Wanting to Build a Rack for Wireless Receivers (And Some Other Questions)

[michaelpraytor]

Hey!

I recently finished running sound for a kids show at a 400-seat theatre where I'm the house sound engineer and a member of the board. There are a number of issues with tech in the theatre that I'd like to address in the future, but for starters - I wanted to see if there's a way to improve the wireless microphone situation.

For this show, we had 11 children close-miced. Most of the kids had the old, heavy, metal Sennheiser SK100 transmitter packs. One kid had a brand new Sennheiser pack (the name escapes me at the moment). And a handful of kids were using Nady mic packs.

For the Sennheiser receivers, we used Sennheiser EW100s. For the Nady mic packs, we used their Octavo U-81 receiver that came with the packs (a really terrible unit that gave us loads of problems).

None of these receivers are currently in a rack, so I had to get each one out and hook them up individually to the mixer, and I had to drag out a handful of surge protectors in order to plug in all the cumbersome "wall wart" power adapters.

So my questions are:

• What are some good "flight case" style rack unit manufacturers? I'd need it to be on casters - though I don't imagine I'll be moving it around a whole lot. Where could I get this for the best value? Or would it be best to build something like this on my own?
  
  
• We're going to ditch the Nady Octavo U-81 eventually - and we'll probably be getting more Sennheiser receivers (of both the old and new variety). We currently have 11 Sennheiser EW100 receivers, but we might eventually have something in the neighborhood of 20 down the line. In order to manage the antenna situation, what antenna combiner(s) do we need to get from Sennheiser? How many of these antenna combiners will we need now? And how many would we need down the line?
  
• I'd love to have a power conditioner unit (or units) that all this gear could plug into - but all the power conditioners I've seen aren't too friendly with "wall-warts". There has to be a solution to this - but what is it?
  
  
• At the theatre backstage, we have a snake that runs through the wall and directly to FOH. It occurred to me after the show that it might be a better solution to place the receivers backstage instead of at FOH. I know there are advantages and disadvantages to this - but I'd love to know what you all personally prefer and why.

And a bonus question:

• At the theatre, we have a ton of Nady HM-10 and Pyle PMHM 2 mics. They don't sound terrible, but the build quality is pretty poor - and half of them don't screw into the transmitters (IDK why some do and some don't). I know a guy that uses Countryman E6 headsets exclusively - but I honestly can't tell a huge difference between those and the Pyle and Nady mics (though that may have to do with the other more questionable gear and speakers he uses). How important do you guys think it is that I convince the theatre to upgrade their headset microphones? And should I convince them to spring for Countryman, or is there another company out there that's making quality stuff that will last a long time? (Keep in mind we still have speakers and other sound equipment to update)

Sorry for the long thread, but I'm a really long-winded person with a million questions, and I like to be super thorough. This past week was the first time I ran sound for a show that exclusively used wireless tech - and it was a successful gig, but getting everything hooked up an torn down took a lot more of everyone's time than I wanted.

I'm grateful for any knowledge you all can pass on to me!

 

[josh88]

Its easy enough to build a custom rack. Buy some rails and if you dont care too much about weight, build it out of 3/4 ply or 1/2 ply and fill it to whatever spec you want. There are also all kind of pre made gator cases and rack systems in place you could choose from. If you're going the custom route you could easily go with power conditioners and preset a bunch of surge protectors or boxes inside to fit everything in. If you are willing to do the work to piece it all out and build it or arrange it in a premade box, the sky is the limit really.

 

[BCAP]

Assuming you will have about 20 EW100 G3 (soon to be G4 in April) receivers in a rolling rack:

1). Antenna splitters are cool but dang expensive IMHO. I only have experience with the Sennheiser ASA1/NT antenna splitter but I have heard good things about RF Venue's products. I imagine a Shure splitter would work too. The Sennheiser receivers and splitters require their GA3 rack adapters if you want to screw them into a 19" rack. 2 receivers or splitters per GA3, and the GA3 also has a knockout panel to put a front mount antenna on either the left or right side. The ASA1/NT is nice because it comes with the (8) RG58 short cables you'll need to split out to 4 receivers.

2). When you use the ASA1/NT you will no longer need individual power adapters to supply each EW100 receiver, since the ASA1/NT provides DC power to your individual G3 receivers through the antenna coax. I believe it's the 'A' antenna output that passes the power, I could be wrong about that. Anyway, that probably solves a problem for you. So (as per #3 below) you'll be left with 5 wall warts which is a lot easier to deal with than 25.

