Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/635406
38 W I N T E R 2 0 1 6 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y buy portable wireless receivers like Lectrosonics 411a's, Zaxcom QRX 200s, Wisycom MCR42S units? Or rack-mounted units like a Venue 1 or 2? Or something between those in regard to portability like the Zaxcom RX-12? Oy! Blood pressure rising! All those choices are contingent upon what work you are doing. What can you use now? Not what you hope to use in the future. Many miss this opportunity. I'm absolutely guilty of it as well. We have the tendency to get hung up on buy- ing equipment that we hope to use in the future instead of buying what we will use right away. Our ambitions get the better of us. You may envision your completed dream kit just to realize years later as you get oh so close; you're still chasing the dragon. This heroin joke may get edited out (It helps make a point—we'll keep it in.— Ed.), but production sound equipment and heroin are probably equally addictive and costly. So let's start there. You have a full kit that serves high-end projects. You've made smart buying choices. Maybe you took an occasional risky gamble: bought a higher quantity of something based off of a gut feeling, was the first to try a new untested product, maxed out a credit card, paid it off, felt content with your equipment … But you're still chasing the dragon? Most are—don't worry. It's not always about your desire for the shiny new gadget. Instead, it's often about the dedication to your business and your clients to offer updated, cutting- edge equipment as part of your professional brand. But here you're faced with upgrade choices as new ver- sions of trusted tools have recently been released. If I was a statistical mathematician, I could break down an algorithm that illustrates whether it's appropriate and business-savvy to upgrade or wait. But I'm not and the craft of production sound is still unique and arranged like an art form: sometimes things develop organically and you just feel it out for yourself. AN EXAMPLE Sometimes it's easier to break something down using actual examples. To be clear, this is not a product review. These are real-world examples that help me illustrate upgrade paths. I must first talk about the new line of transmitters that hit the market. The LMb, LT, and SSM. All of these units can transmit across three of what we became accustomed to know as "blocks." Previously, you would buy a transmitter in one single "Lectro block" like say, block 21. You had to pull the trigger on choosing a transmitter and receiver in this same specific block of 256 selectable frequencies (which sounds like a lot but really is a very small slice when you factor in coordinating to avoid intermodulations as well as the crowded RF environments). So, in 2013 and on, "wide-band" became all the rage in popularity. As many manufacturers chose to offer full wide-band (which can operate pretty much across the legal UHF spectrum), Lectrosonics chose to open the bandwidth as well, but limited to these bands: A1= blocks 470, 19, 20 (470.100 MHz-537.575 MHz). B1= blocks 21, 22, 23 (537.600 MHz-614.375 MHz). C1= blocks 24, 25, 26 (614.400 MHz-691.175 MHz). All of which have 3,072 selectable frequencies. So, these new trans- mitters not only offer higher flexibility in bandwidth, they are also more sophisticated than their predecessors in regard to microphone impedance, battery efficiency, infrared control, heat generation, and RF efficiency. Not to mention that this SSM that dropped on the market recently is the descendent of the SMV and is clearly the smallest body-pack transmitter available in the US. The LT transmitter is larger than the SSM and offers the same bandwidth plus an even more sophisti- cated and user-friendly menu. It's around the same size as its predecessor (the UM400a) but is powered by two AA batteries as opposed to a single 9V. The LMb is a descendant of the cost-effective LM. So, keep in mind Left to right: SSM, SMV, and UM400 SSM up close