Most hated equipment

[mbenonis]

All of our wireless mics are aweful. Some interfere with the local TV stations, others with the heating system, and even more from who knows what. Out of the 14 that we have, only about 3 work to their full potential, which isn't a lot to begin with. We have a new principal next year, so it will be interested to see how the funding goes, considering we've had to beg for the little amount that we've received.

I may be able to help out here. What brand and model of wireless mics are you using? If the mics are sold in different frequency ranges, what range are your systems in? How far out the mics are from the stage, and what type of antennas are being used? Is there any sort of antenna distribution, or does each unit have antennas on it? With this information I may be able to get the mics working for you.

 

[Foxinabox10]

Wow. The simple idea of them working correctly amazes me. We have 8 TOA WM-270 receivers working with TOA WM-770 transmitters. These are VHF and each pair is sharing one VHF antenna. There is no antenna distribution and the receivers are sitting upstairs backstage with antennas pointing directly at the stage. If you need it, I have the frequency codes, although I don't know what frequencies they actually are.

The other six are Audio Technica 1400 series beltpacks. They are UHF and each have two antennas. Everything else is the same. Anything you can do is more than appreciated.

 

[RiffRaff54]

i hate everything in my schools little theatre. the intercom is a piece of crap, the sound system is ancient, and my favorite, no light board, everything is run of the CD80 Dimmer packs. not to mention that the leko's are missing shutters and bulbs are horrible aligned and you cant align them because they wont move.

 

[mbenonis]

Wow. The simple idea of them working correctly amazes me. We have 8 TOA WM-270 receivers working with TOA WM-770 transmitters. These are VHF and each pair is sharing one VHF antenna. There is no antenna distribution and the receivers are sitting upstairs backstage with antennas pointing directly at the stage. If you need it, I have the frequency codes, although I don't know what frequencies they actually are.

The other six are Audio Technica 1400 series beltpacks. They are UHF and each have two antennas. Everything else is the same. Anything you can do is more than appreciated.

It would be helpful to know what frequencies both the TOA and A-T mics work on. It's unfortunate that none of your systems are frequency-agile, but there may still be things we can do to get them all working, such as moving them around, repositioning the antenna, and adjusting the squelch. I'll try to come up with a formula once I know the frequencies.

 

[Foxinabox10]

E9000
C9445
E4000
D1905
G0000
H4750
F2750
F8750
744.85 Mhz
742.70 Mhz
737.00 Mhz
745.20 Mhz
735.60 Mhz
733.00 Mhz

The top are the TOA codes and the bottom are the AT frequencies. I've looked some before, but I'll do some more looking for a frequency conversion for the TOA.

 

[Foxinabox10]

Found the conversions for the TOA. They are the following frequencies:

189.000 Mhz
169.445 Mhz
184.000 Mhz
171.905 Mhz
200.000 Mhz
214.750 Mhz
192.750 Mhz
198.750 Mhz

 

[mbenonis]

OK, here are some preliminary results. First, the good news: none of the mics conflict with one another. This is important and a really good thing. However, you have two definite conflicts with local TV stations and one future one. The mic on 192.75 conflicts with channel 10, and the mic on 733.0 conflicts with channel 57 - so I wouldn't be surprised if these ones give you a fair amount of trouble. You will start having trouble with the mic on 189.0 soon when channel 9 comes online. Other than that, I see no other major issues other than the heating system which you mention. Could you elaborate on how that affects the mics please?

Now that all of the frequencies check out, let's look at some ways to improve reception. Due to the fact that none of the TOA mics have diversity reception (that is, two antennas), you may very well end up with dropouts at certain points on stage. However, we should be able to limit the number of dropouts by repositioning the receivers. The first thing I would do is move all of the receivers down to the stage level. This will help to shield the receivers from the TV channels and other interference. Next, reposition the antennas on the receivers so that the TOA ones are vertical, and the A-T ones are at a 45 degree angle, pointing away from each other. This will make them more sensitive to signals coming from the stage. By the way, have any of the antennas been bent, cut, or otherwise damaged? That could be a definite cause of reduced reception. ANother thing to remember is that if you have antennas of different length on the TOA systems, the longer antennas go with the lower frequencies if it is possible to do so.

If after taking these steps you still are having trouble with dropouts, have someone systematically pace the stage with a troublesome mic while you watch the RF readouts on the receivers (I know the A-T one has a readout, and I can't tell if the TOA has one). While the person with the mic keeps walking and talking, move the receivers around backstage until you find a place where the system does not drop out. You may end up with some arcane locations, but if it works, it's better than nothing.

If you still cannot get decent reception with the equipment, it may simply need to be replaced or serviced. You should seriously consider replacing the TOA mic systems if you can get the money to do so. I would replace them with either the Shure SLX series or the Sennheiser EW G2 100 series. Both of these systems are reliable and will work well for you. Be sure when you buy them that the frequency range you get has the most channels available.

