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Zaxcom 900LT vs 900LTS


Tom Visser

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Glenn, or anyone else who has researched the products / have first hand experience, I may be in the market for a 900LT, but was wondering, other than the cost, is there any disadvantage to using the 900LTS for applications that mostly require mono mic'ing, but would be occasionally useful to have double "stere" mics, such as for backup, or different mic positions?  In other words, can the 900LTS for all intents and purposes work exactly like a 900LT when you need it to?  Is on board recording compromised a bit, because the audio has to be compressed more, less battery power, compromised performance due to bias voltage supply, etc?

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In other words, can the 900LTS for all intents and purposes work exactly like a 900LT when you need it to? 

Yes

Is on board recording compromised a bit, because the audio has to be compressed more, less battery power, compromised performance due to bias voltage supply, etc?

No

When the LTS in mono mode the unit will work exactly the same as the LT. You can use a mono mic with the LTS transmitter as long as it is the 2 wire type as most of them are.

The LTS recording will be the same as the LT in mono mode as well.

Glenn

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I recently bought a 900LT and a 900M and I live in Minnesota (just for point of reference).  I've had nothing but lousy range and lack of reliability from the units.  I first picked up a Tx and Rx in block 19 but had it switched to block 24 after thinking perhaps it was a block issue in my area; I also had the receiver changed to a 900S. Every time I go in to a new location I scan for open frequencies and check the spacing with any other wireless I may be running.  I've tried numerous different scenarios with the Zaxcom.  Putting it on a 20 foot cable to get it away from my 442 and 744t, tried it with no other wireless powered up, scanned for open frequencies and did a manual check of the frequencies using the receiver, and even tried not having the receiver plugged in to anything.  It still couldn't keep a lock on the Tx. 

Here are some examples of my experience with the 900LT and the 900S so far:

I placed the 900LT on the back of an actor and under a light jacket.  They walked about 20 feet away from me, turned around, and the Rx lost the signal for a moment.  Good thing it wasn't while we were rolling otherwise I'd be out of a job!

I mixed a sit-down interview last week where I placed the Tx on the left hip of the interviewee, they sat in the chair which was roughly 15-20 feet away, and there were signal dropouts and RF hits constantly.  Only the boom was usable. 

I placed the Tx in the top left breast pocked of a jacket on an actor and he started the scene less than 100 feet from me with a clear line of sight between the Tx and Rx.  During the scene the actor progressively got closer and closer to me.  At the top of the scene the signal was cutting in an out and I missed nearly all of the dialogue.  It didn't get stable and solid until the actor was about 30 feet away. 

I mixed a Pepsi commercial last week at a mansion just west of Minneapolis.  At one point the actor with the 900LT walked behind a wall and wasn't more than 15 feet away from my receiver but the Tx and Rx couldn't lock on to each other to save their lives.  The wall was nothing more than wood and sheetrock!!! 

More often than not the 900LT and 900S lose signal.  I don't care how good the audio quality is or how many bells and whistles the Zaxcom units have.  If that signal isn't getting to the receiver and it makes the work flow more cumbersome and unreliable they are completely useless in the field. 

The long and short of it:  the 900LT is a damn joke of a transmitter!  I have a pair of Sennheiser 2000 that get double the range and very rarely take RF hits.  I do love the sound quality of the Zaxcom but who cares how good the signal is if the signal isn't getting to the mixer more than half the time?!  Sure, it's great that it can record to the microSD card, but what am I supposed to do, hand off the CF cards from my 744t and a handful of microSD cards to a DIT and say "by the way, I lost signal on my $3500 wireless unit 28 times today, here are the time code spots where they all happened, good luck!" 

I did a shoot for a major network show in December using Lectro SMQV and 411's.  The talent was 3 stories up on the other side of a brick apartment building and I was still picking up their signal as if they were standing next to me.  The Zaxcom can't make it more than 50-75 feet away with a clear line of sight before I lose the signal. 

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Your experience seems so much counter to what what I've heard others say regarding Zaxcom wireless and hops in general, perhaps not specifically the LT/LTS series, makes me wonder what is going on.  Is it possible you are getting RF spray from your own equipment or that there is an antenna / RF distribution issue that needs to be looked at?

