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

[EBS_freak]

It was more a behave directed to them - not yourself.

 

To be honest, I had no end of bad experience, particularly around their Live system - and whilst the fit was always OK, when I switched to acrylic, I realised that the whole sales pitch of silicon and it's advantages was a bit of a myth (oh and by the way silicon shrinks over time).

 

I remember have my first triple monitors (at the time, the top of the range) from them and thinking - is this what people rave over? Very disappointing - no headroom and very farty with a harsh top end. Of course, others peoples opinions may vary - and this was with their old drivers.

 

Funnily enough, when I got my impressions done at Banbury, I asked them directly about bite blocks - "oh, we don't bother with them" - I still sat there with two fingers in my mouth, to imitate a one inch bite block as best as I could - and also not engaging in any conversation with the person taking the impression despite them speaking - as it pretty clear that moving whilst having an ear impression isn't going to work out well.

 

 

[SteveK]

This morning I received a reply from ACS.

 

They say that "the next step is to remake the plug from new Open Jaw impressions in order to resolve this". Hopefully, this will require bite blocks.

They also suggested that I go to their London or Banbury offices for the impressions to be taken.

 

I note on the ACS website that "ACS warrants the fit of its custom-made products for 60 days from the date of delivery." So, technically out of warranty. I would argue that the impressions weren't correctly taken in the first place.

I should say that the few communications that I've had with ACS over the years has always been helpful, fair and productive.

 

I'll post any further updates here.

[EBS_freak]

Hopefully you'll get a better result next time around the loop. re: open jaw would suggest a bite block - make sure you have a bite block though - don't sit there just holding your mouth open.

 

Oh... and expect droooooool. 

Edited February 13 by EBS_freak

[dave_bass5]

On 31/01/2025 at 11:39, Greg Edwards69 said:

PLease do share if you find out about getting them for the IE 400's.  I notice they aren't listed as well, although admittedly, I'm quite happy with the comply foam tips.

2 weeks later and ive heard back. Yes, they want me to send mine to them.

At this stage i don’t think ill risk it, as ill need my IEM’s and i don’t feel comfortable sending them off to a company that that takes this long to reply to a message.

 

[SteveK]

 

On 13/02/2025 at 08:03, EBS_freak said:

Hopefully you'll get a better result next time around the loop. re: open jaw would suggest a bite block - make sure you have a bite block though - don't sit there just holding your mouth open.

 

Oh... and expect droooooool. 

 

A quick update:

Even though the moulds are technically past their 3 month warranty ACS have agreed to make new IEMs using new impressions at no cost to myself. I have an appointment at their London office on Friday 21st.

[WalMan]

Trying to work out what I am doing wrong with the new Sennheiser EW G4. 
 

I’m running a single Aux from the A&H desk to the L(mono) input and have the transmitter set to mono. Receiver only has option for stereo or focus but however I set things I only get output to my left ear and it’s starting to drive me a little mad.

 

I spent some time in the week running through use and setup at home and thought I was sorted but last nights dep I had the same issue from their Soundcraft desk. Nothing I tried made any difference 😢 Ended up running left plug in, right plug part out but not ideal and didn’t really get the mix properly sorted. 
 

It’s my one annoyance as otherwise with my main bands A&H desk last week it was the best and most comfortable sound I’ve had.

 

I have been backwards and forwards in the manual and with setup videos and cannot see what I am doing wrong 

Edited 5 hours ago by WalMan

[Linus27]

Hello everyone,

 

A bit slow to the party on this one and as someone who has for the last 38 years played with the old school amp and bass cab backline, please go gentle on me and my understanding on trying IEM 😅 

 

So I have the opportunity to play in a band and some of those gig could possibly be in central London. Long gone are the days where I would drive up, offload and park somewhere so I'm looking at amp/cab less solution and using IEM. Have read the many threads on the subject, so is my understanding on how to get it to work correct?

 

My bass would plug into my Sansamp BDDI v2 and a DI would go to the FOH desk as normal so FOH has sound. Rather than a Jack to Jack going to my amp and cab setup, I could plug in something like an Xvive U4 wireless transmitter into the output Jack socket of the Sansamp BDDI v2 which would be paired to the Xvive U4 wireless receiver and from that, headphones from the receiver into my ears? This would give me just bass in my ears but technically the same process as hearing bass from my amp/cab setup or stage monitors. Is that correct and will it work?

 

Alternatively, my bass would plug into my Sansamp BDDI v2 and a DI would go to the FOH desk as normal so FOH has sound. Rather than a Jack to Jack going to my amp and cab setup, I would run a Jack to Jack cable from the output Jack socket of the Sansamp BDDI v2 into a Behringer P2 Personal Headphone amplifier attached to my strap and then headphones from that into my ears? The positive would be it was all wired but the negative would be two wires connected to me, one from the bass into the Sansamp and one from the Sansamp back to me into the Behringer P2 headphone amp. I could always lose one of the cables by getting a wireless guitar system like a Line 6 G50.

