Road Test: XIRIUM PRO

In addition, each unit is outfitted with a rugged universal clamp that facilitates mounting it above the masses of water-filled bags (better known as humans) that tend to absorb any RF signal.

In addition to analog, Dante, and AES modules, there’s also a repeater module, which fosters creation of a remote transmitter to shoot around a corner. (And shoot around a corner we did.)

Also note that the system uses no dynamic compression, so utilizing either the AES or Dante modules makes it feasible to actually transmit stereo digital audio end-to-end if the user desires.

In The Field
I deployed XIRIUM PRO for a high-end “Dancing with the Ballroom Stars” fundraiser in a Frederick, Maryland conference center that had hundreds of smart phones in a cramped location. Yup, just like any concert these people would not shut off their phones. But since our XIRIUM audio link was running at 5 GHz, most of the phone traffic was in the control band of 2.4 GHz. Pretty clever, that…

To make this gig work we had to shoot audio all the way to the end of the ballroom, around a corner, and down a 100-foot hallway to a remote loudspeaker on the backside of the cocktail room. This would have been a real problem, running XLR cables on the floor with a bunch of dancers in high-heels, since dancers are notoriously clumsy when they’re not actually dancing. So an RF link was certainly the way to make this happen.

Components include two base units, seven modules and the XIRIUM PRO software app.

So how did it all work? In a word, flawlessly. This was as close to running audio on a wire as I’ve ever heard. No dropouts, no distortion, no noise, and no compression artifacts that I could detect. Whatever we sent to it, XIRIUM PRO delivered flawlessly to the remote loudspeakers.

Would I use this everywhere if I could? Yes—if I could afford it. Perfect performance comes at a price. The XIRIUM PRO units cost on the order of $1,800 each, depending on which I/O module is being plugged in. So no, these are likely not for average smaller sound companies. However, I fully expect that rental houses will add these systems to their inventories.

Thus for a reasonable rental price, you could be renting these systems for large concert delay loudspeakers and even for political gigs like the upcoming presidential inauguration (which I’ve done before). In these cases, the low rental cost and rock-solid performance will make XIRIUM PRO a great alternative to running XLR cables under the feet of thousands of people who don’t care what wires they’re stepping on, or across the street in Washington, DC while the Secret Service guys are breathing down your neck.

Go here to find out more about new XIRIUM Pro.

Mike Sokol has worked in professional audio for more than 40 years. He’s currently lead trainer for Live Sound Co. in Maryland, and lead writer of the Live Sound Advice blog. A veteran audio educator, he’s also an adjunct professor at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA.