Wireless - Retiring a Sennheiser ew100 G2 - options for replacement

[milemarker68]

I have two Sennheiser EW100 G2 hand-held microphones with receivers and we are at a point of replacing them. This is for a house of worship with city power lines running over the back of our property. The sanctuary has three JBL cabinets mounted from the ceiling and directly above the stage. The receivers are approximately 40 feet from the speaker and connect directly to the sound board with a 2 foot XLR cable.

The microphones are used mostly to give announcement and for guest speakers/special presentations. The question is: are there other brands I should be considering other than Shure or Sennheiser (which I read a series of previous posts from this forum on discussing Shure v. Sennheiser) for replacing what I currently own? We are retiring them due to the increased interference we are getting on these older mics (about 15 years old I am told).

Thanks for your consideration :-)

[ccm1495]

Ew 100 g2's have not been out for 15 years so they cannot be that old (if that is the actual model number). Personally I really like sennheiser brand. There current line of EW 100 g3 mics have treated me very nicely, so have the probably 10 year old g1 mics and newer g2's we have. I have found the sennheisers easy to repair and with the harsh treatment they receive from our actors the have proven to be very durable. It is possible that you may just have to change the frequency that your mics are operating on to eliminate the interference problem. If you go to sennheiser's website they have a frequency finder tool to help you find vacant frequencies in your area. It is very possible with the recent dtv transition that a tv station has moved onto the frequency that your operating on witch would cause a fair amount of interference depending on where it is and while much power they use. As for purchasing new sennheiser makes some great mics they now also offer a more value model. I can't really speak to shure wireless because I have not used them at any great amount. Although I do think that audio technica makes some good wireless gear that I have used on occasion.

My 2cents

[FMEng]

It's also possible that the old system is on a channel >698 MHz that is illegal to be on, and now that the cellular companies are building out their network using the new spectrum, your mics are getting clobbered. I'm not saying that is necessarily the case here, because there are many reasons for a noisy system, but it is worth checking into. Breaking FCC rules is not wise and can be expensive.

[bishopthomas]

I'm all Senny G3's. Worked fine in the rain the other day....

[wiscolighting]

It's also possible that the old system is on a channel >698 MHz that is illegal to be on, and now that the cellular companies are building out their network using the new spectrum, your mics are getting clobbered. I'm not saying that is necessarily the case here, because there are many reasons for a noisy system, but it is worth checking into. Breaking FCC rules is not wise and can be expensive.

Those are modifiable in the hands of a dealer (not that they would happily do it for you) or in the hands of the right tech. I've never done it but have heard of it back when the FCC changed things up another time I think Shure offered free reprogramming on some of their newer models that fell in the spectrum affected.

[bishopthomas]

Those are modifiable in the hands of a dealer (not that they would happily do it for you) or in the hands of the right tech. I've never done it but have heard of it back when the FCC changed things up another time I think Shure offered free reprogramming on some of their newer models that fell in the spectrum affected.

incorrect

[wiscolighting]

incorrect

What the Sennheiser reprogramming or the Shure? Because I happen to know people who have had their gear reprogrammed by Shure dealers when the FCC changed regulations in the past. And I happen to know someone who has a old ew100 G2 that they reprogrammed for fun and it functions legally.

[TVChief]

I can't add much to the discussion. I've used Sennheisers for the last 10 years and the Church where I do the sound work. Used Lectrosonics, Shure, Sony and Sennheiser in my broadcast career. Lectrosonics were down real low in the barrel. I've always liked the performance of Sennheiser. Wish they sold repair parts. Our Sennheiser e100 G2 B band handheld had an abrupt and unfortunate meeting with the floor in our Church, case got cracked and 2 of the freq. set buttons got broken, fixed 1 but the other is beyond help. The Sennheisers that we have have worked flawlessly since 2003. If you would like one of your retiring ew100 's to retire to a small church in Florida let me know. Needs to be B band 626 - 668 Mhz. Thanks

[museav]

Used Lectrosonics, Shure, Sony and Sennheiser in my broadcast career. Lectrosonics were down real low in the barrel.

I'm curious about this comment since Lectrosonics is generally very well respected for theatre, film, television and tour production applications. Is there anything in particular that led to your feeling the Lectrosonic units were deficient compared to the others?

[TVChief]

I'm curious about this comment since Lectrosonics is generally very well respected for theatre, film, television and tour production applications. Is there anything in particular that led to your feeling the Lectrosonic units were deficient compared to the others?

I was using VHF mics for TV field production Hunting and Fishing shows. It was probably more the fault of the shooters than the mics, Once they got a shot with a 2500 foot mic range they expected it on any terrain. They were able to break them with regularity. I guess it's more of a personal observation than a technical condemnation. If you left these shooters with a pile of rocks and told them not to touch anything, you would return to find
a pile of sand. Yes! they could break rocks.