Matt,

Even at risk of losing sales of new euiqpment, I have to agree.

It can be easily argued that Lectro has gained the position of perhaps being the most used ENG wireless system in the country - on the professional level. They make a very good product - well engineered, reliable, rugged, and with an audio quality that only a few other higher priced units can compete with.

They are an American company and made here too. Their older VHF units sound superior to many new low cost UHF units, though they are fixed frequency, and have better range.

This is not an endorsement of the company (I no longer do business with them), but an objective observation of their equipment, which I've used many, many times.

On the other hand, Audio Technica is also an American company, and Sennheiser has a factory office on the East Coast. Both offer excellent customer and technical service. Both make excellent products and stand behind them.

Lectro's advantage is that while Sennheiser historically catered to the high end market, at high end prices, and A-T is fairly new in the ENG game, Lectro has been making cost efficient ENG systems for many years and their earlier generation models are now on the used market at prices comparable to the newer low cost models.

Jacques,

You are quite right. It is a shame that people base their buying decisions on the opinions of people they really don't know, without comparing for themselves. But the practical facts are that demo units are not always available, and not everyone has the skill to do valid comparisons of such gear as wireless systems. So tests such as that done by Kevin are very welcome (though I must say that, though Kevin seemed to be quite thorough, people in other locations have had much better results from the Sennheiser systems).

Comparing wireless gear, unlike most other audio components, involves two qualitative judgement - audio performance and rf performance. Neither one is any good without the other, but all the units at the lower price points make compromises in both, so I don't see any clear winner.

I should have added that I've been a happy owner of Sennheiser and Audio Technica gear for years... me66, mke2, 4073a, and numerous other headphones and mics...

A good friend of mine went with the AT wireless lav system at my recommendation and she's been VERY happy with it.

She gave it to me for a week just to play around with it and see what I thought (since I recommended it without any real-world experience) and I was very impressed. The sound was crystal clear and the performance was impressive all the way around. Also the construction is very solid and has a good feel and weight. I was also surprised at how well the diversity system worked... I used to think diversity only made occasional adjustments, but it moves as freely as a VU meter...

The only tiny criticism that I had of it was that I could faintly hear the diversity system switching... but from the results that doesn't seem to show up in the actual soundtrack... I only heard it when monitoring the system directly through my 7506s at the receiver...

I would be very happy to own one of those... I'm pushing another friend of mine towards one now!

I've used the AT 101 UHF Wireless too. It is a very good system. However, the receiver is too dang big for the Sony PD series cameras. ;o)

I have the Sony. It's somewhat big for the PDX10 but not very heavy since it's mostly plastic. I velcroed mine to the camera's battery and it even helps my camera have better balance. Of course I lose access to the EVF, but that's not really as bad because for run and gun I usually use the LCD and if the camera is set on a tripod and I have time for the EVF then it doesn't really matter where the reciever is.

The Lectro receivers are relatively small, but even still I use a cell-phone belt-clip pouch that I bought from Home Depot... then I just run a 5' XLR to the camera... I can easily run two systems like this. If you take a look at Lowe's or Home Depot I'll bet you can find a tool-pouch add-on... or even this very cell-phone pouch... which will handle your reciever well, and keep that extra weight off your arms. If 5' of XLR is too long then I just use the Rip-Tie (which is permanently attached to each of my XLRs... i.e. velcro) to shorten it as needed. 5' works well for me 'cause I can still hold the camera overhead if needed.