Zaxcom ZMT3-X

[Olle Sjostrom]

This one is no shocker, but really cool!

 

https://zaxcom.com/products/zmt3-x/

 

The ZMT3-Flex was announced a few months back, really cool. Two inputs to record two lavs. Cool be great for simple two person on a bench type situations, or very sneaky stereo ambiance recordings or whatever. Nice. 

[Wandering Ear]

12 hours on a single battery is pretty great.  I'm not familiar with the BT100 battery, and having already 2 different kinds of batteries for my lavs, I'm unlikely to want to add a 3rd.  I don't really do them, but there will be shows that will need the battery life.

[Constantin]

12 hours is very cool, but I wonder on which power setting? When they say „up to 12 hours“? 

Also, the dual MicroDot input is very nice. Already liked that on the Flex, but that was too large, now it’s getting more interesting. The whole shape that transmitter has now might enable better hiding compared to the regular ZMT

[Karri]

Was there any word on price?

[Derek H]

Quite thick. 

[Glen Deakin]

$1995

[Wandering Ear]

1 hour ago, Constantin said:

12 hours is very cool, but I wonder on which power setting? When they say „up to 12 hours“? 

Also, the dual MicroDot input is very nice. Already liked that on the Flex, but that was too large, now it’s getting more interesting. The whole shape that transmitter has now might enable better hiding compared to the regular ZMT

This is a good point.  Hopefully that's 12 hours at at least 50mw + recording.

[glenn]

Run time is 12 Hours at 75mw output power.

 

Glenn

[Vincent R.]

18 hours ago, Wandering Ear said:

I'm not familiar with the BT100 battery

2300mah @3.7v, about more than 2x the capacity of a NP50 (used in the ZMT3 and Lectro SSM). So yeah, yet another battery, but for a good reason I think (capacity/form). 

[Wandering Ear]

6 hours ago, glenn said:

Run time is 12 Hours at 75mw output power.

 

Glenn

Lovely.  That's pretty impressive.

[ao]

On 4/8/2019 at 5:10 PM, Derek H said:

Quite thick. 

 

it's hard to imagine,  but i run into some costumes where the regular zmt3 is visible as a lump under a costume.  the thickness of the "x" won't work in those situations, but i have situations involving prosthetics where space is less important and run time is. not thrilled that it is another battery format that requires another charger, after buying a lectro 12 bay np50 charger.  got a tongue lashing from a director last week when we had to replace a battery in a difficult costume placement with a zmt3 about not "anticipating" when the battery needed to be replaced.  i would not have bought 6 zmt3 transmitters if i had known that putting the units to sleep was not going to be an option.  live and learn (get burned)

[stacysound]

2 hours ago, ao said:

 

it's hard to imagine,  but i run into some costumes where the regular zmt3 is visible as a lump under a costume.  the thickness of the "x" won't work in those situations, but i have situations involving prosthetics where space is less important and run time is. not thrilled that it is another battery format that requires another charger, after buying a lectro 12 bay np50 charger.  got a tongue lashing from a director last week when we had to replace a battery in a difficult costume placement with a zmt3 about not "anticipating" when the battery needed to be replaced.  i would not have bought 6 zmt3 transmitters if i had known that putting the units to sleep was not going to be an option.  live and learn (get burned)

You can’t sleep these transmitters? I thought you could Zaxnet to them, turning them up and down and changing channels and all that.?

[Brian Liston]

41 minutes ago, stacysound said:

You can’t sleep these transmitters? I thought you could Zaxnet to them, turning them up and down and changing channels and all that.?

The original firmware had this ability, but they took it out, citing its lack of actually saving any battery power. I was bit bummed by this as well.

