Jump to content

Lectro universal wiring: sound compromise or not?


Jim Feeley

Recommended Posts

Back in June 2011, Peter Mega wrote:

I personally don't like the universal wiring so I have mics wired for servo only and others wired for the older wiring scheme only.

Although I can't mix and match transmitters and mics any more, I prefer the dedicated wiring's.

I've tried the universal wiring but IMO, doesn't sound as good as the servo only wiring. The universal wiring sounds a bit "edgy".

I have a mix of servo + non-servo Lectro transmitters. Have various lavs wired various ways, but I don't have a pair of equally babied/abused/aged lavs to do a good comparison. Getting ready to refresh my lav collection. So I turn to you all:

Peter's comment is interesting. Do the rest of you also hear a difference in lavs wired with Lectro's universal/compatible wiring compared to those wired just for no-servo or servo bias? How would you characterize the difference?

Background:

Here's Lectro's input wiring page:

http://www.lectrosonics.com/component/option,com_fss/Itemid,81/catid,4/kbartid,10/view,kb/

I mostly use Countryman EMW and B6, Sanken COS-11s, and may add some OST lavs.

So what do you all think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

" hear a difference in lavs wired with Lectro's universal/compatible wiring compared to those wired just for no-servo or servo bias? "

in sound quality ?

no, not really....not in practice.

I do hear differences when I get the wrong, non-universal wired mic into the TX, though...

Edited by studiomprd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont notice a difference sound quality if that is what you are asking, but there is a difference in how hot the mic is at the input. Universal wiring is about 10db hotter at the input so for situations where you have a soft talker, using a universal wired mic may help with your signal to noise. To me it does not make to much difference other than what i mentioned above.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the reasons we went to the servo input is that we could standardize on one input scheme. Previously, over the years, different transmitters ended up with different input gains, etc. This of course means that some original wirings will have different gains when setup for servo only since they were different from each other just with the older wiring.

Please note, we have left the Damned input wiring alone for a long time now and intend to "leave it alone" for the next decade.

I played around with the idea of announcing a new 6 pin TA6M input next April 1, but the crew said I'd have to open all incoming mail myself.

Best,

Larry F

Lectro

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I ordered some new white cos-11's a few weeks ago for a cookery show I'm now working on. At the time it didn't occur to me request servo or non-servo so now I have some with and some without.

At first I was annoyed with myself but maybe it is a blessing as for some situations I'll want to make use of one or the other.

However to my surprise I plugged in a new servo wired cos-11 into a block 23 SMa transmitter last week to find it sounds all 'hissy' as if the transmitter only accepts non-servo wired microphones. I thought all SM transmitters accepted servo wired microphones??

The same microphone plugged into a SMdB sounds fine as does the SMa transmitter with a non-servo microphone.

I've received a rely from Jim @ Lectro European Support with some suggestions which I'll try tomorrow.

Anyone else had a similar experience??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All SM's are wired exactly the same, with exactly the same circuits. Was the SMd using a different receiver? Were the gains the same? Receiver noise reduction the same? Modes set correctly on the transmitters? Cheap eye of newt? Something is very wrong here.

Best,

Larry F

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All SM's are wired exactly the same, with exactly the same circuits. Was the SMd using a different receiver? Were the gains the same? Receiver noise reduction the same? Modes set correctly on the transmitters? Cheap eye of newt? Something is very wrong here.

Best,

Larry F

Jim had similar questions... one thing I did occur is that the mode is different. My SMa cannot do CP Hbr mode like my SMdB's so runs in 400 mode. Could this be it? I'll check the firmware version tomorrow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I'm even more confused now. Having had the opportunity this morning to perform some controlled tests with my two SMa's and six SMDB's with all my microphones (servo and non) everything appears to be correct.

The non servo appear to be approximately 8-10db louder than the servo wired mics which now don't hiss on my SMa's.

So I'll need to chalk it down to tiredness, gain structure employed on the mixer (so was hearing more circuitry noise due to to higher gain on that channel),the quite room I was filming in when I "thought" my SMa's were hissing and/or maybe not seating the mic correctly into the transmitter?

Mystery solved I guess?

Thanks Larry and Jim.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I'm even more confused now. Having had the opportunity this morning to perform some controlled tests with my two SMa's and six SMDB's with all my microphones (servo and non) everything appears to be correct.

The non servo appear to be approximately 8-10db louder than the servo wired mics which now don't hiss on my SMa's.

So I'll need to chalk it down to tiredness, gain structure employed on the mixer (so was hearing more circuitry noise due to to higher gain on that channel),the quite room I was filming in when I "thought" my SMa's were hissing and/or maybe not seating the mic correctly into the transmitter?

Mystery solved I guess?

Thanks Larry and Jim.

Hi Matt,

Thanks for re-trying the experiment and the update.

Best Regards,

Larry Fisher

Lectrosonics

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Peter's comment is interesting. Do the rest of you also hear a difference in lavs wired with Lectro's universal/compatible wiring compared to those wired just for no-servo or servo bias? How would you characterize the difference?

Anyone else have thoughts or experiences on this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

" How would you characterize the difference? "

most noticeable: levels

that said, there is a reason that there is a specific wiring for servo bias and thus many of us tend to order most of any new mic's wired for servo once we have some servo TX's....

by definition, the universal wiring is a compromise...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All my SM have fixed antennas, so I have a couple of universal COS-11 in the event I need to use my external mag-mount antennas for car work with my older non-servo 400s.

I know I have noticed minor differences in various combinations of Tx and wiring schemes, but in the typical lav environment (noisy ambiance, walk and talks, wides, etc.) I find the difference unimportant.

But if you have someone wired to cover a very quiet performance in a very quiet scene, you'll probably find servo wiring in a servo unit to be the lowest self-noise.

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...