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Hi Matthew,

Probably if you could you share a bit more info on the power setting for both the lectro (50, 100, 250) and zaxcom (10, 25, 50) which were you using? That might help. On another hand, I noticed that if the antennas are touching the body of the person, you lose quite a bit of range than if there was a slight gap between the talent and the antenna of the transmitter.

Best Regards,

Lawrence

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There is something gone horribly wrong with your units, based on my experience.

Antenna check in order. Bent is not good for sure.

Also, check settings. There is at least one setting that has to be set the same system-wide in order for them to work. Learned that bit from the manual.

Get on the phone with Zaxcom.

-- Jan

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There is definitely something malfunctioning here. Give me a call and we will get you an RMA. We will repair or replace anything that is not right.

The TRX900LT has proven itself in many applications including NFL use. I am sure we will find the problem.

Glenn

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I just got off the phone with Eric at Zaxcom and he was EXTREMELY helpful in trouble shooting the units.  Evidently the antennas were cut to the wrong length; about a 1/4" too short (I assume a simple, little mistake somewhere along the lines).  So, keeping our fingers crossed, this is the only reason for the issues I was having.

Out of all the things I tried, different cables, different lavs, various locations, settings, frequencies, gear on, gear off, etc, I never once thought to double check the length of the antennas.  I just assumed.  (this is the part where I now stick my tail between my legs and walk off sheepeshly).

So, Eric is sending me a few new antennas and they will promptly be put to the test. 

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Matthew,

I agree with Derrick, that a 1/4" antenna length error should not account for the poor performance issues you are describing, but, more significantly, with a little searching and reading on this group, and elsewhere, you would certainly have found that your experiences were not at all typical, and thus you would have clearly suspected that something is amiss with your particular system, rather than a somewhat unfair -and I believe incorrect- conclusion:  " The long and short of it:  the 900LT is a damn joke of a transmitter!

I guess you are also noticing how the manufacturer, Zaxcom, is concerned and anxious to resolve the issues you are having with your system once they are aware of your problems.

Sure, we all have individual, and subjective preferences for brands, and models, and sources, but the adage: "generally speaking, you get what you pay for" really does apply, and all of the premium wireless systems, properly working and properly set up do indeed provide premium performance, along with the specific features they offer.  This is as it should be, since if they all performed as poorly as yours seem to have, and if the Manufacturers could not, or would not make it right,  these successful products, and companies would not continue to be hugely popular with the folks on this forum, and elsewhere.

Please keep us apprised of your progress.

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one important thing to check is how the lemo connector is wired. the shell of the plug must be connected to pin one of the connector, otherwise you can get lots of errors. you can check this with a volt meter set to check continuity by having one probe resting on the 3 pins in the plug but obviously not touching the shell and the other probe held to the lemo shell. ive caused my self a few problems by not using mics that were properly wired.

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Eric at Zaxcom did have me check the Sanken COS-11D with a meter to make sure it was wired correctly.  It was.  I have 3 Sanken's all wired with LEMO connectors and all of the mics seemed to be wired correctly.  Just an FYI on that. 

I have high hopes for the new antennas that it will dramatically help the range/reliability issue.  I have a lot of respect for the folks at Zaxcom and their products which is why I have been pulling my hair out over the range issue on this mic.  So...hopefully...things are being resolved. 

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My first thought would have been to confirm that the microphone shield is wired to the shell of the lemo.  When you send the system back to Zaxcom, include one of your mics. It's hard to check the wiring with a multi meter because the pins are so small, it's easy to short the probe and get a false reading.  I use Zaxcom LT's, 900 and 992 transmitters all the time and find the range as good or better than any other radios I've used (Though I don't use the 1/4 watt Lectros, but with 5x the power they should have the best range overall).

