Best inexpensive wireless IEMs?

monquixote

My singer is looking for something so she isn't trailing wires

Danny1969

None of the cheap one's I tried were great, I mean they worked but were prone to interference from other things and a nightmare outdoors. I ended up using the Senn EW300  G2 unit which was a revelation in quality and was affordable 2nd hand 

No use to your singer but my own Golden Ears IEM  product is better than any commercial IEM I have ever used  but it's only useful if you play guitar with a cable 

So my pick would be a used EW300 G2 

If you do go with a cheap unit then positioning of the transmitter is important as they don't have the range of the dearer units. Placing the transmitter behind her in line of sight will help rather than putting the transmitter by the desk. The less distance to cross the more successful they are it seems

thomasross20

What do you use, Danny? 

SO if the whole band has IEMs there's no need for monitors, right? 

Our band isn't quite that professional...!

Danny1969

Yeah IEM's basically allow you to lower the overall volume of everything and then set a mix that's right for you. You then don't need any wedges and the audience don't have to listen to the reverse side of a crap sounding wedge monitor..... 

I use my own device called Golden Ears ... it takes a stereo feed from the desk, has it's own ambient stereo mics and then puts that up the same cable as the guitar signal. It's not particular clever some of the other guys on here achieve the same thing by taping cables together but it's a little more polished in execution. Being hardwire and self powered I don't get any radio interference and don't have to worry about batteries.  It's a great system for guitarist, drummers and keys players. I've sold a few of these, it looks like this 

 

thomasross20

Nice!! Somehow I can't see my band using them but maybe in future....

Thanks for explaining!

John_P

I use the senn 300 as well but I've had it years and suspect there are some decent cheaper alternatives - they do crop up on eBay quite cheap though if you add your own earbuds.   If you have moulded earplugs they might take headphones, that's how I did mine.

monquixote

Danny1969 said:

Yeah IEM's basically allow you to lower the overall volume of everything and then set a mix that's right for you. You then don't need any wedges and the audience don't have to listen to the reverse side of a crap sounding wedge monitor..... 

I use my own device called Golden Ears ... it takes a stereo feed from the desk, has it's own ambient stereo mics and then puts that up the same cable as the guitar signal. It's not particular clever some of the other guys on here achieve the same thing by taping cables together but it's a little more polished in execution. Being hardwire and self powered I don't get any radio interference and don't have to worry about batteries.  It's a great system for guitarist, drummers and keys players. I've sold a few of these, it looks like this 

 

@Danny1969

That looks very cool, I could use something like that.

What's the reason for the stereo mics?

Danny1969

It has 2 Electrec mics in the box for picking up some ambiance, the isolation you get with some IEM's is so great you can't really hear the crowd or what the bass player is shouting at you between songs at some gigs  so I like a bit of ambiance thrown in. I nicked the idea from Allan & Heaths ME-1 which I also have 

You can achieve the same thing by plumbing a couple of condensor boundrey mics into your mixer and feeding some of that to the IEM's. When I'm mixing other bands on ears I generally do that with 2 inexpensive Pulse boundry mics. I've never used ordinary mics on stands in case a pissed punter shouted into one

Going back to the Senn IEM's I've just repaired a G2 receiver that was damaged with beer, a quick look on Ebay in case it was BER showed you get get em now for £190 ish with reciever. My T Bone cheapo one was £160 I think.  As it happens they sell the battery cage the G2  needed as a spare part and I was able to repair the PCB, it's very well built. I'm a big fan of Sennheiser stuff

monquixote

My in ears don't block enough to need any mics, but it still looks like a very cool box. How much do you charge for them?

I'd love an ME-1 as we have an Allan and Heath desk, but I can't justify the cost for the frequency and amount I make gigging.