Setting AF OUT on Sennheiser EW 100 G2
 

Hello.

When reading the EW 100 G2 manual I see described the range of AF OUT settings for line or mic level (line o to +12; mic -30 to -6dB) My question is how does one choose a setting within these ranges. All the manual says in this regard is: "Adapt the level of the audio output (AF OUT) to the input of the connected unit." I don't really know what that means.

All I notice is that when I set the AF OUT at a higher number I get a hotter reading on the mixer's meter (SD 302), which I then compensate for by adjusting the gain. In short, it seems as AF OUT goes up, gain goes down; as AF OUT goes down gain goes up. This all leaves me wondering what the optimal setting(s) are and what makes them that.

Thanks.

John

The higher the AF Out numbers, the stronger the audio signal it's putting out. And when reading the numbers, remember that with negative dB, the bigger the absolute value of the number the smaller is the signal level - ie, a -50 dB signal is weaker than a -25dB signal. What you're looking for is to stage the gain settings all along the chain so all the equipment is running at its design optimum levels. Let's say you've decided to use line levels so you've set the 302 input where you're connecting the wireless accordingly. That means the mixer is expecting to see a signal nominally at +4dBu presented to it (pro equipment "line" level is +4dBu, consumer gear is -10dBv). Start by setting the transmitter sensitivity so normal speech sends the AF meter to near full scale but the yellow overmodulation LED doesn't light. Set the 302's coarse gain and fader to their midpoints and its meter to VU mode. Set the G2 AF Out to +4 and speak normally into the microphone. Your voice should send the 302's meters to hover around the 0VU mark with the 302's coarse gain control set somewhere between 1/3 and 2/3 points of its range. Adjust the G2 recceiver output level until it does.

The same idea applies if you want to use mic level settings. After setting the 302 input and the receiver accordingly, adjust the receiver output setting so it produces a 0VU meter reading on the 302 with the mixer's coarse gain and fader set to their midpoints and you're sending speech that's deflecting the transmitter/receiver AF meter to full scale without overloading.