I know there are some guys on here who deal in professional audio equipment and sound, that sort of thing, and I'm looking for some advice and recommendations on the purchase of some new equipment. Basically this is for the church I attend. We currently have an inexpensive one-piece wireless lapel mic and a wireless handheld mic. We want to replace both of those mics, however the lapel mic we want to go with one of those invisible "Madonna" mics. I'd like to get some input on brands to look at and where a good place to pick these up might be. The lapel/madonna mic will be strictly for speech, not singing if that matters, but the handheld will be used for both. I'm also weighing the advantages/disadvantages of buying online versus a brick and mortar store. Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks! ~Taiji
the main advantage of going to a retail outlet is that you get to actually talk to someone, stand around a bit, maybe learn some subtleties of application that might not come across over the phone. i do *not* recommed buying something like this online without sales help, unless you are already pretty well informed.
as a starter, you might check this out: http://www.sweetwater.com/shop/live-sound/microphones/wireless_buying-guide.php and if you don't have a good retail outlet near you - either a prosound outlet or something like a guitar center franchise - then i strongly recommend getting on the phone with someone at sweetwater, and having this conversation.
basically, though, you want a UHF system. sennheiser and audio technica are both great, but even shure is fine for most applications. depends on what you can spend, mostly. stay away from samson, though. just not that reliable.
Another good place is www.samash.com, which is good because anything you buy you can return to the brick and mortar Sam Ash store.
Remember in the electronics world you get what you pay for. So go for name brands like Shure, AKG, M-Audio, or real high end like Neuman or Neve.
Whatever mic you use you are always limited to the quality of your preamp, mixing board, amplifier, and speakers. So keep an eye on those areas when upgrading your equipment.
Shure SM58 is the industry standard for on stage microphones. They may make a wirless version, if not you can get a wireless setup that uses a wired mic.
And good luck with committees.... I am going through the same thing, trying to upgrade our chruch's sound system from a Peavy head and two Crate speakers (with three w/l Shures and a Nady w/l lav to something a little more controllable and something that will send a decent pre-eq monitor signal to the video camera....
$3500? Am I nuts? It'll never get past the Trustees!
Shure SM58 is the industry standard for on stage microphones. They may make a wirless version, if not you can get a wireless setup that uses a wired mic.
You can get the SM58 in a wireless. Our church has one, and we'll be buying a couple more in the future. The one we have is a very nice UHF version...seems like the model number is UL or UXL something. Nice display on the receiver with signal strength, audio level, and battery meter.
And good luck with committees.... I am going through the same thing, trying to upgrade our chruch's sound system from a Peavy head and two Crate speakers (with three w/l Shures and a Nady w/l lav to something a little more controllable and something that will send a decent pre-eq monitor signal to the video camera....
$3500? Am I nuts? It'll never get past the Trustees!
Actually that part is already dealt with. I'd just finished up a meeting with the minister prior to making this post. The only problem is that our budget is much smaller- only about 750-1000 for the two mics. Our church is really small, still in its infancy but growing quickly. And frankly, our minister is VERY concerned about sound and is always in support of improving our system. We record every service on CD and she's really concerned with sound quality.And at this point we just have individual committees, no board of trustees yet. So basically, if the minister wants to give us the money, we get it. Our setup is kind of weird because we don't actually own but a few miscellaneous items. The wireless mics are ours, but the church we meet in is a Seventh Day Adventist church. They meet on Saturdays, we meet on Sundays. The sound system actually belongs to them, so we're only purchasing items that we can take with us when we get our own building. We've really had to improvise as we only have 4 inputs on the church floor, and I like to have 2 mics on the congregation which leaves us way short. I ended up moving the receivers for the wireless mics up to the sound booth and plugging them into a three way switch that has an open set of inputs. The piano and pianists vocals come from the other two inputs on the floor. We often have guest musicians and I really have to get funky to make everything work. Anyway, I appreciate everyone's suggestions. I looked at Sam Ash and Guitar Center, we have both of those locally, so I could order online and have a place to go if I have a problem, but I didn't really see exactly what I was looking for on either website. I'll check into the Shure mics. Thanks guys.
I have some experience with church sound systems, so maybe this will help you.
The main 2 problems with the hand held and headsets are these.
1. Batteries. When they get low you can get an unscheduled squeal in the system. 2. The base station, in many rooms, does not have uniform coverage. In other words, you get "holes" in your reception. This can be mitigated by mounting the receiver high enough up the wall to have line of sight, however, this does not necessarily cure the problem. The base station issue is pretty much the biggest issue.
The other issue is the quality of the wires in the headset. It takes some care to keep them going. Your minister will need to have exclusive conrol over the headset and will have to be responsible to keep the batteries up, a supply of them handy, and ensure the unit isn't exposed to kids in the church, or casually laid down on the pulpit.
Other than that, you can spend horrendous amounts of money on allegedly superior equipment and find out that the performance of the equipment is no better than the cheaper stuff.
If your room is big enough, ei. seating 200+, you probably need 2 base stations to ensure coverage.
As for makes, I would go to a music store that sells musical instruments and PA's. They generally sell stuff that will take some abuse. If you go to sound installation companies, you will pay more and not get any better performance.
Hello Taijiguy..here are a couple of photos of it...but I've just thought of a problem.... it is 230 volts..Does that matter? I know it is fairly simple to change the transformer inside. The transmitter pack is good, because you can plug the Lavalier mike into it, or an ordinary mike with a short lead...two in one I am just going to see if I can find a link to the model. Nick
[This message has been edited by fierofetish (edited 12-04-2006).]
Sorry, was looking it over and doing some research. I think the voltage thing may be an issue. It's not just the voltage, but the cycles, you're system runs at 50 hz, ours at 60hz. Some things (like hair dryers and motors) will run with the different frequency, but electronics tend to be a bit more finicky. Too bad, I probably would have taken it just as a backup for the price!
Did you find a link? I can't make out the model number.
[This message has been edited by Taijiguy (edited 12-04-2006).]
Actually, no!! I couldn't find a link on Google...It is a Mascot MR-HO9...I have had it for 4 or 5 years..never used it because a Levalier system is no good for singing through. I was going to adapt it for guitar, but forgot I even had it until I saw this thread...Just had an idea!! If it is no good as is, I will put it on eBay, and donate the proceeds to your fund..how's that? Nick
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it is 230 volts..Does that matter? I know it is fairly simple to change the transformer inside. The transmitter pack is good, because you can plug the Lavalier mike into it, or an ordinary mike with a short lead...two in one 
