Using Wireless Mic with Monitor

[sonnichs]

I have used various monitor/speakers to direct the sound of our orchestra back into the pit so they can hear each other. There is quite a clutter of cables back there and I would like to supplant the mic's with wireless ones. I am not overly concerned with sound quality for this purpose but I am concerned with delay.

Would there be any reason why an Audio-Technica System 8 or some similar wireless system would not work well for this application. I will have 3 mic's. with 3 monitors such as the Yamaha MSP7

Thanks
Fritz

 

[conanski]

The musicians won't perceive any delay if the signal chain is all analog, and even if there is digital processing in the chain you would have to have several stages of A/D D/A before it would become noticable.
An orchestra can get pretty loud so I don't know how well those studio monitors would work in this environment, you may want to consider live sound monitors instead.

 

[sonnichs]

Thanks for the advice.
I guess I am a little weak on the semantics here but I assume that "Live Sound Monitors" are basically PA speaker type system as opposed to Studio monitors?

I have worked successfully with studio monitors-we only need a little return to each side of the orchestra which is under 40 players. I have to avoid feedback of course.

Thanks again
Fritz

 

[conanski]

I guess I am a little weak on the semantics here but I assume that "Live Sound Monitors" are basically PA speaker type system as opposed to Studio monitors?

Yes.. the idea being the PA version can get much louder.

I have worked successfully with studio monitors-we only need a little return to each side of the orchestra which is under 40 players.

OK.. I once played with a larger orcestra of about 100 and that group could easily hit 120db on a stage.

 

[Enzo]

PA monitors are also designed to be moved around, while studio monitors are often pieces of nice furniture that also make good sound. Studio monitors are also not generally designed to fill area with sound, they are more into providing the engineer at his console with a good sound field.

 

[Senny]

Coming from a church that is rather generous with a technical budget (after reading many horror stories of how churches spend less on an entire system than I do a single mic) I have this advice to give,
Stay wired as much as you can.
Not moving around? Stay wired.
Not a single vocalist? Stay wired.

Wired microphones SOUND BETTER! :O
They don't drop out, run out of power, can't be RF muted so interference makes the whole system squeal, don't have weird intermittent hiss, blahblahblah.

My church recently upgraded from Sennheiser G2 to G3 (12 channels each way) because Australia decided to sell off a large chunk of bandwidth, making the old mics illegal to use. Consequently, EVERYTHING collapsed into the remaining bands, resulting in utter invisible mayhem, even though transmitters and receivers were less than 20m away with line of sight.
Antennae combiners and boosters were required to get the necessary head room. 6 grand total additional.



Proper cable management will get you a lot further. Get short and small XLR snakes if you must. Velcro ties are your friend.

I don't understand how a 40-piece orc cannot hear themselves...