

http://www.proaudiosystems.co.uk/acatalog/...Turbo__uhf.html

http://www.prosound-uk.com/showproductdetails.php?PID=114

Posted

I'd be interested to hear your views on your final choice Mr Steve, as I'm about to spec a "reasonably cheap" system to replace our old VHF's... was looking quite closely at Sennheiser Evolution G2-100's in fact.

 

P.

Posted
I've decided to go with the EW100 series with ME2 capsules. Shop around for them though, I found the best price at Mercury-AV, with Stage Electrics being the usual rip-off.
Posted

Depends on what you mean by best value !?

Have a peek at the JTS radio mics - double system for less than £200 in some cases

Posted

Dear Steve,

 

Take a look at the JTS range:

JTS at www.buearan.co.uk

 

I have sold several of these to local schools and Churches and they've all been delighted. The transmitter is in a sturdy metal-shrouded case, the receivers are metal cased with XLR and Jack outputs. You even get remote battery indication gauge on the receiver. The mic supplied now is a tiny little thing, about 3mm in diameter.

 

The retail price for a single kit is about £260, and that is 193 channels UHF, some of which are in the license-free band. I bought a bunch of them because I was so impressed. This is one of my racks inc the antenna distro. It's out on hire a lot.

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/petealcock/RadioMicRack.jpg

 

I submit this is the best value radio mic kit around now.

 

Cheers,

 

Pete.

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