3). One ASA1/NT can split out to 4 EW100s. You can cascade the ASA1/NT to split to up to 8 receivers for one set of antennas. You will have 20 EW100, what I'd do if I were you would be to buy (5) ASA1/NT (about $2500 investment for the splitters), take care of the first 8 receivers with 2 ASA1/NT, the second 8 receivers with next 2 ASA1/NT and then the final ASA1/NT to provide signal to the last 4 receivers. You will need additional RG58/RG8X coax for a ganged setup obviously.

4). You then have a choice about what kind of antenna(s) you want to feed the 3 splitter setups, units 1-8, units 9-16, units 17-20. If you keep your wireless rack backstage, you might just be able to get away with the standard Sennheiser omnidirectional antennas included with your EW100 receivers. That's what I did and it usually works fine for me even when the rack is 100+ feet out at my FOH position. But, if you want to move your wireless rack to the FOH position (assuming you have line of sight and it's within the recommended transmission distance for the SK100 which I think is like 300 feet or something I could be wrong) then you might want to go with something like RF Venue's Diversity fin ($400 each). Or, if its' a really long distance then maybe go with an RF Venue helical antenna on the A input and use an omni antenna on the B input. There are a lot of possible configurations to consider. Depends on your needs and your budget.

5). If you have common frequency range EW100s (all of mine are in the A range but you may have G or A-1) I wonder if it would be a good idea to combine receivers with the same range into one antenna splitter. I would imagine the splitter only has to work within that narrower range as opposed to a wider range.

6). One thing to consider with your rack is whether you want the antenna splitters and maybe antennas on the back and the receivers on the front. Doing so might make your front panel cleaner, leaving it to only the receivers while the back of the rack doesn't need to be accessed much. To do that you'll probably want minimum 16" distance from front rail to back rail of the rack to allow for room for a unit to be mounted to both the front and back rail while having space for connectors. It's probably worth saying that you don't want to crush RF cables, connectors or any of that - a small blem in an RF cable can make a huge difference. So leave room for cabling.

7). As far as racks go, if you want a recommendation I'd go with Anvil / Calzone. You get what you pay for, and they might retain their worth (if in good condition) better than some other brands when it's time to resell. You may have a local sound equipment supplier / contractor that provides sound support for festivals and so on in your area, sometimes those guys have custom case building shops in their business or they may have connections to one. Might be worth checking into. Bands are also selling their amplifier racks and trading those in as the technology changes. A while back I happened to find at a local music store a used and very beat up Anvil brand rolling amplifier rack, it's shock mounted and I got the thing for a steal b/c of it's condition. The thing is like a mini refrigerator. Brand new, it might have been $700, I think I got it for $150. Fixed it up, it looks passable now...

8). Depending on the length between your wireless rack (if onstage) and FOH, you may not encounter significant loss or quality drop from using a snake. But, there's always ground loops and interference to consider and maybe more important you wouldn't have a good way to view battery telemetry & coordinate frequencies for your transmitters (unless you have the more pricey 300 or 500 Sennheiser units which are networkable). It's worth considering moving the rack to FOH position for those reasons. If you are not currently doing any wireless frequency coordination routine you may want to look into that. I use Wireless Workbench for my setup it accommodates the G3 line.

Good luck!

 

[michaelpraytor]

Good luck!

Thank you for such a great, thorough reply! You filled me in on a lot of info that I was having trouble finding straight answers to elsewhere online.

Cost isn't too big of an issue. The theatre receives a large sum of money every month from local sales tax that they have to re-invest into the theatre. I joined their board a couple of months ago, and I'm trying to keep them from spending their money on the frivolous things, and instead use it to address the tech problems I've encountered with the theatre. I want to keep things as reasonably priced as possible, though, only because the rest of the board isn't tech-savvy at all - and if they're spending a lot on equipment for the theatre, they tend to feel better about it when they can see a cosmetic change that the purchase has made. Or in the case of sound - a change that they can hear. I don't feel that the digital mixer they recently purchased - nor this rack - will make too much of a noticeable difference from a layman's perspective, but it will definitely make things easier for me. Instead of worrying about where in the world I'm going to put all the receivers and where I'll be plugging them in - I can focus that time on creating a good lighting design, getting the perfect EQ on a vocal, or making sure all the mic packs have fresh batteries.

