Wireless Headphones
 

I use a very inexpensive, very portable boom mic setup. It's an Audio-Technica AT815B on a boom...at the end of the boom I have a Sennheiser Evolution 100 series transmitter, and then the e100 receiver is on my XL1.

I haven't had any trouble with this wireless setup at all, and even though the boom operator is operating "deaf", he/she can usually get the feel within a couple of minutes of how close they need to be to the talent.

But after stumbling upon a post made by Don Berube today and seeing a pair of Sennheiser Wireless Stereo Headphones ( 900MHz ) - RS40 Model on the Belkin site, I got to wondering... is it possible to put some wireless headphones on the boom operator that will pick up the frequency being transmitted by the e100 series transmitter?

That would be an ideal solution. Anyone have any idea about this?

Probably not.

But what about

(a) connecting a preamp with headphone jack between the mic and transmitter?

(b) getting a 2nd receiver for the boom operator?

I use (a).

Thanks, Ken. I'd thought of (b), of course, but wanted to avoid that cost, if possible. I didn't think about the preamp, though. I'll have to see how bulky that is...I attach the transmitter at the butt of boom pole rather than on the butt of the mic--reason being, I have the old model Lightwave MiniMount and the rubber holders tend to pull away from the plastic housing when there's too much weight. I've already had to super glue it twice.

The basic recipe's in this thread.

(excuse me while I step in and make a quick personal ad plug)

John, I've got the Rolls PM50sob headphone amp box as discussed in the thread that Ken linked to, and I've been trying to get rid of it for a while (I sprung for a Sound Devices MixPre). Just goes inline between the mic and transmitter and gives your operator a headphone out, no extra control over the mic level itself. But it's small (about 3"x3"x1.5"), battery powered, and my sound guy added a belt clip to it so it stays out of the way pretty well. $40 including s&h, if you're interested.

The least expensive way is to buy Brian's piece. However should you decide to add another receiver, you will need the 500 series receiver since the 100 does NOT have a headphone output.

Brian,

Thanks for that information...give me a day or so, if you don't mind, to think about my options. See, the problem with the recommendation made by you and Ken is that I'm using the SKP100 Plug-On Transmitter attached directly to the end of the boom pole. So when I say "wireless"... I mean REALLY wireless. Not even the boom operator has any attachments or wires attached.

If I decide to add a preamp, it'll require some configuration change...but I have to admit that I've loved the fact that everything is self-contained on the boom.

Understood. We were looking at running that way too, but unfortunately the plug-in pack *just* doesn't quite fit in the "audio out" plug right next to the "audio in" on the preamp box. My audio guy still used the pack though, just ran a 1.5 foot cable from the preamp box on his fanny pack strap and put the transmitter pack in the fanny pack. Worked fine. It does start to "wire-in" the operator though.