Sennheiser SK 100 G3 / EK 300 IEM G3 compatible?

P

Parapluie

Member
Hi!


I bought a Sennheiser Sk 100 G3 transmitter and a Sennheiser EK 300 IEM G3 receiver (feed to directors)
Anyone know if they are compatible with each others? The seller I bought it from said so. I suppose there is something I do wrong, because I can't get them to work.


I get AF-signal into the transmitter, so far so good. The receiver show full RF-signal, but no AF-signal is coming in. It also stands "MUTE" in the display, which is normal (far as I know) when there is no AF-signal coming in.


The frequencies is the same on transmitter and receiver. Transmitter is not on mute.


Anyone know what the problem might be?

Thanks
 
Turn off the 'Pilot tone' on the transmitter.. (in the "Advanced" menu). And on the receiver as well. I don't think the IEM receiver has it or the frequency could be different
 
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More problems. Follow-up question:


Tried to google this, but couldn't figure it out.


I have connected the SK 100 transmitter to the tape-out (ta5) on my Sound Devices 302 mixer. When I plug my headphones to my EK 300 IEM i can only hear the left channel from the mixer.
If I mute the left channel and just send the right channel from the mixer, the transmitter will not pick up any of the signal.


What do I have to do to send both channels to the receiver? Is the SK 100 not the right transmitter for this task? (tried a SK 500 g2 and that works fine)


 
Remember the receiver is stereo, and the transmitter is mono, so the receiver can work in mono and then send a signal to both headsets via the balance on the front, or in stereo, where with this combination, it doesn't work. The pilot tone for the IEM receivers is different to the transmitters - it does a different job. So set the receiver to mono, and all will be fine - I do it all the time, and it's not an issue.
 
Thanks for input!

How do you set the EK300 to mono? (did not figure it out from the manual) I tried to go into "balance" in menu (it was saying L=R as default) and then pan it all the way to left (making it say L15), with no success. Then i tried to pan it all the way to right (R15), with no success. I also tried to go into "mode" in menu (it was saying stereo as default) and i changed it to "focus", and tried all the combinations with the balance settings again, but still couldn't get the right channel from the mixer.

Is there anything I need to do with the transmitter settings?
 
You will have to sum (combine) the L&R Tape out pins to get both channels to the transmitter. I'll assume you also have a 'line-level' wired cable going to the transmitter. (Signal to the 3.5mm's 'Ring' connector; 'Tip' tied to the ground/shield) In this mono configuration, it's advisable to add 10k ohm resistors to iso the L&R in the 302.
302 mono tape out.jpg
This and much more info is on the SD website under 'Support'
http://www.sounddevices.com/notes/category/mixers/302/
 
Something odd going on. I have them in front of me and with the stereo/focus switched to stereo, and exiting, the front panel rocker comes up as balance - and in the middle is both earpieces, then you can take one down, and the other up - the same as a home stereo balance control. Switching to focus mode, on a STEREO signal from the proper transmitter, you have a signal all the time in BOTH earpieces, and the rocker allows you to vary what you are hearing from channel 1, through to channel 2. In the middle, a 50% mix of ch 1 and 2. When the receiver detects a mono signal, then the focus rocker has no effect at all - go from full left to full right and the signal remains in BOTH earphones. Can you confirm this is what yours does. I use mine in focus mode, just left in the middle, and I can swap from rack mounted IEM transmitter to a battery powered lav pack with no need to change anything.
 
Hm, it seems to be opposite in my receiver.

When my stereo/focus is switched to stereo, and exiting, the front panel rocker shows frequency channel/limiter, frequency/EQ and frequency/name of receiver (It toggles between them when i press up or down button) If I go into balance in menu and pan it all the way to left, I will hear just in left ear. If I pan to right I will hear just in right ear.

When my stereo/focus is switched to focus, then the front panel shows balance. If I now pan all the way to left or right, it will have no affect - i hear sound in both ears.


But I tried a SK500 G2 transmitter, and with this i get both left and right channel from the mixer transmitted to the receiver. Why is that? Is SK500 G2 a stereo transmitter, and SK100 G3 a mono transmitter? (i use the Sound Devices XL-3 cable)
 
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No - there isn't a battery stereo version I'm aware of. The only thing I can think of is if the oddly behaving one has the pilot tone on, and for some reason this is being detected as the stereo multiplex pilot tone, switching the receiver mode to two channel, when the absence of audio in one ear would be normal - because one channel there, but the other isn't transmitted? With the ease you can set wrong info in the menu, maybe it's still on?
 
The pilot tone is off on both my SK100 and EK300 IEM. If it's on there's no signal at all.

When i connect the SK500 it's working with the pilot tone on, and off. And both channels from the mixer is transmitted with pilot tone on, and off.

I now tried to connect the SK100 to the headphone output on the SD302 (minijack to minijack) and now it can transmit both channel from mixer.
But not from tape out. So maybe I need another cable than the Sound Devices XL-3 from tape out? (but it works fine with SK500...)
This is maybe what you tried to explain Rick, but it got to abstract for my brain to understand :P
 
Parapluie said:
The pilot tone is off on both my SK100 and EK300 IEM. If it's on there's no signal at all.