And while the best solution might be the most expensive - I'm also considering the long term as well. I want things to be as organized and as simple as possible for when I'm unavailable in the future - so I've spent a lot of times reorganizing things. The community the theatre is placed in is a really small, southern town that lacks performing arts education in their schools. And when I say they're not tech-savvy, I mean it. Most of these people don't even understand that you need a mixer in order to connect a mic to speakers.

So my goal in the end is to give them professional-level production quality, but leave as little work for them behind so things will "just work" (with a good bit of training I'll give them as well).

It's a 400 seat theatre, but I'd estimate it's only a little over 100ft from FOH to the stage. The only signal problems I experienced during the show's run this past week was from the terrible Nady unit, which I've read is a common issue. If the receivers are on stage, I figure there is less of possibility for the signals being dropped ; there will be more room in the control booth ; and I won't have to unplug the house snake from the board in order to connect all the receivers.

I should have specified earlier - but I believe the EW100s we have are G2. And we have one Sennheiser XS Wireless 2.
On the subject of the EW100s: are the G2 models perfectly fine? Or should we try to upgrade those as well? I haven't experienced any problems with them, and I've noticed most professional theatres that I go to have those in house.

I was thinking that maybe the receivers and mic packs we buy in the future should be brand new, but to use them in conjunction with the older equipment and slowly phase those out. If we do that, will the antenna combiners still work with the old stuff and the new?

As for the rest of your points and tips -
Thank you so, so much. I'm going to do some more reading and research and probably come back with a million more questions. I'm so much closer to finding a solution with your help though!

 

[BCAP]

You're welcome,

I didn't mean to provide any misleading information but I believe it's possible to get the whole 20 receiver setup onto just one pair of antennas with a 6th antenna splitter. I've not done a setup like that personally though. And there might be more cost effective options. Maybe others on this board could help further, there are folks that know a lot more about wireless than I do and there are wireless applications documentation (for example from Shure) that give more details.

As for the G2 stuff, if they are in the 500MHz band then IMHO they are probably fine to continue using. If you have 600MHz stuff or older you may want to phase those out and units in the 700MHz band should be put on the shelf outright. As the G4 series is on the verge of coming out in April, you may be able to work out a good deal to just upgrade the whole system all at one time with a vendor that might take in your older units. That's worth checking into.

The spec for the ASA1/NT is 500MHz to 870MHz, unless you have equipment out of that range you should be OK. I believe the XSW2 is 500MHz, it should work with a splitter from what I can tell.

The 100, 300 and 500 series are designed each to accommodate a different number of banks / channels for tuning, I think it's like 21/12 for the 100 series. The 300/500 series have more available, 21/24, 21/32. If you have a 20 receiver/transmitter setup you might want to consider whether you would want some of the 300 series units if you think you'll want more channel slots. IMHO it should be possible to get by without it by using bank "U". Again, good luck -

 

[BCAP]

The only signal problems I experienced during the show's run this past week was from the terrible Nady unit, which I've read is a common issue. If the receivers are on stage, I figure there is less of possibility for the signals being dropped ; there will be more room in the control booth ; and I won't have to unplug the house snake from the board in order to connect all the receivers.

One other question - I assume you've checked for intermod between Nady / Sennheiser units and all throughout? That could contribute to signal issues.

 

[JohnD]

As far as upgrades, you might want to take advantage of the current rebates available. The Sennheiser offer runs until June. Check to see how usable and legal your existing units are. You might be able to upgrade your Nady units to Sennheiser.
As far as rack units, check out:
http://www.audiopile.net/
In addition to Anvil/Calzone there are others with good reputations. RRcases, Indycase, Olympiccase and St. Louis case just to name a few.
There are several types of rack cases available. One type has removable tray lids that latch onto the front and back of the case. Then there is the pull over style case. The down side to both is you have stuff to store while the racks are deployed which you then have to retrieve them. It does become a hassle. Then there are slam latch cases with usually a captive lid that slides back into the case. Much quicker to use. Here is one example, the Iso Mount Shock rack:
http://www.indycase.com/standardPricing.php
In another forum (I think) @TimMc mentioned a carpet covered case with the slam lids that the company he works for is using.

 

[Joel - Studio 52]

Hi Michael,

I've definitely been where you are. It can be very frustrating. Knowing what you want, but not being there yet!

I started out almost 30 years ago with whatever used wireless units I could afford. The more I added, the more frusturating it got (intermod, anyone??!!??). I finally got serious about studying wireless frequencies and how they interact. Sennheiser has a ton of info on their website. Also, check out their WSM and SIFMPRO software. Makes setting up frequecies SO easy. Made my decision to upgrade MUCH easier. I went with the Sennheiser EW series. I've had several units over the years and just really like their gear. I currently have 3 different rack boxes with 32 Shennheiser units total. Both G2 and G3, EW100 and EW300.

