Two hand-held wireless microphones will be used to make announcements during a Christmas show in a very large shopping mall (think thousands of cell phones).
Please recommend a super high quality, interference-mitigating wireless Mic system that will be patched into the mall audio system.
The required operating range is 50 meters. (150 feet)
Topic Tags
Comments
Got to disagree with Boswell here. The Scanning system built int
Got to disagree with Boswell here. The Scanning system built into radio mics is a simply terrible feature, because it finds empty spots that may actually not be empty at all! Never pick frequencies at random - and use the ones the manufacturer tells you are suitable to work reliably together - even if you separate them by a wide amount - you can still discover intermod interference can wreck the performance if you picked two unsuitable ones. Interference-mitigating? I guess you are thinking diversity operation - where the receiver has two aerial channels and simply switches between them. In a shopping centre, you need the aerials apart - and probably paddle types would be best, so you can focus reception to where the mics are. Two receivers therefore means either 4 aerials or an ADU, and one pair of aerials.
Personally, I'd hire a system for the period, all put together in a rack, with the aerial distribution done for you - the usual theatrical suppliers have tons of them.
Most popular brands will be Sennheiser and Shure - by a long way, with the others a long way behind. In the UK, I'd avoid anything on the license exempt ch70, and here 38 is the only band worth considering at Christmas - too many random buskers, and DJs around - hence my dislike of scanning procedures in busy areas. The busker will just walk in and turn on!
I'd also be concerned about plugging into the mall system - a small local mixer will be needed, because the operator needs to control them, and the mall system is unlikely to have local control. Or do you mean they have a small portable audio system? We've got lots of radio systems we use all the time, and the most critical thing is the operator, rather than the equipment. What is almost guaranteed is that they will play up, and the person operating will also look after batteries and spend their time preventing feedback. I would NOT buy, because the cost of the paddles, stands, cables and other kit make hiring more attractive.
Look at Audio Technica or Sennheiser, although almost any qualit
Look at Audio Technica or Sennheiser, although almost any quality UHF radio microphone type would be fine here. Avoid the cheap stuff.
For reliable operation over that sort of distance you would need obstruction-free line-of-sight between microphones and their respective receivers. Switch only one of them on and let it scan for a free channel, then leave it on and let the second one scan. Check they have found channels at least 2 apart.