When i connect the SK500 it's working with the pilot tone on, and off. And both channels from the mixer is transmitted with pilot tone on, and off.

I now tried to connect the SK100 to the headphone output on the SD302 (minijack to minijack) and now it can transmit both channel from mixer.
But not from tape out. So maybe I need another cable than the Sound Devices XL-3 from tape out? (but it works fine with SK500...)
This is maybe what you tried to explain Rick, but it got to abstract for my brain to understand :P
Click to expand...
The SD XL-3 is a stereo mini plug with left on the tip, right on the ring, and ground on the sleeve. The SK100 transmitter input is mono using stereo plug - the correct cable to use when feeding mic level puts signal on the tip, ground on the sleeve, and shorts ring to sleeve. The correct cable to use to feed line level to the transmitter puts signal hot on the ring, ground to the sleeve, and shorts tip to sleeve. It's the grounding of either the tip or ring that tells the transmitter where to find the mono signal hot and what level is coming into it. Your XL-3 cable isn't doing that properly because it's wired to feed a conventional stereo input, not Sennheiser's non-standard scenario.
 
Ah, ok. So it's basicly the ta5 cable (XL-3) that is the problem here. What I don't understand is why the same cable works perfectly fine with the SK500 transmitter?

You have a concrete recommendation for what cable I should get, so I can connect the SK100 to tape out and get both left and right channel from the mixer?
 
Parapluie said:
Ah, ok. So it's basicly the ta5 cable (XL-3) that is the problem here. What I don't understand is why the same cable works perfectly fine with the SK500 transmitter?

You have a concrete recommendation for what cable I should get, so I can connect the SK100 to tape out and get both left and right channel from the mixer?
Click to expand...
You'll never get both left and right channels from the mixer as two distinct stereo channels because both of those transmitters are mono only - they only send one channel. What you would need to do is route all the mixer channels into one output, either left or right. Use the Sennheiser CL-2 XLR-F line input cable, plugging it into the mixer's Main Out XLR connector for the channel you'[ve routed the mics into, not the tape out connector.
 
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But with SK500 I do get both channels (left and right channel from mixer is summed together into mono in both ears) And that is what I want to achieve with the SK100 as well. So the clients, directors etc can listen to whats coming in to the mixer (boom and 2 radio mics). Why on earth is it working with SK500 and not SK100? ;)
 
This makes no sense. The 100 and 500 are identically wired and you can swap mics between them? I'd just use a mixer auxilliary to provide you with a mono out and use that. Maybe you will sort the mystery at some point, but until then, a work around seems sensible.

The only other suggestion is that one of the packs is a counterfeit - and maybe this is the problem. One good sign I have noticed is the rubber grommet where the aerial emerges from the pack. The counterfeit ones I have seen have smooth grommets and the genuine ones have a ribbed surface. This may also explain why the pilot tones do different things.Turning the pilot tone ON on my transmitter has no impact on the receiver at all - the signal doesn't vanish? Check the 100 pack to see if it looks the same. The curious mic/line switching on the packs by shorting tip/ring/sleeve combinations may not be implemented on a copy - and this could be why the cables work differently. Just a guess, but there's some logic in there.
 
Yes, I can swap mics between them. Tried to switch the pilot tone on transmitter, and let it be off on receiver. The signal did not vanish.

Almost found a solution now though. I had a Sound Devices XL-7 cable as well that i tried (ta5 to minijack female). Connected the transmitter with a minijack to minijack to the XL-7. With those cables i finally get both left and right channel from mixer. But the sound quality got worse... had to crank up the volume a lot, which means more noise. And the sound felt a lot more thin - much less bass.

Aaaaahh.
 
Parapluie said:
Hi!


I bought a Sennheiser Sk 100 G3 transmitter and a Sennheiser EK 300 IEM G3 receiver (feed to directors)
Anyone know if they are compatible with each others? The seller I bought it from said so. I suppose there is something I do wrong, because I can't get them to work.


I get AF-signal into the transmitter, so far so good. The receiver show full RF-signal, but no AF-signal is coming in. It also stands "MUTE" in the display, which is normal (far as I know) when there is no AF-signal coming in.


The frequencies is the same on transmitter and receiver. Transmitter is not on mute.


Anyone know what the problem might be?

Thanks
Click to expand...

The stereo systems work on a different pilot-tone frequency.

So all you have to do is to turn off the PILOT in the receiver (you don'y have to switch it off in the transmitter).

You would do the same thing if you use a G1 transmitter with a G2 or G3 receiver.
 
On a G3 transmitter you have to short the tip and sleeve and put the signal on the ring when running a line level signal.

Shorting out the tip to sleeve sets the switch in the transmitter to "line".

This was not so important on a G2 - so, as the SK 500 is a G2 and the SK 100 is a G3, it looks like you are using a cable that does not have the tip shorted to the sleeve. This would explain why it works on the SK 500 G2 and not on the SK 100 G3.

I hope this helps.

John
 
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