The A-T systems are fairly new and should give you little to no trouble, with the exception of the one on 733.0. Give A-T a call and see if they would be willing to retune this to another frequency which is clear in your area.

By the way, I'm curious to know when these systems were bought.

Good luck, and keep me updated as to how things are working!

 

[soundlight]

Back to the real topic of this thread: most hated gear.

That award would have to go to our absolutely crappy lightronics dimmer racks and old patching system with just 32 channels of 2.4kW dimming. And only 8 of them work right now, because lightronics dimmers are crap.

 

[coraljag]

my most hated equipment? not so much equipment as our entire sound booth. it's glassed in and impossible to hear what is going on in the house and on stage. and you have to go through 3 different doors to get from the booth into the house.... dummies....

 

[Inaki2]

MiniMACs

 

[len]

Mine:

Our StudioSpot 250s. Because of where the mounting holes are, they can only be hung perpendicular to the cyc line, as opposed to parallel to it, like 99% of all other moving lights. They are a pain to program because of that.

 

[soundman1024]

Len I'm not entirely sure I understand your situation perfectly, but if I do then what you need to do is invert the X&Y axis. Most moving light boards allow for this in some sort of fixture setup mode.

 

[Inaki2]

Yeah, how exactly are your StudioSpots giving you trouble in mounting?

 

[foeglass]

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH


my wireless headsets.

I was Stage Manager for Little shop of horrors and we had 8 headsets. only 6 of them worked, and only 3 of them could talk back to me. It was close to the most stressful thing I had to work with, and anyone who has been a stage manager for a musical should all be cringing 'cause....yeah it was that bad.

 

[Inaki2]

What brand are they? Are they "real" ones like Telex? These ussually have all sorts of problem because people can't set them up correctly. If you have Motorola-style handies with headsets on them, they just plain suck.

 

[foeglass]

no idea, I am home for christmas now, and I don't remember from the show. It was my first show at that school.

 

[LorenHaus]

Well most everything is good, its just this one AMP...its about 15 years old...KUSTOM is its name, and it just SUCKS! It powers some cleap galaxy hot-spot monitors in the orchestra pit. Does its job i suppose, but has an annoying hum whenever the lights on the NSI dimmer board are dimmed between 20% and 98%. Trust me, its not an electrical issue. Not even a ground loop issue. If you happen to know what might cause it, let me know, but I've gotten sick of trying to figure it out. Besides, it aids in my speal for gettin' a new CROWN amp anyhow

 

[AVGuyAndy]

Sounds like an electrical issue to me. Not that Kustom doesn't suck...

 

[Mayhem]

Well most everything is good, its just this one AMP...its about 15 years old...KUSTOM is its name, and it just SUCKS! It powers some cleap galaxy hot-spot monitors in the orchestra pit. Does its job i suppose, but has an annoying hum whenever the lights on the NSI dimmer board are dimmed between 20% and 98%. Trust me, its not an electrical issue. Not even a ground loop issue. If you happen to know what might cause it, let me know, but I've gotten sick of trying to figure it out. Besides, it aids in my speal for gettin' a new CROWN amp anyhow

That description sounds most likely that the chokes in the dimmer rack are failing in some way. Most likely cause is dry solder joints but if the hum is only present when the dimmer is between 20% and 98% that tells me that the dimmer is causing the noise to be introduced into the system and not the amp causing the problems. I would have someone do a service call on the dimmer.

This means that it is likely that the new Crown amp will also hum

 

[jacobbiljo]

Boy, where to start, it would either have to be our ancient projector system that has buttons which dont engage and a monitor send that doesnt work or the dimmer packs the school just got rid of. And by rid of, i mean released into the two senior techie's hands(me and my friend). We now have a half dmx 512 system and a half 0-10v system. The installer guy which put in the new 12 channels says he has never seen that brand of dimmer pack before. Has anyone ever heard of LSS laboratories. Im just glad the candle effect is over with. Now for the sound side of things, in the theatre there is a Mackie 1642 which has many shorts inside it, channels passing audio feeds to the channels beside them and half the lcd meter not working sometimes. As our theatre only holds 300 in a school of 1500, there is a seperate sytem in the gym which must be 50 years old. This sytem has channels which dont work, a horrible internal graphic eq, line inputs which dont work, crackily sound and very hot running amps. To add two this, the rowing team has now also take up reasidence in this room and now stores 5 ergs stacked ina pile in a sound room no bigger than a small family bathroom. I could also complain about the wasted money, like buying 8 sm58s or spending 400 a year to rent a wireless system each time a speaker come in instead of buying our own. Theres not much to complain about with the rental unit cause its a ULX series by Shure, this has got to be the best system i have ever used!