Since you say you changed blocks I doubt it's a hardware problem since it's unlikely the same fault would appear on 2 completely different units.  Other common causes of short range are rfi from other sources nearby.  Could possibly be a fault with your mixer/recorder spewing high levels of rfi (but I doubt that).  Try using the radio without any other gear and see if the range gets back to normal.  Another common problem are bad antennas, especially on the transmitter.  Try swapping them out.  Also, check the RF level on the receiver display.  When you get drop outs, is the level dropping to zero?  If the level is still high, then the likely cause is strong rfi stepping on your signal or a miswired connector.  When the mic connector is not wired to the shield, transmitted signal is fed back into the transmitter and causes it to become unstable, so the rf level stays high, but the receiver loses lock and the indicator light turns red.

Since you've tried different radios, different frequencies and different locations, my money is on mis-wired microphone lemos. 

Send them all back to Zaxcom, they will take care of you in short order.

Best,

Billy Sarokin

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I received 3 new antennas last week and promptly put them on the 900LT and the 900S.  Over the weekend I did a couple gigs but still had quite a few dropouts between the Tx and Rx.  One dropout came during a sit-down interview with the person roughly 8 feet away from me, clear line of sight from the Tx to the Rx and no other wireless units powered on in our vicinity (that I'm aware of). 

After Eric and quite a few people on here suggested the problem might be with an improperly wired Sanken COS-11D I'm really wondering if that it's.  I have 3 Sanken COS-11D lavs; two were purchased and wired for Sennheiser 2000 transmitters and 1 was purchased for the 900LT.  I did another multi-meter test this morning and had the same readings for all three mics.  When simultaneously touching one lead to all three pins inside the LEMO connector and the other lead to the outer casing (not the threaded part but the keyed part) the numbers go from 1 (just the lead on the 3 pins) to scrolling numbers (when the second lead is pressed against the shell).  I hope that description all makes sense! 

Any suggestions on other things I can test out?  I may end up sending in the lav, the transmitter, receiver, and even XLR cable in to Zaxcom for them to check out but I want to eliminate as many possibilities as I can on my end before doing that. 

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As far as I know the sennheiser wiring scheme is not compatible with zaxcom's.  I inquired once myself because I have four cos-11d's that I was hoping could be used with either sennheiser sk 50s or zax tx's...  Unfortunately not the case.

Since you seem to have both types I would encourage you to do more testing and determine if it really is a mic wiring scheme issue.  I agree that the pins are so close together on those lemos that testing with a meter would be pretty unreliable.

Determining this factor may eliminate the need to send your gear out, saving time and money.

..side note:  Can any of the zaxcom users here recommend a good vendor for wiring those pesky lemos up?  I've ordered cos-11d's for the sk50s several times and have had issues of the connector going intermittent with several vendors.  In one case I even had to send in a tx/rx set so they could qc their work.

Also, what type of lemo connector do most of you use for your zaxcoms?  The push-pull type or the threaded type?  Somewhere in one of the zaxcom manuals I remember reading that the push-pull type is recommended due to grounding issues..  However it seems to me that the threaded would be the better choice from a reliability standpoint since its lower profile and may be less prone to strain and bending than the longer push-pull type..  Any thoughts?

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The TRX900LT should not need its mic connector shell connected to the mic cable ground. It is good procedure to do so but it should not be mandatory.

The LT is 100% comparable with Sennheiser 2 wire mics.

Send us the units and we will work it out right away.

Glenn

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For checking the male pins on a tiny connector you could slip a piece of shrink tubing or any kind of tubing that's close in size over the pin. Then insert a wire or pin into the tubing till it contacts the Lemo pin.  Then put the probe on the pin/wire.  So you're putting a sleeve over the Lemo pin to insulate it from the other pins and the pin or wire to extend the pin out to where you can touch it.

Bernie

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just an update...

I received my 900LT and 900S back from Zaxcom earlier this week and they successfully tracked down the issue.  Evidently there was a bad DSP board in my receiver so they swapped it out with a new board.  I eagerly tested out the unit once it was back in my possession and it worked perfectly (finally!)  I was thrilled and VERY happy to have it back. 

For what it's worth, I'm definitely looking at buying quite a few more units now that I have this first one running properly. 

Many thanks to the folks at Zaxcom for sorting out the issue and working with me via phone and email to trouble shoot the issue!

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