[MartinTheMixer]

2 hours ago, ao said:

 

it's hard to imagine,  but i run into some costumes where the regular zmt3 is visible as a lump under a costume.  the thickness of the "x" won't work in those situations, but i have situations involving prosthetics where space is less important and run time is. not thrilled that it is another battery format that requires another charger, after buying a lectro 12 bay np50 charger.  got a tongue lashing from a director last week when we had to replace a battery in a difficult costume placement with a zmt3 about not "anticipating" when the battery needed to be replaced.  i would not have bought 6 zmt3 transmitters if i had known that putting the units to sleep was not going to be an option.  live and learn (get burned)

 

2 hours ago, ao said:

 

it's hard to imagine,  but i run into some costumes where the regular zmt3 is visible as a lump under a costume.  the thickness of the "x" won't work in those situations, but i have situations involving prosthetics where space is less important and run time is. not thrilled that it is another battery format that requires another charger, after buying a lectro 12 bay np50 charger.  got a tongue lashing from a director last week when we had to replace a battery in a difficult costume placement with a zmt3 about not "anticipating" when the battery needed to be replaced.  i would not have bought 6 zmt3 transmitters if i had known that putting the units to sleep was not going to be an option.  live and learn (get burned)

Someone done stole that man's low power function. What version are you guys on that don't have the sleep feature?

 

Thanks, Martin

[John Blankenship]

I haven't done any full comparisons of sleep time on the ZMT3 yet, but I can tell you that the ZMT-Flex has about a 4:1 ratio of Sleep to On time. 

[osa]

I sleep my zmt's all the time and def do see extended battery life but not quite as much as i recall with la2's. Not sure what fw i am on but i dont believe the latest. Just received a unit from zax repair. Will check fw vers and sleep abilities assuming they updated fw

[Wandering Ear]

They took power roll out, not sleep.  

[John Blankenship]

33 minutes ago, Wandering Ear said:

They took power roll out, not sleep.  

 

That’s how I remember it.  They did so because there is little power consumption difference between RF power levels.  Sleep should still save battery life. 

[MartinTheMixer]

On 4/14/2019 at 7:21 PM, Wandering Ear said:

They took power roll out, not sleep.  

 

On 4/14/2019 at 2:27 PM, ao said:

 

it's hard to imagine,  but i run into some costumes where the regular zmt3 is visible as a lump under a costume.  the thickness of the "x" won't work in those situations, but i have situations involving prosthetics where space is less important and run time is. not thrilled that it is another battery format that requires another charger, after buying a lectro 12 bay np50 charger.  got a tongue lashing from a director last week when we had to replace a battery in a difficult costume placement with a zmt3 about not "anticipating" when the battery needed to be replaced.  i would not have bought 6 zmt3 transmitters if i had known that putting the units to sleep was not going to be an option.  live and learn (get burned)

AO, was that what you meant, the power roll function. I would like this to get cleared up, just to make sure that there is not some actual problem with his, or anyones sleep function.

 

Thanks, Martin

[Wandering Ear]

On 4/14/2019 at 6:00 PM, John Blankenship said:

 

That’s how I remember it.  They did so because there is little power consumption difference between RF power levels.  Sleep should still save battery life. 

Exactly right.   I have been sleeping my zmt3 throughout the day today via zaxnet and it definitely makes a difference in battery life 

[Karri]

Which mics will be compatible with this? DPA probably, but only low voltage ones?

[John Blankenship]

3 hours ago, Karri said:

Which mics will be compatible with this? DPA probably, but only low voltage ones?

 

Basically, any DPAs as well as many others.  

[Ze Frias]

7 hours ago, Karri said:

Which mics will be compatible with this? DPA probably, but only low voltage ones?

 

Audio Department out in LA is retrofitting most mics with microdot connectors, including Sanken COS-11s and Countryman B6s. I'm sure that other dealers and service shops will follow. So the list of compatible mics goes beyond just DPA.

[Karri]

9 hours ago, John Blankenship said:

 

Basically, any DPAs as well as many others.  

 

The transmitter only outputs 3.3 V though, according to the specs? So wouldn't this rule out the 4060 for instance? Or am I missing something (I'm not the most electronics-savvy I'll admit)?

[Wandering Ear]

1 hour ago, Karri said:

 

The transmitter only outputs 3.3 V though, according to the specs? So wouldn't this rule out the 4060 for instance? Or am I missing something (I'm not the most electronics-savvy I'll admit)?

While 3.3v may not "technically" be up to spec for some mics, in practice the 4060 performs just fine.  I am using a 4061 on a zmt3 as I type this and it sounds great.