Wireless mics for $600 to $700 each

jgels

Member
Hi High School Theater Teacher here,
Looking for recommendations for some wireless mics.

Some background. We are located in Boston, right near a number of hospitals.
We have some Digital Reference receivers with Audio Technica omnidirectional invisible mics that we have been using and seem to work pretty well and we have 5 that work.

The issue is we have Into The Woods this year and will not survive on five very fragile and hard to pass around mics. Looking for recommendations of mics that are lavalier so that they are easier to pass around to various soloists and that cost between $600 and $700 each and you know, ideally sound good.

My space is not big, only seats 180, but has bad acoustics and with the full band playing it is easy to drown out the singers.

Any suggestions would be great
 
If purchased as a group, and using a 501c3/or gov't type discount from retailers like Full Compass, or Sweetwater you can pick up Sennheiser ew100's or Shure SLX4's for the higher end of your budget. Both systems come with lav versions.

Though it would be helpful for other to chime in to know a little bit more. How many microphones overall do you need, and what is the overall budget to acquire all the Mics you need.

I made the assumption of purchasing but many local companies will rent wireless systems for 100-150$ per mic/per week.
 
We always need more mics and our parent group has some extra money we can spend and this seems like a worthwhile investment for 4 or 5 mics
 
I recommend against the SLX series. Their receivers just aren't up to snuff anymore, especially with TV White Space Devices on the way. I'd go Sennheiser.

Apparently the manufacturers have new stuff out, but I haven't seen it personally yet...
 
will not survive on five very fragile and hard to pass around mics. Looking for recommendations of mics that are lavalier so that they are easier to pass around to various soloists and that cost between $600 and $700 each and you know, ideally sound good

If you can go with the Sennheisers, do it. If your worried abut durability, the Sennheisers are much better compared to the shures. (IMO) Both are great, I just prefer Senn. I also think that the 1/8" jack is easier to deal with for actors. Nothing to try and line up correctly.
 
I'd look into the Line6 ones. They are digital and I think you can use 6 or 12 simultaneously depending on the version. We have 2 of the handheld V3 ones and love them.
 
I believe Shure ULXs is in your price range. It's a notch above SLX (and I strongly prefer the ULX, having used both side by side on a show).

Anyone have pricing for the new ULXd?
 
As you can tell, everyone has their preference as to which mic is best. I have a strong favoritism for the Shure SLX. I've purchased over 100 of them for my district (5 theaters) and they are work fantastic. I tried the ULX but had many more issues and it wasn't worth the cost. Do your homework on the frequencies in the area and you should have no problems. You can't beat them for the price. Full Compass has them for about $550.
 
ULX-D 14 (receiver, bodypack and lav) $1300.

If you want to go cheaper, I would go Shure SLX. In my opinion, these are much better than ULX even though ULX is a "higher line" SLX uses AA batteries, ULX uses 9V. The difference in battery cost for a show is significant.

If you can afford it, go with Sennheiser EW100 G3 series. I always try to use Sennheiser over Shure.
 
I would strongly suggest you do your homework before any purchasing. You need to determine your "safe harbor" frequencies in your location and make certain any TV band UHF systems you might consider operate on these frequencies.

You also need to plan ahead if you expect new system to work with any existing systems you have.

Don Boomer
Line 6, Inc.
 
I recommend staying below 608 MHz, for what it's worth...
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back