MLU switches to Sennheiser SpeechLine
- Details
The systems are spread around different university locations and were installed successively over a period of two years. The conversion from UHF to DECT frequencies has not yet been completed at Martin Luther University – an application to purchase further Sennheiser wireless systems has already been made. The homogeneous wireless equipment at the Universitätsplatz, the Steintor Campus, the Weinberg Campus and the Francke Foundations simplifies both handling and servicing.
Up to three SL Rack Receiver DW units are used in typical lecture halls at MLU. These are employed together with wireless table microphones (SL Tablestand 133-S DW) and handheld or bodypack transmitters. The SL Handheld DW transmitters are all equipped with MME 865-1 super-cardioid condenser capsules, while the SL Bodypack DW transmitters are operated with clip-on or head-worn microphones.
The lavalier microphones (Sennheiser MKE 1 with omnidirectional pick-up pattern) are always kept in the lecture halls and seminar rooms on the Weinberg Campus, while the SL Headmic 1 head-worn microphones (omnidirectional pick-up pattern) together with their corresponding bodypack transmitters are issued to the teaching staff each semester, not least for reasons of hygiene, and are stored in their offices. At other MLU sites, the transmitters are handed out at a central location.
The Sennheiser SLDW wireless systems were supplied and installed by Studio-Elektroakustik GmbH, Leipzig. This renowned system supplier celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2018. The project manager responsible was Bernd Schiller.
At MLU, wireless UHF transmission systems from various manufacturers have been systematically replaced by Sennheiser SpeechLine DW systems. “The previous system landscape was very heterogeneous and we were continually having problems with individual frequencies at all of our locations,” said Karsten Schröder who is responsible for lecture hall equipment at the Weinberg Campus.
“First of all, we were told that, following the auction of the wireless spectrum in 2012, the frequency ranges that had been allocated to us were safe for the time being – but just a short time later, Digital Dividend 2 meant that we needed to act again. In the end, Digital Dividend 2 was the reason why we had to completely rethink our wireless equipment strategy at MLU.”
With Sennheiser SpeechLine DW and transmission in the DECT range, Karsten Schröder and his colleagues are now certain that their equipment is future-proof. Schröder: “I don’t want to have to worry about other frequency segments being blocked off in the future, and I hope that by using DECT technology at MLU we will not be affected in the long term by changes in the allocation of frequencies for wireless production equipment.”
(Jim Evans)
