One worked fine everywhere in the room. The other had a few drop-outs.
Both receivers were in a closet (of course) in an adjacent room – not good.
These entry level units do not have detachable antennae, so there was no way to remote them into the room.
The receivers themselves could (should) be placed in the chapel, but this means additional wiring and the security problem of having visible equipment.
The short term solution is to leave the closet door open during the use of the system – simple but adequate for now.
I’m completely certain that they will forget to open the door after a week or two and will have drop-outs again. We can fix it right later if other options materialize.
Anyway, I’m still hopeful that they will eventually do away with the wireless mics and install a lectern mic.
Conclusion
This case study illustrates some of the common situations that sound contractors and technicians face in the field, especially with entry-level gear.
All of these things were easily addressed with the simple tools – a hand set, an impedance meter, a VOM and some adapters.
The system sounds good, has no audible noise and low distortion. It’s not fancy but after the revisions it is adequate for the application.
Note that all of these problems could have been avoided by using professional gear to start with, especially balanced output wireless mics with a mic/line switch and detachable antennae along with a decent mixer/amplifier.
This system was probably the low bid. Consumers will always be uninformed regarding the difference between pro and consumer gear, so systems like this one will keep being specified and installed.
This represents job security for audio professionals, who can step in on the inevitable upgrades that such systems require.