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Most robust lav mic


bary555

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I'm looking for the strongest lav mic. I was mostly using sanken, but all of them broke... They tend to fail near the head and the grills Come of. I even try to use them as gently as i can, but it's only matter of time. I also used some sennheisers mke. Mke-1 has a very thin and stiff cable and the mke 2 Gold has a lot of cable noise. I heard that dpa micro dot isn't great either...

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It also helps to solder the right connector directly on the DPAs instead of going with the MicroDot connection in between.

I do so, but gave it to someone who does this on a regular basis (i.e. FTT Kortwich in Berlin - ask for Karl!).

 

I have used Sennheiser, Deity and DPA and some others and found the DPA 4060 to have pretty robust cables.

Same for the Senni MKE2, but the cable is really stiff and prone to noise.

The most robust is easily the DPA heavy duty stuff - but that comes at a price, too. Being bigger and having stiffer cable are just some.

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55 minutes ago, nevo said:

I’ve been using COS11 for many years and never had one break

maybe I’m just lucky?
Ive had B6s go bad and a couple of 4061s go but never a Sanken

It's not Just me. I have a bag of broken sankens (about 5) from my friend... 

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On 3/26/2021 at 6:56 AM, nevo said:

I’ve been using COS11 for many years and never had one break

maybe I’m just lucky?
Ive had B6s go bad and a couple of 4061s go but never a Sanken

Ludicrous. I had a handful of sankens break on my last show alone (actors' fault mostly).

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Lots of factors play into it, but mostly just how much (over) abuse they are being subject to.  I have at least eight COS-11’s (all wired ta5f) and some of the oldest are probably 15 years old.  One or two don’t sound nearly as good, now, but I’ve never had one actually completely break or be broken by someone.

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I do mostly documentary work so I'm dealing with a lot of non-actors.  I've never had a Countryman B3 (not to be confused with a B6) fail on me.  They go for about $200/each when terminated for Lectro and they sound great when you mount them in an Ursa Mini-Mount with Super Stick It.  It has been my go to combination for a few years now and it sounds great.  I know DPA's would probably sound better given their cost and how well made they are, but the B3's seem to get me 80-90% of the way there for way less cost.

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3 hours ago, tourtelot said:

Tram TR50.

 

D.

I stopped using Tram50 because they are the most breakable lav on the planet. B3 are built like tank though they do not sound as good as sanken or dpa. Seriously the cos11 are the best option in terms of robustness versus sound quality.

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39 minutes ago, Michael McQueen said:

I've got 2 cos-11's in my kit that I've had since 2008. they did 6 seasons of history channel's mountain men and I used them this week. I wouldn't say I'm rough on my gear but a show like that will do some heavy wear and tear. I'm a bit curious to how you're killing them so frequently. 

 

Me too.  Accidents do happen, but to be trashing lav's on a regular basis just seems strange to me.

 

A few years ago, we were shooting a sports feature on a college football player and the producer wanted to wire our subject up during the game.  I had the producer sign-off and accept full responsibility to pay for the replacement of any damaged equipment.  So when game day came, my audio guy, after getting a few tips from another one of our friends that did this for the NFL, wired up our player with a Sanken COS-11 and Lectro belt pack.  After the game, neither the lav nor the belt pack had a scratch on them.

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I’ve had Cos 11s go bad at the Ta5 connector before, just sent them in to be rewired. I’ve used DPA 4060 on NHL players during games and never had one go down. COS 11s are a good workhorse some of mine are at least 10 years old. Lot’s of doc, sports, and commercial use. Pro and non pro talent. 

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I would echo what @codymanhas said above. In terms of ruggedness and cost I don't think you can beat the Countryman B3.

That said, I personally don't enjoy the sound of them as much, but I think that is more a case of familiarity listening to Sanken's and DPA's the majority of the time. After some post EQ and sweetening they will get you there.

 

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I've had pretty much all the brand of pro lavs, and they all go bad one way or another after a period of time.  Sweat, pulling, drops, water, dust, heat etc.  A lav gets a lot of abuse that can happen out of your sight, intentional or not.  I view them all as a form of expendable.  I like the B3s, have had good luck with B6s but they are more fragile, I had great luck with Somotrims forever, and bad luck with COS11.  But that's just my story, lots of mixers I know have very different histories with lavs.  The main thing is to check them often and expect to replace them often too.  And have backups.

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9 hours ago, BAB414 said:

Ludicrous. I had a handful of sankens break on my last show alone (actors' fault mostly).

Yes “Ludicrous” that you’re had that many break on your show . I guess that’s what loss and damage reports are for.

I’m down 6 sets of headphones and a SNa600 but no Lavs ....fingers crossed 

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  • 1 month later...

Phillip, I'm also on the Sonotrim caboose. I'm either DPA all-in, or sonotrim, depending on the transmitters and channel count that day. I'd say they leap-frog over the tone and performances of everything else in the pack, IMHO (although there are new contenders, wired vs wireless, and now digital transmitters which can offer a more genuine image to compare)

 

I demo'd this weekend what I guess are the B6's, and I've been planting them and only dressing them as a last resort. Still, one returned broken before we rolled, while I scratched my head. I surmised the full story when I noticed the area was still wet and the mic was moved. Someone poured water on them while I was in hair and make-up, someone else, not seeing the mic, wiped the area down and jammed it in between appliances and grit, the next person stepped and kicked on it while trying to help.

 

Who's insurance does that typically fall under? If you consider it an expendable, then do I replace these at my own cost, make my own claim, or like media, do you itemize this in your invoice?

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