Wireless monitoring

T

taylorguitarman

New member
My dad is looking for some in ear wireless monitoring solutions and it looks like either Nady or Shure (for 2x Nady price).
So as we were talking about stuff I told him he should just look into some wireless headphones and maybe take them apart and use the pieces. Then I came up with the idea of using an FM transmitter and some jogging headphones. So for $70 he can get a low power transmitter (maybe this one http://www.hobbytron.com/HiFiPortableBatteryPoweredStereoFMTransmitter.html) and for about $10 or less as many headsets as he needs.
He's just looking for something so they can hear a bit better when they're playing in front of people.

Now, tell me why this would be a bad idea for a cheap solution.
 
:D

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taylorguitarman said:
My dad is looking for some in ear wireless monitoring solutions and it looks like either Nady or Shure (for 2x Nady price).
So as we were talking about stuff I told him he should just look into some wireless headphones and maybe take them apart and use the pieces. Then I came up with the idea of using an FM transmitter and some jogging headphones. So for $70 he can get a low power transmitter (maybe this one http://www.hobbytron.com/HiFiPortableBatteryPoweredStereoFMTransmitter.html) and for about $10 or less as many headsets as he needs.
He's just looking for something so they can hear a bit better when they're playing in front of people.

Now, tell me why this would be a bad idea for a cheap solution.
Click to expand...

When it comes to ear monitors I've discovered that the earbuds are the PRIMARY item to focus on at first.

A higher level transmitter will give you a better audio signal to work with, but unless you get into the multi-thousand $ rackmount units it won't vary much. So feel free to buy a nady WIEM system, but make sure for ear buds you buy either some quality Shure E3s (I think thats the model I use) or if you want to get the best go visit ultimate ears. www.ultimateears.com

Its expensive, but its your hearing. You shouldn't buy cheap ass glasses to read with, or a bottom of the line motorcycle helmet, would you?
 
having mixed in ears hundreds of times over the last 6 or 7 years, my experiences vary greatly from MCreel. i have found that the absolute most important thing is the transmitter receiver combo. I can not tell you how many people I have seen waste their money on the cheap stuff just to have to buy the Shure's in the end. Earbuds are certainly important, but none of it matters if they aren't getting the right signal to output. Not only do the Nady's break easier, they pick up MUCH more interference, and sound very stuffy. As a result, many people tend to crank them up more and then they distort. One other thing you get with better quality IEM systems, is a cleaner clearer and louder output. I personally think that the difference between the more affordable IEM packages is extremely significant. In fact, I find that with the more affordable ones, the differences are much greater than with the expensive ones. At least as far as sound quality goes. For example, many many rock bands can not use the Shure PSM200's because they just don't give the necessary output. The PSM 400's are definately better, but have plastic body packs that break too easily. The PSM 600's have even more output, and a huge range of use. The PSM 700's are very similar to the 600's, but offer many more features as far as metering, RF channels etc... As far as ear buds go... I would not get anything less than the Shure E3's. Even the E3's do not hold up well with many of the rock bands. I have not heard the E4's, but I do know the E5's work really well, but they are spendy. Ultimate Ears, Futuresonics and Westone also make great ear buds. With the ear buds it is really a matter of personal need and taste. In the end, I find that the best thing you can do to make a system work better for you is to take whatever earbud you choose and get a custom mold. It will allow you to lower the volume (which is good for your ears) and have a more natural sound. Once you hit about the $800 per channel range, AKG and Sennheiser also make some pretty solid good performing IEM systems as well. Almost everyone I have ever seen who bought one for less and did not get Shure has had problems and regretted their purchase.
 
My dad isn't looking for high quality (and oddly enough has many pairs of cheap reading glasses). He's not a professional and is merely looking for something that will work for very small crowds (like church or retirement home). Just something that will allow him to hear the other people he's playing with without sitting right next to them. If it's just a matter of quality then he's cool with dropping $70 to test a theory. The transmitter could be resused to hook into an mp3 player and provide outdoor patio music if it's no good for monitoring. I was more concerned that the FM signal would interfere with the PA system or something. Plus as long as the FM signal is decent he can buy whatever sort of headphones he wants and use anything that has an FM receiver.
 
xstatic....thanks for that post. I didn't know anyhing about the low quality systems....when I bought I went straight for the Sennheiser EW series and that transmitters works really well. once the buds that came with that thing had been used for a while the connection between the cable and the ear bud snapped (probably because it wasn't built with an angle in mind) so I bought a set of the E3s because they are angled. I like them a lot more.

Taylor, it doesn't really sound like your dad is in need of an IEM system. But then again I'm not sure what you mean by "hear the musicians without sitting next to them" is he across the room or something? This sort of thing could easily be accomplishd with a floor wedge. Floor wedges also aren't susceptible to transmission ranges like an IEM is. with an IEM (especially a low quality one) you will have to be within 50-100 feet or so (not sure of an exact number) of the transmitter to get any audio. Teh further away you go the lower the audio quality gets.

Also, the FM frequencies shouldn't interfere with the PA.......all it would do is either give static or maybe a radio station......but only to the ear buds.
 
True, he's not really looking for a full blown system. He just plays in groups of about 2-5 people (avg 3) doing sort of the Peter,Paul,Mary thing. They have a PA that they use to plug the guitars in (and sometimes mics) when they play slightly larger rooms than a livingroom and he was thinking it might be nice to hear the other people he's playing with a little bit better (for harmonies and stuff). He doesn't want to lug a floor monitor around with them and was thinking the IEM's look cool (and small). If there's a cheap solution he'd try it, if it's going to cost $1000 or more, he's happy just sitting closer together.
So the plan would be, on the occassion they're playing bigger crowds, to send the PA output to the FM transmitter and then anyone that's having a tough time hearing (like my dad cause he's getting old :) ) can grab a set of headphones to help out. Most of the times they play the system wouldn't be used at all.

Thanks for the advice on the better gear though, if I ever end up playing out I'd likely look into getting the Shure system for myself.
 
well then let's define cheap. For about $600 you can get the Sennheiser EW series IEM and its a really good unit. I've had mine for about 4 years. Still works like a charm. Other musicians could then buy a body pack and use that same frequency to get the mix in their ears without having to buy a full new system. I think Shure even has a system that is about $100 to $150 cheaper than that.....but its been a long time since I checked. I highly recommend the sennheiser one. The body pack is made of metal too, so its highly durable.

You could use the main outs, or you could just use a monitor out and put into the IEMs whatever you want. The main outs will feature all the compression, eq, effects, and such (if you were to be using them). It also won't let you customize the mix at all, makes volume control a bitch, and it eats up a space for a main out. whether or not a monitor out is feasible though depends on your mixer.
 
How about wired in ears? He could just get a smalle headphone amp for well under $100 and add any kind of ear buds he wants. The whole solution should cost less than $100. Plus, no batteries:D
 
Actually, I'll have to talk to him about that. He has a 4ch headphone amp so that might work for him. I think he's sort of hooked on the wireless thing though (less to trip over).
 
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