Dynamic

3 v 6 - 6 is better. UE18 is a great monitor, sells really well in the audiophile market. I've listened to 15 and 18 drivers per side, complete waste of money. I do know who manufactures the Westone monitor BARs, they are a reputable company...

Offer is still open if you want to try a pair of the Westone AM monitors. Personally I use custom protectors, generally with 15 or 20 dB filters. Problem for me is much like the DP tribute band, our bass player has 1200w rms, an ex punk drummer and 2 guitarists running at 11, so I often have the problem of not being able to hear myself. Ive tried singing with UE18 monitors but don't like being fully occluded. Both the drummer and bassist wear our 25 dB universal fit hearing protectors and swear by them. Drop me a PM with a band link and I'll send you both a pair to test.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1476349261' post='3153457'] Am I right in thinking that the bass response that is lost from the monitor feed is replaced by what you are hearing from the ambient side...? What happens if you are running a silent stage, say where I have no bass amp - there is no ambient bass to make up for the loss that you would get from the piped in mix....? [/quote] Not just the bass but the whole ambient sound replaces the monitor sound once it drops for example below 20 dB. The bass losses are controlled by the 'SLED' or canal. Most designs use a secondary sound canal to the ear from the filter rather than a ported speaker with a filter. This secondary canal is used to reduce the low f loss. The other method is to have more bass in the monitor mix, not great though. The ambient is giving you the sound from the whole venue, not just the stage. Same with the ACS Live system but that uses the microphones for the ambient which is mixed with the monitor through the Live belt pack. That level of control isn't possible with passive filters. If you want to try the Live system contact Andy at ACS UK or Adam ACS USA, they have a universal fit Live system for demo's.

Thought I'd add a comment. Firstly I work for Dynamic Ear Company, we supply the filters used in the JH audio and Westone ambient earphone. We also work with ACS for musicians passive hearing protection technology. Don't worry I'm not selling anything!! The filters used in ambient monitors are linear, i.e flat, these are used by musicians in custom moulds and universal product, for ambient monitors we recommend a filter between 10 and 20 dB SNR, preference is around 15 dB. The filters have unique damping qualities so the loss is (almost) the same across all f, however you are correct low f losses are higher due too the sound venting. In order to minimise the low f losses we'll work with the customer to design a canal providing a form of 'crossover', this is the what SLED achieves. In use you hear the ambient sound come in as the monitor sound drops. I have Westone single, dual and triple driver ambient monitors, if anyone is in the Cambridge area and would like to try them you'd be welcome (we do not sell Westone or JH products). We're always interested in user feedback. Steve www.dynamic-ear.com www.crescendo-hearingprotection.com