Wireless Suggestions
Shure ULX-D
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The best thing about Shure wireless systems is their RF integrity. You do not need to know a lot about wireless systems to be able to utilize the ULX-D. The internal functions and options are very simple on this wireless system. The ULX-D is a digital system, which allows for there to be many more transmitters and receivers in a wireless range without running into RF interference (either from outside sources or between microphones). Another great feature of Shure wireless microphones is how customizable they are. When you purchase a Shure wireless receiver, you have the option to select which transmitters you want (hand held or body pack). Usually when purchasing a hand held microphone, it comes with a Shure Beta 58a microphone capsule. This capsule simulates the SM58. However, if you do not want to use the SM58 capsule, there are many other options. Some of them include the Shure KSM9 capsule, Telefunkin M80, DPA 2028, and many others. Their management software, Wireless Workbench, is a fantastic tool which allows you to scan the wireless environment, see all of the interference zones, pick a good frequency, and otherwise manage your wireless microphones and environment with ease. As you get better mixing consoles, you are even able to integrate Shure and Wireless Workbench with these consoles so that you can see the RF integrity, power, and battery life of each microphone on the display of your console. You can purchase rechargeable batteries and a dock for them so that you don’t even need to take the batteries out of your microphone. You just need to slot your microphone or body pack into the charger, and they will hold a charge for anywhere from 7-10 hours depending on the age of the battery.
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One of the primary downsides with purchasing a Shure system is that they sacrifice audio quality in order to maintain their rock solid integrity. For many people, this sacrifice will be negligible, but is very obvious when comparing their microphone transmitters and in-ear-monitor systems with a company like Lectrosonics. Also, Shure’s support department isn’t that good. In the past, they have helped me come to a solution, but oftentimes haven’t trusted me and my colleagues in the issues that we were having, but instead blamed it on operator error. Very rarely was it an operator error and was instead a problem with the product itself. The price point of these microphones varies depending on how many wireless transmitters/receivers you will purchase. The starting price is $1,320 and can only go up from there. For cheaper version of the ULX-D, you may consider looking into the QLX-D system. I personally wouldn’t suggest the GLX-D system as I have never used it, but it may be another option as well. I know that the GLX-D system does not offer the ability to change the capsules. Regardless, the ULX-D is a very reliable product which will do great in almost any venue, small or large.
Sennhesier SKM
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Sennheiser evolution wireless (EW) systems are great systems. While they do not possess the same signal integrity as Shure microphones, Sennheiser does a pretty good job with the EW series of transmitters/receivers. Sennheiser’s audio quality is notably better than Shure’s. In my opinion, the only reason that Sennheiser’s transmitters are not sonically superior to Shure in every way is because they are incompatible with many wireless capsules. Sennheiser does sell many variations on their capsules (dynamic and condenser, varying polar pickup patterns), but the tonal quality isn’t as good as some other capsules that Shure can utilize. As stated before, Sennheiser told me that the only other capsule that was compatible with their system was the Neumann KK104/105 and the Neumann KK 204/205 (both cost $1000). After a little digging, I found that DPA also makes a capsule that is compatible with many Sennheiser wireless systems.
Sennheiser does offer a lot with their wireless systems. For example, their RF integrity is fairly good especially once you get it set up. It will sometimes take a little bit of time to get it set up properly, but once that happens there will be very little issues with interference. Their support team is very responsive and helpful, willing to walk you through whatever issue you are facing. One of the biggest downsides that I have found with the Sennheiser wireless is actually not in the integrity or operation of the systems, but in the updating process. With many of these wireless systems, the manufacturers will release software updates and upgrades for your system. According to Sennheiser support, it is best for you to buy a mount for your transmitters before trying to update. This is because if the transmitter and receiver lose connection while updating, it could potentially “brick” your product, rending it useless. So you have to be very careful updating your product. All in all, Sennheiser makes a fantastic product in their EW series of receivers and SKM model of hand held microphones. Once setup, these microphones will do more than just get the job done. Also, they are cheaper than Shure microphones, starting at around $600 and moving up from there.
