22Apr Saramonic UWMIC10 Bodypack Transmitter TX10 for $129
Remember that Saramonic dual channel receiver lav kit I reviewed a few months back? First of all, Saramonic has fixed the channel mixing issue. You can now isolate the two transmitters by sending the signal to the left and right channel of your camera’s input. Which means for $399 you can buy a very decent dual channel 2 lav kit with a receiver that’s the size of a transmitter pack. Second I wanted to point out that if you’ve already bought the UWMIC10 base kit (1 transmitter and 1 receiver for $269) you can now buy a second transmitter for $129.
Devin and I used this kit throughout NAB this year and it worked great. At $399 for a dual channel wireless kit, Saramonic has one of the best value to price options on the market period and now that they’ve fixed my main gripe about the receiver unit (channel mixing), this kit is now my top pick for budget filmmakers and pretty much any filmmaker really. I’m not getting rid of my Sennheiser g3 sets but with two channels in such a small package the Saramonic dual channel system is now my run and gun favorite. I was really impressed with audio quality of the kit mics and even more impressed with how it held up throughout one of the most saturated UHF locations you could be in (NAB 2016). Great stuff!
April 25th, 2016 at 12:12 pm
this fix… is it a software update or do you have to send it back to saramonic? was thinking about ordering within the next week or 2…
April 25th, 2016 at 6:21 pm
I had one of the first few sold and notified them as soon as I found the problem. They updated the firmware for everything sold after that point and all of the new ones being sold are installed with version 2.0 of the firmware.
April 26th, 2016 at 4:58 pm
That is good to know…. now, to wait till next payday….
April 30th, 2016 at 12:45 pm
So I jumped the gun and ordered earlier….
receiver was version 2.1, transmitter was 2.0.
Using my dr-60d to record in as a test.
using the 3.5mm to 3.5mm and set to stereo, it was flawless.
using the included 3.5mm to XLR produced a mind numbing hiss. granted, it could have been a setting on the DR-60d, as I’ve only used it with xlr 1 or 2 times.
overall, happy with it.
April 30th, 2016 at 2:22 pm
The XLR issue is actually a wiring problem. When using it in stereo mode, the 3.5mm jack kicks out 2 signals and a ground. To wire it correctly you’d need a 3.5mm to 2 xlr adapter like this one. If you want to use the Single XLR cable then you’ll want to switch it back to mono and if you aren’t using the second channel on the receiver turn it off.
April 25th, 2016 at 8:06 pm
Now that it’s become one of your favorites, have you been able to swap out the mic for another? I think you mentioned the Sennheiser didn’t work with it in your original review. Any luck with other brands?
April 25th, 2016 at 9:08 pm
The problem with the Sennheiser mic is actually the threaded connector. The unit does provide power so if you can find a plain old 3.5mm stereo plug mic you’ll be fine.
April 26th, 2016 at 10:26 am
That’s awesome, thanks. I’m planning to use with a Countryman B3. If you know of any problem with that pairing, lemme know.
April 26th, 2016 at 6:17 pm
Don’t have any Countryman to test, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
May 5th, 2016 at 11:01 am
I picked up the Saramonics, and I’m very impressed with the build quality. I haven’t had a chance to put them to real use yet, and I’m still evaluating the audio quality, but the mic input is baffling me. It seems quirky/unpredictable, or there’s something I just don’t understand (audio isn’t my thing). Audio signal is fine with the included mic. I have a Tram TR50 that terminates in an XLR, and an adapter to go to 3.5mm. The XLR contains the battery power for the mic, so it doesn’t need phantom power. When I plug the Tram into the Saramonic I get nothing, no signal; but I can plug it into my Zoom h4N using the 3.5mm adapter and there’s a signal. The Saramonic works with the other cheap lavs I have laying around. The documentation says the Saramonic is a “BMP type” connector, and a Google search for BMP only comes back with info that Sony uses a similar plug. Is it wired differently than a TRS? And why would other TRS lavs work while the Tram with TRS adapter doesn’t? Help for the inept?
