IEM Choices
The past few weeks have been spent doing research and preparing a proposal for an IEM system solution for our portable campuses. The Troy main campus has over 90% acceptance of IEM over wedges and the results in lowering our stage volume have been awesome, especially in partnership with the on-stage PQ controllers. However, campuses use wedges exclusively, only with the current exception of the drummer.
There are lots and lots of options when it comes to providing ear pieces for our music team. Because these will be universal fit, the players are narrowed down a tad, but its still dizzying to consider all of the choices – Shure, Future Sonics, Westone, and Ultimate Ears. Of these, the Future Sonics Atrio M5 series are my favorite sounding pieces at any price. They are the only ones on the market that are 100% armature-free which also means a single full range driver with no crossover. The result is thick, tight low end response and very natural high end that is pristine without sounding hyped. The difference is pretty remarkable.
However, when it comes to outfitting a department, Shure’s inventory and support seems to be untouchable by the others. If we’re going to own a bunch of universal fit pieces between 5 campuses, being able to stock bulk orders of the replacement foam becomes extremely important. Shure is the only one I’m aware of who can meet this criteria. They even upgraded the material in the past few months away from the yellow foam that was functional but too scratchy in the ear and wore out quickly to a new black material that is denser, sounds better, and stays cleaner longer.
Second, and just as important, is the warranty and support. Recently I had a couple sets of E4′s that started having what I would consider driver issues where one side either stopped working or didn’t sound quite right (and cleaning them thoroughly didn’t solve the problem). For less than $10 per set, sending in these broken units to Shure gives you a brand new set a week or two later.
I’m curious if anyone has similar support stories about the other manufacturers. It seems the trend I see across large programs like ours is that while there may be other choices that sound better, Shure is the staple for ear pieces because of the ease of acquiring large quantities of replacement foam and a generous warranty/service policy.
What do you think?
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Introduction
My name is Tim Corder. I started this blog in February 2007 because there were so few of what I considered good church audio resources available at the time for my team. Fast forward over 5 years and I'm still at it, sharing learnings about the journey towards making audio great. I go through periods where I post a lot and other times when I don't. I'm thankful for the opportunity to share it all with you. Thanks for visiting! 
I can only speak to Shure. We have a mix of E5s and E3s. We have had our e5s for 3 years with no problems.(The cable sheath around the ear is starting to break, but other wise, very durable.) Our E3s have all been replaced in a 3 year period via warranty claims. (I think we got a bad batch with our initial purchase.) The process was very easy, and you are correct in that you get an in the box, new pair in 7-10 days. (We live in Indy, so sometimes it is even faster). Shure also has a rep on twitter, and is responsive via that medium.
One other piece I like about Shure is you can get custom molds that the E series fit into. So in theory a musician could spend the $100 to get a custom mold that wraps the churches speakers. This provides the custom fit with out the custom price.
Lastly, have you checked out http://www.fidelitycustomearphones.com/ One our our team members has these and says they sound great. He first had FutureSonics, but has since switched to the Fidelity ones full-time. Plus $250 for a fully custom IEM is a great price!
If you commit to a certain driver, like one of the shure units for example, I would highly recommend getting custom molds for them. You can get custom molds for generic drivers for around a hundred bucks and it makes a big difference over just using foamies. I had a musician that couldn’t afford complete molds a couple of years ago, get molds to fit the sennheiser ie4 generic and he was much happier with the result. As someone owning multiple brands of IEM, I would HIGHLY recommend the Sensaphonics folks for any kind of mold. The silicone they use seals up and stays sealed after getting hot and sweaty a whole lot better than the acrylic. I have used the Sensaphonics to mow with on a hot summer day and still kept a good seal. The seal that the ear mold make is just as important as a cabinet is to a speaker driver. A different cabinet makes an driver sound completely different, just as an IEM will change sound when it seals up less.
Hi, Tim,
I am curious to see replies to this as I am working on our first IEM system design. We currently use Avioms on stage to run wedges and want to start using them for IEMs. Are there any resources out there for the kind of setup that works well? What is your experience? I am thinking of what channels are sent to the personal mixer? Are there some ambient mics in there somewhere? What kind, where are they placed, what is their purpose? Any help that way would be appreciated.
Thanks also for this blog. I have learned a lot from you in a short time! Look forward to more great stuff!
I second Nicolas Lowman comment on Sensaphonics molds. I wear E5s with custom Sensaphonics molds. The seal is excellent, and I have had mine for 2.5yrs and they have held up great. I use them all the time (mowing, exercising, Monitor World, etc)
Keep us updated on what you choose.
Hi Tim,
Great timing on this post. Just ordering in an Aviom system; six mixers and I could also do with some advice on the best in ears for the team. We will have multiple users of the same equipment so universal fit is vital. As we are in Egypt, service and repair is a bit of a tricky issue, so I need good reliability right off the bench, and also the climate here means equipment needs to be fairly rugged.
Looking to buy three wireless packs too – budget = $800 each. Any recommendations?
Mark.
We are currently running Shure SE530s for all our in-ear systems and really enjoying them. Shure’s support has been excellent. We had a set break, and they replaced them immediately, no questions asked.
I purchased them obviously for their well known performance, but also for the readily available replacement foams like you mentioned. I order them from Sweetwater and they arrive here in Dayton, OH the next day. We run 4 different bands each month, all with different members. So the ability to switch out those foams easily is a huge must for us. The Shures fit the bill perfectly.
Mark, for the funds you have available I highly recommend the Sennheiser IEM systems. We have the G2, but the G3 has just been released. In my opinion you won’t find a better bang for the buck when funds are limited. We use Shure PSM600 packs for our hardwired, and the Sennheiser G2 packs for our wireless IEMs.
Ethan
We use E5s for the reasons you mentioned. Wouldn’t mind finding something better. As far as wireless setup goes, check out Sennheiser’s new G3 in-ears. We’re about to upgrade all of ours.
Just got a pair of UE 10′s and I am incredibly happy with them. Their customer support has been fantastic.
I’ve also owned a pair of Weston UM-2 (dual driver) for about 4 years. I’ve broken mine twice and they repaired them both times for free.
But I honestly think that the church should not worry too much about providing buds for players. Keep yourself stocked with some good single drivers buds and you are doing your job.
Musicians that are playing regularly at you church should really invest in a good pair of molded buds. We can all debate about what gives the best sound, but the truth is that ANY custom molded bud from the big companies mentioned are going to yeild far better results than any ‘yellow squishy’ pair.
After a musician goes to a molded pair, they will wonder why they didn’t sooner. They’ll play better, and Sunday will magically start sounding sound better.