Dual wireless lav kit?

[Rafael Lopes]

Hi guys,

I have a lot of projects where I'd like to have to people talking while walking far away from the camera. I want to be able to feed to wireless lavs into my beachteck. I already own 2 Audio-technica AT831c lavs and I was wondering if there are any wireless kits that support this mic (it's an old model).

As an alternative I thought about getting this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DFWDIDA...oding=UTF8&me= It's pretty affordable (which at the time is a must) and it should give me exactly what I want.

Any thoughts?

[Don Palomaki]

Many wireless kits come with lav mics included. The AT831c requires phantom power.

FWIW: The Audio-Technica AT1800 series includes a dual channel (stereo) wireless system with two transmitters and one dual receiver. This makes mounding wiht the camcorder a bit easier.

The AT831cW variant of the mics you have are listed as working with the AT1801 body pack transmitters. (The AT1802 plug-on transmitter should also work.) You would have to contact AT to verify that you AT831c can be readily adapted to work with it.

(The link you posted did not work for me.)

[Richard Crowley]

If "affordable" is more important to you than performance, reliability, durability and quality, then go for it. But you should know that kit of gear is a cheap plastic, unreliable, fiddly toy. You will be lucky if it works for you for more than a few months or a year. And only if you are lucky enough to be somewhere free of interference on those frequencies. I doubt that anybody here would recommend something like that.

Buying a wireless kit depending on what will work with your microphone is like asking what car should I buy to fit this spare tire I have. It might be possible to interface your AT831c lavs with a wireless transmitter, but not without some high-tech fiddling, and not with any assurance that it will work.

If you are on such a low budget, then you can't really afford to buy wireless microphone for your proposed shot. Consider renting or borrowing the gear. Or change your approach to recording sound. If the subjects are "far away from the camera" then you have some latitude in different solutions that might work.

[Rick Reineke]

"The AT831c requires phantom power"
- Not exactly. The 831 lavaliere is an electret (electrostatic capacitor-based) microphone and like most lav mics requires 'bias current' (aka, Plug-in Power) and most body pack transmitters supply this low voltage current. Many lavs with XLR connector include a transformer which converts Phantom Power ( typically 48 volts) down to (around 5 volts) bias current. This is totally different delivery method. Permanent damage to the lav can result if Phantom Pwr is fed directly.
The dual channel AT system works rather well, but may be large for a DSLR camera. Another option is two G3 systems. There are pros and cons to both single and two channel systems.

[Roger Gunkel]

Might be a lateral solution, but if you are not doing a live broadcast the simplest and cheapest solution might well be to use a pocket recorder with a lav. No range problems, no interference problems and a lot cheaper than a decent wireless system.

Roger

[Don Palomaki]

I guess it boils down to the details.

The AT831c is a connector-less version of the AT831r (without the power pack that requires a phantom power feed to it). The AT831cW is a version has the appropriate connectors for the body pack. The question becomes how is your lav configured. Again, contact Audio-Technica support for viable option for your lavs.

I've been using a pair of AT1800 series since the 700mHz band was taken away, and have been satisfied with them. No problems to date with either body pack with lav or hand held transmitter with mics such as the AT AE5100 and Shure BETA58. My use has been events such as weddings and outdoor concert performances.

You can spend a lot more for better gear, and a lot less for gear that is not as good or about the same for comparable quality gear from other makers. It depends on your budget. and application.