Lectrosonics Venue 2/D​
If there was one company that I couldn’t say enough good about, it would be Lectrosonics. At Cherry Hills, we had a great opportunity to upgrade our Shure wireless (UHFR and ULX-D) rig. After much discussion with many different companies, we decided to go with Lectrosonics. Lectrosonics offers two different wireless receiver systems, with many different transmitter options. For more of an analog system (XLR based/non-digital output), they offer a handful of options. The one that CHCC purchased and had great success with was the Venue 2 system. The Venue 2 is a modular wireless system. This means that it can be customized with different modules for specific frequency ranges. It can have as little as as 1 or up to 6 receiver modules. This is a very future-proof system. With an ever changing wireless environment and companies buying out wireless frequencies, if a large portion of the wireless range was bought out again, the modular design of the Venue 2 allows Lectrosonics to design another module to replace the obsolete module without having to completely redesign the system. For an all digital option which interfaces with Dante networking systems, their D system stands above the rest.
Their wireless companion, Wireless Designer, is an intuitive tool which can be used for many different applications. In it, you can view your wireless devices that are on your network, manage the frequencies, manage the modes/bands and many other options for your microphones. You can also scan your wireless environment. Wireless Designer will detect up to at least 9th order harmonics and automatically assign your microphones to the best available frequencies so there is as little interference as possible. You can even do a live scan of the wireless environment on the microphone if you’re encountering RF issues, and it will automatically assign the frequency for you. These features are available no matter what Lectrosonics product you purchase. They’re even featured on their in ear monitor models, the M2 Duet.
The audio quality of these microphones is unbelievable, and the same quality is reflected in their M2 Duet system. Further, their support team is the best support team I’ve ever encountered. They’re willing to work with you to figure out what issues you’re having, and will even push out updates for your microphones within 24 hours to help address that issue.
The only problems I have ever had with them are due to high-populated wireless environments, environments that Shure microphones worked fine in. Other than that, the only bad I’ve heard about Lectrosonics has come from some of my colleagues who used them when they were first released. They said the microphone integrity was non-existent and it was at a place where they couldn’t even get it to work. These guys are pro’s and know what they were doing, so I was very surprised to hear this. However, this was quite a few years ago, and the same people who had problems with Lectrosonics have since worked with their products and found them to be an amazing system.
There’s so many things that I could say about Lectrosonics. We could discuss how the circuitry is just better than other wireless systems, the support is unbelievable, and more, but the bottom line is that they just sound better and work better than any other microphone I’ve ever encountered. The same goes for their M2 Duet system.
With Lectrosonics products you have to purchase multiple things (as with Shure when you start buying more than a 1 channel bundle). However, they are comparable in price to the ULX-D system, and have as much (if not more quality) than Shure’s flagship system, Axient Digital. If you are purchasing a Venue 2 system, that system alone is $2529. If you do not need all 6 channels of wireless, this cost may be reduced by talking to the company and explaining your situation. However, if you decide to purchase a D2 system, those are $5000 for four channels of wireless. For reference, a four channel ULX-D receiver from Shure is $5015.
After purchasing the receivers, you need to get the transmitters. These are the HHa ($1320) or LT ($1259) for Venue 2 and the DHu ($1599) or DBu ($1599). If you purchase hand held microphones, you need to purchase a capsules for them. These prices vary. They can be as low as $130 and as high as $1200. Four channels of ULX-D is going to cost at least $7050 for just the transmitters and receivers, and four channels of Lectrosonics is going to cost at least $7500 (when purchasing the Venue 2 system).
Once again, I couldn’t say enough good about Lectrosonics. They have found a way to have high signal integrity (although not as high as Shure) and unbelievable audio quality (much better than even Sennheiser). If you have the budget, I couldn’t suggest these microphones more.
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