One huge advantage of having all units from the same company and the same series, is that, as BPAC mentioned above, you can use antenna/power distros. Really cleaned up the racks. I'm using the Sennheiser ASP1 and ASP2 distros. One thing to be aware of: the power plugs from the ASP1 don't fit tightly in the G3 units. Found that out the hard way. Work perfectly with G1 and G2 units. I've picked up all of mine second hand. Only had one power supply for an ASP1 go bad.

For the theatrical shows that I do, I use my big rack (16 space rolling) that houses 24 wireless systems. All power and signal is run through 6 ASP1 or ASP2 units. These are powered from a rack mounted power strip. Turn the entire box on with one switch. Signal is fed from a pair of Sennheiser paddle antenna that I mount on mic stands to get them up in the air to give me a clear line of sight. I have the distros and the 2 antenna plugs mounted on the back rails. As well as a 24 channel, XLR patchbay for plugging in the snake that feeds the mixer. After years of reaching into the rack to plugin 24 XLR cables and worring about bumping something, I finally broke down and just built the darn thing! Bought a 15' x 24 channel snake. With the patchbay properly labled, plugging everything in only takes a few minutes now.

For mics, I decided that earhook mics work better for the shows that I do. Most of my theatrical work is with schools. and kids can get a bit careless with things, so I decided (after having a few expensive mics get roughed up) that it made more sense for me to buy cheaper mics and consider them disposible. Seriously, I can't tell the difference between a $150 wireless mic and a $35 mic. Not for the types of shows we're doing, but especially in the school gyms that we work in!

I've been getting earhook mics from Rod Reilly at bodymics.com for several years. Rod is great to work with and very knowledgeble when it comes to wireless. Super nice guy. If you contact him, let him know I sent you.

Couple of pics.

Hope that helps.

Joel
Glaser Audio Productions

 

[TimMc]

As far as upgrades, you might want to take advantage of the current rebates available. The Sennheiser offer runs until June. Check to see how usable and legal your existing units are. You might be able to upgrade your Nady units to Sennheiser.
As far as rack units, check out:
http://www.audiopile.net/
In addition to Anvil/Calzone there are others with good reputations. RRcases, Indycase, Olympiccase and St. Louis case just to name a few.
There are several types of rack cases available. One type has removable tray lids that latch onto the front and back of the case. Then there is the pull over style case. The down side to both is you have stuff to store while the racks are deployed which you then have to retrieve them. It does become a hassle. Then there are slam latch cases with usually a captive lid that slides back into the case. Much quicker to use. Here is one example, the Iso Mount Shock rack:
http://www.indycase.com/standardPricing.php
In another forum (I think) @TimMc mentioned a carpet covered case with the slam lids that the company he works for is using.

The racks we use are not inexpensive. StageGear (Blackhurst). If you moved any ShowCo racks (back before Clair Bros bought them out) you've seen and touched a StageGear rack (ShowCo had them loaded with Crown MacroTech 3600 and 5002 back in the day - heavy stuff). Two of ours came with a package of JBL VerTec and Crown ITech amps we bought from Schubert Systems in Los Angeles and we adopted those racks for our VerTec rigs.

If the image link works the rack we use in the one in the middle of the image.

http://stagegear.com/images/saddleback_case5.jpg

 

[yert33]

• At the theatre, we have a ton of Nady HM-10 and Pyle PMHM 2 mics. They don't sound terrible, but the build quality is pretty poor - and half of them don't screw into the transmitters (IDK why some do and some don't). I know a guy that uses Countryman E6 headsets exclusively - but I honestly can't tell a huge difference between those and the Pyle and Nady mics (though that may have to do with the other more questionable gear and speakers he uses). How important do you guys think it is that I convince the theatre to upgrade their headset microphones? And should I convince them to spring for Countryman, or is there another company out there that's making quality stuff that will last a long time? (Keep in mind we still have speakers and other sound equipment to update)

I have quit using and recommending the Countryman E6 because of the connector behind the ear. Too many failures and noises mid show from sweat. My two budget options are the Countryman B3 ($190) or the Shure WL93 ($78). Use wig clips and elastic in the cable to mount the mics mid forehead. Not quite as much gain before feedback as the mics that place the element near the mouth, but much better quality and no breath noise.

