Today's video is a look at some of the Phenix Pro RF (wireless) mic equipment. The PTU-5000. In this case, a test of the handhelds, lavaliers, and the handhelds. Phenyx Pro website: phenyxpro.com/YsuXMi0-IdVbT Coupon Code (5% Off): AlanHamiltonAudio ------- 0:00 Intro 0:13 What's In The Box? 1:58 Mic Testing 2:58 Testing Mic Range Outside 5:18 Final Thoughts and Information on the Phenyx Pro PTU-5000 System "As an Amazon Associate, or affiliate of other vendors, I earn from qualifying purchases."
I was anxious to try it out. Not every situation calls for a 1000.00+ RF solution, let alone when you add multiple mics into the equation and the multipliers there.
@@AlanHamiltonAudio Yes, I have the PTM-10 system and it's great. It sounds good, it has stereo inputs, and it operates in the 900 MHz band so there isn't the issue with cell phone interference like most of the budget brands. I think it's the best product in the market for the money. I'm sure there are reasons why a Sennheiser system is better or situations where it makes sense to go that route but I mean for 1/4th of the price it gets the same job done. I don't hear a difference that's worth 4 times the money and it hasn't broken on me or failed to work.
Yeah. Im a full timer here in Indy, Alan. I have been using the PTM10s (I have 3 of them) for almost a year now. I have done everything from bar gigs to Colts games. Probably more than 100 gigs on these at this point as I play and run sound a LOT. They are perfect! I have 2 of them racked up and one in its carry case for smaller gigs.
I figured the Colts game was gonna be the ultimate test since we are right out front on South St. (Touchdown Town) right by all the TV trucks and stuff....absolutely no dropouts.
I also bought the wireless handhelds for speech mics at weddings. If you EQ them right, they are okay. They have toooo much low-end...like everything up to 250Hz....and then some annoying 5k-10k to get rid of, then they sound acceptable.
Hello, what knob position would you set those wireless receiver on? At the center or before clipping/ red led signal shows up? Ps: not gain on mixer. But the knobs on the wireless receiver. Thankd!
IIRC the knobs on the receiver are just basic output levels. They have no impact on the signal into the receiver. So, you can set them where they need to be. Normally, I'd say 100% (to get plenty signal into the mixer), but I used them at 50% for the test. Which there was no noise of note, and the gain I needed in the mixer wasn't over the top (if it would've needed excess gain at the mixer, I would've brought those up from the default 50%). If you're using the 1/4" output (which is all 4 mic outputs combined) then that is really when you'd want to use the knobs to balance the 4 mic levels. A RU-vidr might only have one audio input into their computer, so that single input, and the ability to individually adjust mic levels out of the receiver is great for that. Normally, you'd be using the 4 XLR outputs into a mixer of course. But not every user, or use, will have a full mixer.
How did you feel that they sounded? What other common microphones do they compare with? The handhelds sounded okay, but the lavalier and headset mikes seemed a bit thin or boxy.
I thought the handhelds were where the system shined. Those sounded good enough, no EQ, just that basic HPF setting to do the entire video narration on. Everything is subjective when it comes to sound, so I more or less just wanted to set everything to where viewers could just hear it 'raw', and decide for themselves on what they'd do subjectively for EQ. But I did want a generic HPF to mitigate plosives. Meanwhile, it's pretty typical a handheld, used properly will sound better than a lav since the lav is a bit more compromised in where you have to place it. And especially if 'better' means warmer and you like the proximity effect on the handheld (any cardioid HH). So, I think ultimately the headset and lav suffered a bit in comparison to the handhelds. I could've tried to EQ them differently, but then I didn't want anyone to get the mics and say the lavs and headsets didn't sound good to them and accuse me of giving them an unfair advantage. So I erred on the side of being conservative and just presenting them all 'flat', with the EQ an RTA showing onscreen. So, to your point, although a 110HPF is pretty conservative and typically might need to be higher, not lower, on a vocal or speech mic, I think for the headset and lav, I probably would've experimented with it being lower. As long as they weren't in a position where plosives were an issue. Just to warm them up a bit. I also would've cut something in the mids. I can't remember exactly, but somewhere around 400Hz... maybe more to 600Hz. That's another reason I included the RTA so people could hear my voice and see the response and have an idea what they might do. Maybe even compare to the HH on the RTA. If I was doing a conference and using them, I'd probably use a higher point for the HPF on the handhelds just to balance them more toward the lav and headset and thin them a bit more. Depending on the person using them of course. Some of what we're hearing is the proximity effect in action, warming the handhelds up, and me being consistent and keeping them at a 2" or so from my mouth. And using them consistently. Both where I was holding them, and my speaking voice. Not trailing off or lowering the mic as a I went along. Or moving my head away from the mic. But that kind of tweaking is kind of true no matter what mics or system you have. Sometimes, for consistency, you don't make one mic/speaker sound the best that he or she can, if it would draw some awkward comparison to someone with a weaker voice and maybe different mic. You try to make them all sound good and relatively balanced, even if you could make one person sound great. At least for spoken word uses. Of course for vocals (singing), that's not going to be a lav... that's going to be handhelds. And then you just want them to sound as good as they can. And that comes back to the package options. It doesn't have to be a mixed package of mics. And can be all 4 handhelds for example. If a user is a church and they have spent 1000's on Shure Axient RF, these aren't "Axient Killers" for 200.00. But a small church with no budget and no wireless mics yet, these would certainly be an option to consider. Like I said in the video, same for a fairgrounds or auction house. And would also work for RU-vidrs who want to be wireless but don't have a lot of money to put toward 4 high dollar wireless mics. Also, at the 200.00 entry point, it lets someone get their feet with something they can afford that works well, but it's not like they paid 200.00 per mic for a total of 800.00 and are still in about the same place overall with performance. Maybe not even as good honestly. I'm not aware of any HH's at this price point, besides these, that come in metal housings. And in the future if a user does grow and decide to upgrade to some 1000.00+ RF individual mics... their starter system didn't break the bank. Plus they can pass these along to the youth or whatever. But also as I mentioned in the video, a user has to know whether or not these fixed frequency mics work in their area. If they have a TV channel broadcasting in the same band they could be limited and not able to use one or more of the mic channels. But that information can be found online and via their local stations' information. And that also means, if they plan to travel with the mics, they might end up in some regions where there IS a TV channel on the same frequency as 1 or more of these mics. So, they probably aren't a good investment, even as a starter buy, if you know you want to travel with the mics. At least to travel in a wide enough region to be getting in and out of different TV markets and their broadcast range.
Is your speaker powered? There is no amp built into the RF receiver so it needs to go from receiver to mixer/amp then speaker. Or else from RF receiver to 'mixer' inputs of a powered speaker.
