Stereo Personal Monitor System?

[Ray K.]

Currently I'm using a Shure PSM200 mono system hooked into my Aviom A-16II 16 channel stereo mixer. I already have custom IEM/earbuds.

I've been thinking about moving up to a stereo Personal Monitor System. Shure's contenders would be the PSM400, PSM600 or PSM700. Sennheiser has their EW300IEM G2.

My existing budget is $600 at the upper end. So, I'll be looking at used. There are plenty of Shure systems available, but I haven't been seeing many Sennheiser's, it seems.

I'd like to get some thoughts or preferences on any of these systems. If you have personal experience using them, even better.

Would going to a stereo mix be worth the cash outlay? I realize this is subjective, but let me know what you think.

Does anyone know if the Sennheiser is easier on battery life? I believe it uses a couple of AA batteries.

I play weekly and use my system at rehearsal Wednesday night for about 1 1/2 hour. On Sunday, we have a rehearsal, then I play two services. I leave my bodypack on the whole time, so that's a total of about 4 hours. The 9V battery last through a Sunday morning with no trouble, but it's pretty much a throw-away afterwards.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Ray K.

[pipedwho]

The Sennheiser G2 IEM system gets around 8 hours of battery life out of alkaline AAs (which are much cheaper than 9V batteries). It is an excellent system with an extremely high quality sound output, and more than enough range for pretty much anything you'd ever want to do with it.

As for stereo. It really depends on how you plan on mixing it. Whenever I've used stereo sets, the mix was mono anyway, as that is what was fed to FOH. Stereo might be cool if you could mix yourself centrally, and everyone else left / right. Or, if you had a dual amp setup and wanted a different amp coming in on each ear. But, it would really depend on your gear and where the mix was coming from.

[Ray K.]

Thanks for the informative reply. We have several Sennheiser wireless mic systems, but I've not had the chance to try their wireless monitor systems. Your the second person to suggest them to me so far, so I'll have to give them a look.

Yeah, with the Aviom system, I'm getting 16 channels worth that I'm able mix at my fingertips. I'm thinking that panning some of the channels will add a little more "space" and broaden the mix, so everything isn't on top of one another.

Any one else? :)

Thanks,
Ray K.

[Ray K.]

So, I finally decided to try Sennheiser and have an EW300IEM G2 system on the way. I'm hoping it's going to make a big difference in what I hear in my "ears." At least I'll have another piece of pro quality, tour ready gear. (Note to self: turn pro and go on tour).

Anyone want to help me figure out how to hook this to my Aviom A16-II? I need to go from stereo headphone/line out from the Aviom and would assume split left/right to the XLR inputs of the Sennheiser.

Thanks,
Ray K.

[kurt1981]

I like the senheizers too, used them once for a church recording project off of my avioms and they worked very well. I guess the easiest way to split it would be to run two xlr to quarter inch cables to it, aand use a Y connector that has a Trs male end and two mono inputs. I love the stereo mix feel, jst seems to spread everything out more, and makes you feel more like you're in a real situation. You can make it sound like you're playing along to a cd if you pan and mix everything right. Good luck, do report to us how you like them.
Kurt

[Ray K.]

Hey Kurt,

Thanks for the thumbs up on the Sennheiser system. It should be here Tuesday and I hope to try it out at rehearsal Wednesday. I sure hope I like it consider the amount of cash outlay! :rolleyes:

Thanks for the cable suggestions. I've been continuing my searching and researching. So far I've found two ways to go about it short of building a cable from scratch: One way is just as you described. The other way is to use an insert cable such as a Hosa SRC-203. I'll just need to change out the one female XLR to a male.

I'll be sure to report back after I've had some time on the new system.

Thanks,
Ray K.