 

[yert33]

"on" the cable, not "in" the cable. Like this shows:

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[Silicon_Knight]

Hi Michael,

I've definitely been where you are. It can be very frustrating. Knowing what you want, but not being there yet!

I started out almost 30 years ago with whatever used wireless units I could afford. The more I added, the more frusturating it got (intermod, anyone??!!??). I finally got serious about studying wireless frequencies and how they interact. Sennheiser has a ton of info on their website. Also, check out their WSM and SIFMPRO software. Makes setting up frequecies SO easy. Made my decision to upgrade MUCH easier. I went with the Sennheiser EW series. I've had several units over the years and just really like their gear. I currently have 3 different rack boxes with 32 Shennheiser units total. Both G2 and G3, EW100 and EW300.

One huge advantage of having all units from the same company and the same series, is that, as BPAC mentioned above, you can use antenna/power distros. Really cleaned up the racks. I'm using the Sennheiser ASP1 and ASP2 distros. One thing to be aware of: the power plugs from the ASP1 don't fit tightly in the G3 units. Found that out the hard way. Work perfectly with G1 and G2 units. I've picked up all of mine second hand. Only had one power supply for an ASP1 go bad.

Joel
Glaser Audio Productions

Just agreeing with almost everything that Joel is saying in his post. A few additional/differing points:
1) Antenna distros are not manufacturer-specific (just check the frequency ranges, and maybe the gains, etc.). This is why you can use an RF Venue antenna distro with any brand antenna/amp. Of course, sticking with a single manufacturer makes sparing a bit easier and ensures that they system level engineering has been done to know how many cascaded distros can be deployed, etc.

-> However, the power-distribution IS almost always manufacturer specific (unless your receivers use 120VAC) and is often built-in to the antenna distros for convenience. (e.g. Senn distro will more easily power Senn receivers, Shure -> Shure, etc.)​

2) Shure also has a great free Intermod tool called WWB6 - it also supports many non-Shure devices

-> Whatever tool you use, if you have more than a handful of mics (or you have neighbors with mics, or you live in an city/suburban area with lots of TV stations), it is CRITICAL to use software like this.
- As a side note, if you're using the newer networkable receivers from Shure, WWB6 can also monitor the newer devices for operation during a show (helps identify when drop-outs are RF or audio-related - and helped me catch a battery back that was draining batteries faster than expected) - they can also leverage the receivers to scan the RF environment - this is less necessary for a static setup like a theater, but really handy for touring rigs.​

3) Just seconding his mention of E6 vs in-expensive mics. Especially for the types of shows that I work on (local church and community theater - static and touring), I find inexpensive mics break about as often as the E6s, and they are a 10:1 price ratio. Of course, YMMV, and you'll definitely want to have spares for during a show (During a recent 3 week run of a show w/ 20 packs, I changed out 5-6 of the cheap mics, but the Countrymans didn't fair much better since I changed out 2-3 of those).
4) For 100' RF throw, you probably want decent antennas with a bit of gain, IMHO. There is (of course) a great philosophical debate between active and passive antennas, and whether the antennas should be close to the stage with a long coax cable (often amplified) or at the back of the venue, but you definitely don't want to rely on the little 1/4wave or 1/2wave ducks for that kind of throw.

Good luck!

 

[Jason Hennigan]

I used Countyman E6 for years and had so many cables break it was crazy. I finely tried the Galaxy knockoff of the countyman E6 and had a lot less failures and it is a fraction of the price. Plus the cable is a fraction of the price if you do need it.
I got them from Event Horizon & Services - eventhorizon-srv.com, I don't know the Galaxy part number off hand, they might be able to help if your interested.

As for having the receivers backstage or FOH. I say FOH, I worked with high school productions for years and I always found step one of troubleshooting was to look over at the receiver and see if the pack was even on. Most of the time you could just radio back and tell them to turn the pack back on, (and never turn it off again).

 

[Silicon_Knight]

As for having the receivers backstage or FOH. I say FOH, I worked with high school productions for years and I always found step one of troubleshooting was to look over at the receiver and see if the pack was even on. Most of the time you could just radio back and tell them to turn the pack back on, (and never turn it off again).

Agreed - if there are any issues with a mic, the very first thing I check is the receiver faceplate (what's the RF level, is there audio level, is there a battery indicator), then I continue along the chain...

Unfortunately, at my local church, they moved all of the receiver backstage a few years ago...ugh!