The IEM (in ear monitors) Bible thread - a guide to help every musician

[Minininjarob]

52 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Ive been thinking of getting the BT cord for my IE400's. Might put it on my Christmas list. 

It seems to work pretty well to me but I’ve never owned wireless headphones before. 

[dave_bass5]

10 minutes ago, Minininjarob said:

It seems to work pretty well to me but I’ve never owned wireless headphones before. 

My local Gym has started playing crap music as loud as possible recently. Even my AirPods pro's can't cut it out. Im hoping the IE400's might be better as they are a really good fit. 

[WalMan]

Our singer has for years had a splitter from his mic receiver going to his IEM transmitter and the desk and relied on bleed for everything else.

 

Having got a better Sennheiser system myself, read the manual, checked which system he has and checked its manual I’m suggesting he take his own aux feed and run a mix of the bits he wants (no bv’s) in low focus mode.

 

Got my new moulded plugs but for some reason I can’t get the cable to stay fixed so went back to my old set that have lasted 4 years and will do as spares in future. The new moulds have a bit more mould on them that should keep them in place better. They were a bit more expensive but spreading the cost over 4+ years is worth it IMO.
The annoying part is fitting the cables to stay connected. Last set once fixed were good until I needed to replace the cable, then I couldn’t remove them 🤦🏼‍♂️ 

 

EDIT: Cable now fixed but it doesn't seem to work. Nothing coming out but checking the new plugs with the lead from the old set they work fine so it seems to be the lead 🤬 

Edited September 25 by WalMan

[andytoad]

Hi all,

Im interested to know if there is a pedalboard size xlr bluetooth transmitter out there on the market? Ideally 2 channel. If so, anyone using it to send their mix?

[EBS_freak]

Bluetooth for IEM? I hope not!

[andytoad]

1 minute ago, EBS_freak said:

Bluetooth for IEM? I hope not!

I know latency. Would it be that bad for the average pub player tho, or truly shocking?

[EBS_freak]

Just now, andytoad said:

I know latency. Would it be that bad for the average pub player tho, or truly shocking?

Yup. Stay away.

[andytoad]

Just now, EBS_freak said:

Yup. Stay away.

So is the only way transmitter/receiver to wired IEM? I need to contact starfleet see what Uhura was using in the 60's lol... *tongue in cheek humour*

[Wombat]

Probably using 5.8….

[mcnach]

11 hours ago, andytoad said:

I know latency. Would it be that bad for the average pub player tho, or truly shocking?

 

Worst than truly shocking

[mcnach]

11 hours ago, andytoad said:

So is the only way transmitter/receiver to wired IEM? I need to contact starfleet see what Uhura was using in the 60's lol... *tongue in cheek humour*

 

No, you can use wifi or radio transmitters.

 

Radio transmitters have extremely low latency but sound quality can be 'meh' especially at the lower end of the budget range, but they do work.

WiFi systems are all over the place. There's lots of very cheap ones, but latency tends to be higher on those, up to 12ms in some. On their own that might not be a problem, but if you have other digital devices in your signal, all adding their bit of latency, it can get noticeable, but this is very much depending on your use. 

[andytoad]

8 minutes ago, mcnach said:

 

No, you can use wifi or radio transmitters.

 

Radio transmitters have extremely low latency but sound quality can be 'meh' especially at the lower end of the budget range, but they do work.

WiFi systems are all over the place. There's lots of very cheap ones, but latency tends to be higher on those, up to 12ms in some. On their own that might not be a problem, but if you have other digital devices in your signal, all adding their bit of latency, it can get noticeable, but this is very much depending on your use. 

Ah ok, I might just stick to wired, sounds like less hassle 🙂

[WalMan]

Wired is less hassle but another lead to trip over (unless the playing area is so small you can’t move) IMO.

 

It has taken me a while but having bit the bullet and got moulded plugs and a better wireless system I really don’t like to be without them now.

 

The initial outlay is more but averaged out over four years is really not so bad

[Al Krow]

Just picked up a pair of KZ ZARs for a bandmate for £31.79 inc P&P from Ali XP. That's 40% less than I paid for mine 18 months back, and I thought they were good value back then!

[dave_bass5]

Can i ask what the protocol is when you turn up to a venue that has something like

an XR32 and i want to control my own IEM mix. Do sound guys normally allow us to connect to their system and use Mixing station etc? 

[warwickhunt]

We have our own X32 and we supply the engineer with a 16 tail snake/loom with each output individually labelled up.  We plug ourselves into our splitters>X32 and sort our leads for IE.

 

Prior to getting this you are generally at the mercy of the engineer giving you a mix (or mixes) but I've not encountered a situation where we get to do our own mixes.

 

[EBS_freak]

19 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Can i ask what the protocol is when you turn up to a venue that has something like

an XR32 and i want to control my own IEM mix. Do sound guys normally allow us to connect to their system and use Mixing station etc? 

Unlikely unless agreed in advance. Even if turning up with a split, depending upon your sound guy, they may not like that either. As always, communication is key... and the sound engineer. Alot of sound engineers are paid up to just turn up and do their thing on the day in a manner they know... things tend to go south when you tipple that norm.

[Greg Edwards69]

Drawing up a stage plot diagram with notes can be useful in these situations. IIRC there’s specialised online tools to help do this.

[dave_bass5]

On 07/10/2025 at 16:28, EBS_freak said:

Unlikely unless agreed in advance. Even if turning up with a split, depending upon your sound guy, they may not like that either. As always, communication is key... and the sound engineer. Alot of sound engineers are paid up to just turn up and do their thing on the day in a manner they know... things tend to go south when you tipple that norm.

Thanks, this is how I was thinking. Too much of a gamble. Im going to take my old set up of Mixer, small digital recorder placed at the front/centre of the stage and feed that back to my mixer. Then monitor both with IEM's. Not perfect and ill have my keys coming back in from the stage monitors, but this is how I used to set up before the got the XR18.

I was thinking the XR18 would also work but it's more to set up. 

[JPJ]

After much humming and haa’ing, I have taken the plunge and ordered a set of ACS Engage custom moulded IEM’s. Probably going to receive them after my last scheduled gig in 2025 so you might have to wait a while for a review.