Members Ed Dixon Posted November 12, 2006 Members Share Posted November 12, 2006 We are considering going to in-ear monitors for the praise band at church. Today we have a mix of various wedges and hot spots. They work well at the expense of higher stage volume. Recently we have been testing two Shure PSM200 in-ear systems. They work really well, but at $600 each or $290 just for the receiver, are a bit pricey. I know that Carvin has a PM1000 unit that is lower in cost with receivers about $130 each. Any have experiences with this model, or some reasonable lower cost equivalent? Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members VanR Posted November 12, 2006 Members Share Posted November 12, 2006 My band uses the Carvin PM100 IEM and it works just fine for us. But it's the only IEM I've ever used so I can't judge it against any other brands. Only problem I've ever had with the Carvin is keeping the buds in my ears, but I recently changed to smaller buds and that works better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members earsaver Posted November 14, 2006 Members Share Posted November 14, 2006 earbuds can be purchased ala carte to find the sound quality you want. Have you searched around for different pricing? That seems high. They cant advertise less than MSRP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ed Dixon Posted November 14, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 14, 2006 Have multiple earbuds now. For me, E3s work best with ear mold fit. Grandson uses iPod earbuds with his Shure receiver. Not sure what rest will use once we try the Carvin unit. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gregidon Posted November 14, 2006 Members Share Posted November 14, 2006 It is my humble opinion that IEMs are not a place that you want to skimp. The inclusion of a GOOD limiter circuit to protect your ears is CRITICAL! I know for a fact that the Shure models have this. I don't know if the Carvin ones do and if they do I wouldn't nessisarily trust them. Because IEMs are in your ear canals, it is much, much easier to damage your hearing with them. One really loud shot of non-limited feedback with this setup could permenently damage your hearing. It is my opinion that you should spend the cash and protect yourself.-greg- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ed Dixon Posted November 14, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 14, 2006 The Carvins also have a limiter. We'll have them for test later this week, so time will tell. Previous comments from others already say their earbuds are no good. We'll be testing with Shure E2s and iPod earbuds as a start. I'll also try my E3s as a comparison. If they don't work, they go back on EBay the following week. Church audio budgets tend to be small or non-existant. All of the current stage monitor gear is owned by praise band members, as well as all the IEM gear. One nice trick for IEM is this stuff: http://www.podfitkit.com/ Basically $13 for custom ear molds. They actually work very well. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gregidon Posted November 14, 2006 Members Share Posted November 14, 2006 Originally posted by Ed Dixon The Carvins also have a limiter. We'll have them for test later this week, so time will tell. Previous comments from others already say their earbuds are no good. We'll be testing with Shure E2s and iPod earbuds as a start. I'll also try my E3s as a comparison. If they don't work, they go back on EBay the following week.Church audio budgets tend to be small or non-existant. All of the current stage monitor gear is owned by praise band members, as well as all the IEM gear.One nice trick for IEM is this stuff:http://www.podfitkit.com/Basically $13 for custom ear molds. They actually work very well.Ed I understand the budget thing. It's good to know that the Carvin's have some sort of limiter. I also know that there are places you should skimp on equiptment and places where you shouldn't. Using cheap DIs for example is probably completely fine. Using a cheap unit that injects sound directly into your skull sounds like a chance for someone to get seriously hurt. Take my words with a grain of salt. I have used a Carvin IEM setup and it worked, but I don't think i would anymore. Also iPod headphones are complete garbage (FYI). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ed Dixon Posted November 14, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 14, 2006 The reason I mentioned the iPod earbuds is that is what the bass player currently uses. He tried Shure E2s but could not get a good sound. He tried his iPod earbuds and they worked fine for him. He is currently using one of the Shure PSM200 IEM systems. I never had any luck at all with iPod earbuds even with the iPod. The just would not fit my ears in any form or fashion. I started with the E2s and later changed to E3s with the PodfitKit. That combo works well and is easy to insert. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gregidon Posted November 14, 2006 Members Share Posted November 14, 2006 Originally posted by Ed Dixon The reason I mentioned the iPod earbuds is that is what the bass player currently uses. He tried Shure E2s but could not get a good sound. He tried his iPod earbuds and they worked fine for him. He is currently using one of the Shure PSM200 IEM systems.I never had any luck at all with iPod earbuds even with the iPod. The just would not fit my ears in any form or fashion. I started with the E2s and later changed to E3s with the PodfitKit. That combo works well and is easy to insert.Ed Interesting. I'm glad the ipod headphones work for him. I'm no lover of the e2's either, they don't seem to have any bass response. I haven't tried the e3's or e5's. All i know is that the Sony POS earbuds that I have blow the e2's out of the water (in everything but isolation). Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ed Dixon Posted November 14, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 14, 2006 I had good luck with the E2s, but they were hard to get in. It took almost a minute to get them in right. Tried all the different insert aids. Once in, they had good sound. The E3s have similar sound, but have been much easier to put in. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lifeloverwg Posted November 15, 2006 Members Share Posted November 15, 2006 Originally posted by Ed Dixon We are considering going to in-ear monitors for the praise band at church. Today we have a mix of various wedges and hot spots. They work well at the expense of higher stage volume.Recently we have been testing two Shure PSM200 in-ear systems. They work really well, but at $600 each or $290 just for the receiver, are a bit pricey. I know that Carvin has a PM1000 unit that is lower in cost with receivers about $130 each. Any have experiences with this model, or some reasonable lower cost equivalent?Ed A pretty inexpensive budget approach to IEMs we have used with good success both at my Church and for the drummer in my wife's band uses the Rolls personal monitor mixer and Shure E3 earbuds. http://www.zzounds.com/item--RLLPM351The Rolls mixer takes a line level monitor send to which the individual performer can add their own instrument and mic at variable levels. This lets them adjust their own amount of "more me" to a basic monitor mix shared by others. In the drummers case, she adds a click track and her own vocal level. It is a wired unit, so it works best for stationary performers. Although I have seen it set up for guitarists where the mini mixer lives on their amp head and the earbud line is joined to their guitar cord with cable ties or inside one of those flexible cable cover doo hickeys. The band leader at Church has his mounted on his mic stand and just is limited by his ear bud cord length. As others have noted, you really want to have limiting somewhere in the signal chain. I run the monitor mix through an EQ for our limiting. This has worked well for us and last time I was able to get E3s, mixer and cabling for about $225 per person. While it's not a top of the line system, with decent earbuds it makes for a very good low budget answer and gives you lots of quasi personal mixes off of less aux sends. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassred Posted November 15, 2006 Members Share Posted November 15, 2006 I've used the E2's and thought that for the money they aren't bad sounding. My Mp3 buds sound pretty good too (not Ipod), but I wouldn't want to rely on something that came with a $100 player for weekly use... We use the E2's with the Hearback system at my church, gives each player 8 channels that they mix for themselves, kinda like the rolls thing, only on steroids, we used one of the ROlls units for the drummer back east, love the mic input (and through), has the 'More me' factor nailed! I'm looking at E2's or E3's, that custom fit thing looks like a good deal, are you happy with it? how hard was it to do? I'm very interested! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ed Dixon Posted November 15, 2006 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2006 Originally posted by bassred I'm looking at E2's or E3's, that custom fit thing looks like a good deal, are you happy with it? how hard was it to do? I'm very interested! Very slick. Only real issue is that it may take a time or two to get it right, and there is not a lot of extra material for tries. Key is to mix very quickly and get it in your ear quickly. Best to do one side at a time. I put the E3 in first, then mixed, and inserted stuff. Waited about 10 min. I found a different source on eBay for larger quantities of the same stuff (color is blue). Cost is $11 delivered and has enough stuff for 4-5 sets of buds. http://cgi.ebay.com/Quick-Sil-Mold-Making-Kit-Pewter-Metal-Casting-RTV_W0QQitemZ330049549311QQihZ014QQcategoryZ4248QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Once you get these made, taking them in and out is a piece of cake, and the fit generally much better with better sound rejection from other sources. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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