"This system is a masterpiece, both in the digital and the wireless realm," says Kevin Jungk, portfolio manager for wireless microphones at Sennheiser. "It offers unprecedented sound quality and ease of use. For example, users will no longer have to calculate and circumvent intermodulation frequencies but can conveniently place their transmission frequencies in an equidistant grid."
The ground-breaking digital wireless system is fitted with two transmission modes: the High Definition (HD) mode will transmit entirely uncompressed, artefact-free audio, as if a high-quality cabled microphone were used. The Long Range (LR) mode has been designed for difficult transmission environments, offering maximum range with a proprietary Sennheiser digital audio codec. "This refined codec ensures an audio quality that is superior to that of an FM system," explained Kevin Jungk. "These two modes make Digital 9000 the most versatile digital wireless system available, and the best adapted to on-site requirements."
In addition to IR synchronisation between receivers and transmitters and a convenient antenna loop-through for creating larger receiving systems, Digital 9000 offers a number of unique features. First and foremost, the system does not generate any intermodulation products - the high linearity of the entire system, from transmitters to antennas and receivers, and a special transmitter design make laborious intermodulation calculation a thing of the past. Transmission frequencies can simply be set in an equally spaced grid.
The receiver also automatically measures the RF cable loss between the receiver and the booster and adjusts the gain accordingly. "This makes the RF wireless system easier to operate for users with less RF knowledge," said Kevin Jungk.
A large display with clearly laid out controls is at the heart of the EM 9046 receiver. Three display modes ensure that the RF or sound engineer has an optimum overview of important parameters in live situations and can change settings quickly via an intuitive, icon-based menu. Channels can be monitored via the headphone output, either individually or any number can be listened to combined.
The modular EM 9046 receiver is a mainframe that accommodates up to eight receivers internally. The receiver system covers the UHF range from 470 to 798 MHz (328MHz band¬width). To easily integrate the system into an existing infrastructure, the user can choose between transformer-balanced analogue or digital AES3 audio output modules, or a mix of both.
System set-up is facilitated by a built-in graphical spectrum analyser to scan the RF landscape, and an RF level recorder for checking reception and optimising antenna positions. The receiver will also suggest the best transmission mode for the environment being worked in, and will automatically set an appropriate gain to counteract RF cable losses. The system's antenna boosters can be controlled via the receiver, which is helpful for installations with remote antenna positions.
The multi-channel receiver and the transmitters can optionally use encrypted data transmission, with proprietary keys generated randomly. This will protect a radio link against hijacking and tapping.
The receiver stores up to ten complete system configurations so that set-ups can easily be recalled and repeated.
The SKM 9000 handheld transmitter is compatible with all evolution wireless G3 and 2000 Series microphone heads, including the Neuman