May 4th, 2016 at 1:19 pm
I just bought one of the dual-bodypack/single-receiver kits and after messing with it a bit, I think it’s going back while I stick with my tried-and-true Sennheiser G3 kits. It was worth a shot to try to get down to one receiver… so the dual-channel was the killer app for me.
The problems are a few:
1) The included mic actually doesn’t sound horrid, but it’s the size of a VW Beetle. This isn’t a huge deal, I’d probably replace the mic anyway.
2) The output level is pretty low compared to my Sennheisers. Whether this is the mic sensitivity or the receiver, I don’t know… but to get a usable signal, I have to have the input gain on my Sony FS5 pretty much cranked to max.
3) Using a 3.5mm TRS stereo to two XLR cable, there’s a ground loop if pins 1 and 3 are both grounded (this is the way the pre-made cables are made) and if you float pin 3 the hiss is pretty obnoxious. I’m guessing getting the audio into an XLR-equipped camera on both channels separately is going to be more complicated than just making a stereo mini to two XLR cable.
4) They’re in the 600MHz band. Dumb.
Why Saramonics didn’t build these with a second balanced output jack is beyond me. It would have cost almost nothing to add it and it would have made them a KILLER setup.
May 4th, 2016 at 7:19 pm
Sounds like you might have something else going on. I’ve been using this XLR adapter on the a7s II with the K1m-xlr audio adapter and haven’t experienced any hiss. I actually grabbed that adapter because my Azden 330 came with a few of them. As for the output level, I have the inputs set to mic level with the gain set to 4 out of 10 on the k1m and 24 on the UWMice 10. Levels are what I would expect.
If you want to thin down the include lav, pop of the windscreen and use something smaller, that thing is ridiculous. As for the freq I share your opinion, but I saw new releases from Sony, SURE, and Sennheiser this year in the 600MHz range and this is now the 4th year they’ve failed to sell off that band with protests being filed left and right by theater owners and production companies. There’s also claims that the 700mhz range is still being underutilized. So we could see the 600Mhz range open until all court challenges have been finished (3 to 5 years).
May 5th, 2016 at 9:48 am
Fair enough.
Can you open your Azden XLR cable and see if they ground pin 3 and pin 1 or just pin 1?
There is a definite ground loop (buzz) in mine on both channels with those pins both grounded… and if I float pin 3 I get hiss.
Also, I just set mine to volume 24 on the receiver and hooked it into my Zoom H6. In order to get what I would consider an acceptable level of audio (riding between -6 and -12 on the Zoom meter) I have to set the input gain on the Zoom to 8. And I have a pretty powerful voice. I have no doubt that if I put these on someone a little more mousy, I’d have to come close to maxing them out.
Just to compare apples to apples, I also hooked them back up to the FS5 and replicated your settings (receiver channel volume at 24, FS5 input at 4, mic-level on the switch) and I get a level that rides between -40 and -30 with normal speech with the mic placed in the normal spot. If I shout, I can get a peak of around -20. These are pretty low levels.
Both bodypacks/mics give similar results.
To contrast that, with my EW100 G3 set to -30dB sensitivity (which is the default) stock ME6 mic, FS5 gain set to 4, mic-level I get levels that average -10… which is a nice strong signal.
I suppose I could have a bum receiver or maybe my cable is crappy, but they’re certainly not acceptable for my uses as-is and I’m not sure I’m willing to spend a lot of time troubleshooting them when the G3s work as-is.
As for the bands and other manufacturers, those new items in the 600MHz band are likely additions to their existing product lines and are made to match up (and inter-operate) with their existing products in those bands. I highly doubt any of the big guys would introduce a brand new product line in the 600MHz band… so that’s kind of an apples to oranges comparison.
I also agree we’re still a few years (at least) out from the band going away… but I don’t understand why a company would enter the market in a band that has several years left of usefulness. You’re starting clean, go with a band that isn’t a big question mark.
I also agree about the windscreen… it’s stupid huge… but even the mic capsule itself is obnoxiously huge compared to the ME6 or the lav that comes with the Sony UWP mics.
May 5th, 2016 at 9:51 am
They’re also REALLY heavy compared to the Sennheisers… and my belt clips are pretty loose.
Wonder if their quality control is just really poor.