Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1010948
plugged into a cart that was in a driveway, and the walk test was down a street past several RF troublemakers like houses, cars, and the big one: around a raised hill which was around a slight bend (see image). When we tested with the Diversity Fin, it was about seven feet in the air, not as high as we all normally like, but good for this stress test. "The A10 system performed comparatively in the 50 mW and 100 mW settings of the SMQV. This was true with both the whips and the Diversity Fin. The range on the A10 system improved proportionally with the Lectrosonics system. It's true that the Lectrosonics 250 mW setting certainly outperformed the A10 system, but not by much. I'd say it only gave us an extra 50 feet. Now, sometimes that extra 50 feet is all you need, so it wouldn't hurt to get a higher transmission power on the next generation of these transmitters, but for a Version 1, I'd say I'm more than satisfied." BUT HOW DOES IT SOUND? As our equipment advances and simplifies, gain staging continues to be one of the paint-palette-style quality choices that make our sound recording styles unique. Many stay to the recommended spec-oriented gain stages of having full output of a receiver dictate the structure of the gain chain both before it and after it. I've abided by this, as well as rebelled against this depending on the audio system being used. For the purposes of these tests, I was feeding the A10 receiver into a Sound Devices MixPre-6, and then later, a Yamaha 01V96i. Gain staging on both of these systems is starkly different in my workflow, but I was able to find common ground with the transmitter gain setting and sound shape by adjusting the output of the receiver on each separate system. I'm always after signal-to-noise ratio without stressing the limiter out. Perfect world right? I found that a setting of 46 dB on the transmitter was the ticket. I found my ears liked 36 dB initially, but this was the lowest gain setting without engaging the -20 dB pad which I preferred not to do. So in going with 46 dB, I'd have some room to go down when needed. For subtle gain adjustments when recording dialogue, I'd prefer to have an unpadded spot to land with minimal system noise. This setting on the transmitter caused a bit of a trim decrease to about "10" on the Sound Devices MixPre (versus when using a Lectrosonics HMa to a SRc receiver) when being fed full output from the A10 receiver. This balanced out just right to my ears and I remained committed to 46 dB as my default transmitter setting (for now). When listening through my Yamaha 01V96i system, this gain stage choice translated to setting the A10 receiver to -10 instead of full output, but going into an unpadded mic level input of the Yamaha. I realize this was kind of hot, but I liked it. I A/B'd the sound with the same Schoeps MiniCMIT microphone compared to a Lectrosonics HMa set to 20. The sound quality of both systems was very good. I could not really discern the two in this test of my own voice, but I decided that when putting the limiter through the paces (by yelling really loudly, and then again applying my non-engineer assessment) that the Audio Ltd. sounded smoother to my ears with a less noticeable attack and release. So, short answer: This system sounds really great! CONCLUSION These units price out similarly to other brand's offerings. It is about $2,200 for the dual receiver, and possibly just over $1,300 for each transmitter. If you are using this system for wireless boom, you will need the brackets for $65 each and the pigtail adapter featuring low-profile XLR to LEMO for $95 each. With tax, you'll spend about $6,000 for two high- quality wireless channels. By July 9, the firmware version 2.0 will be available (among other features not announced yet when this article was written) with a powerful new feature that includes built-in recording and timecode generation on the A10-TX wireless transmitters. So, when using this system as a wireless boom rig, you'll have that iso track backed up on an SD card stamped with SMPTE timecode! If you have not delved into wireless boom yet, this system would be a lucky first shot. It's all figured out and it sounds great! The receiver system with its slot design would integrate into many people's set- ups and the transmitter is comparatively lightweight and robust. A special thanks to Location Sound Corporation in North Hollywood for providing the loaner. I can't wait to plug this system in permanently. • " " These transmitters feature a Bluetooth remote app for iOS and Android. You can view transmitter battery levels, enter or exit sleep mode, gain control, low-frequency cut, RF power level, frequency select, etc. I found Bluetooth to be a very wise choice for this type of control.