 

Sorry if these are stupid questions or obvious questions. Have I understood the process and how this would work correctly and does my suggestion work. Any corrections or better solutions?

Edited 4 hours ago by Linus27

[Wombat]

1 hour ago, WalMan said:

Trying to work out what I am doing wrong with the new Sennheiser EW G4. 
 

I’m running a single Aux from the A&H desk to the L(mono) input and have the transmitter set to mono. Receiver only has option for stereo or focus but however I set things I only get output to my left ear and it’s starting to drive me a little mad.

 

I spent some time in the week running through use and setup at home and thought I was sorted but last nights dep I had the same issue from their Soundcraft desk. Nothing I tried made any difference 😢 Ended up running left plug in, right plug part out but not ideal and didn’t really get the mix properly sorted. 
 

It’s my one annoyance as otherwise with my main bands A&H desk last week it was the best and most comfortable sound I’ve had.

 

I have been backwards and forwards in the manual and with setup videos and cannot see what I am doing wrong 

I solved this on my Mackie desk by using a mono adapter (into the desk). Didn’t worry me as I wasn’t ’expecting’ stereo. Was too weird just hearing in one ear.

[Wombat]

43 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

Hello everyone,

 

A bit slow to the party on this one and as someone who has for the last 38 years played with the old school amp and bass cab backline, please go gentle on me and my understanding on trying IEM 😅 

 

So I have the opportunity to play in a band and some of those gig could possibly be in central London. Long gone are the days where I would drive up, offload and park somewhere so I'm looking at amp/cab less solution and using IEM. Have read the many threads on the subject, so is my understanding on how to get it to work correct?

 

My bass would plug into my Sansamp BDDI v2 and a DI would go to the FOH desk as normal so FOH has sound. Rather than a Jack to Jack going to my amp and cab setup, I could plug in something like an Xvive U4 wireless transmitter into the output Jack socket of the Sansamp BDDI v2 which would be paired to the Xvive U4 wireless receiver and from that, headphones from the receiver into my ears? This would give me just bass in my ears but technically the same process as hearing bass from my amp/cab setup or stage monitors. Is that correct and will it work?

 

Alternatively, my bass would plug into my Sansamp BDDI v2 and a DI would go to the FOH desk as normal so FOH has sound. Rather than a Jack to Jack going to my amp and cab setup, I would run a Jack to Jack cable from the output Jack socket of the Sansamp BDDI v2 into a Behringer P2 Personal Headphone amplifier attached to my strap and then headphones from that into my ears? The positive would be it was all wired but the negative would be two wires connected to me, one from the bass into the Sansamp and one from the Sansamp back to me into the Behringer P2 headphone amp. I could always lose one of the cables by getting a wireless guitar system like a Line 6 G50.

 

Sorry if these are stupid questions or obvious questions. Have I understood the process and how this would work correctly and does my suggestion work. Any corrections or better solutions?

No such thing as a stupid question if you don’t know!

 

Either scenario would enable you to hear your bass. But you would only get the other instruments ‘ambiently’ through bleed in anything sticking in your ears. If they were making a good seal (as they should) I would expect this to be quite muffled unless you are playing really loud!

 

I would expect you to plug in as you describe but take the feed for your ears from an Aux on the desk. This should enable you to hear ‘what you want’ or, if it’s a basic desk, hear either a shared monitor mix or what’s going out over FOH. For me either would be preferable to just bass.

 

As for which set up I guess it depends whether you want to be wired ‘or not’. I have the Nux version of the Xvive. The comes in a charging case was one of the major pluses for me. Oh, and whichever way you go make sure you have an xlr/Jack or jack/xlr converter so you can plug in to any desk (I’m using a Zoom L12 with jack auxes, the popular Berhinger desks have xlrs).

Edited 3 hours ago by Wombat
Added bit about set up

[WalMan]

30 minutes ago, Wombat said:

I solved this on my Mackie desk by using a mono adapter (into the desk). Didn’t worry me as I wasn’t ’expecting’ stereo. Was too weird just hearing in one ear.

Do you mean one out of the aux splitting to a pair to feed L&R inputs of the G4? Like this: Splitter I think I have something like that in my IEM bits bag

Edited 3 hours ago by WalMan

[Linus27]

36 minutes ago, Wombat said:

No such thing as a stupid question if you don’t know!

 

Either scenario would enable you to hear your bass. But you would only get the other instruments ‘ambiently’ through bleed in anything sticking in your ears. If they were making a good seal (as they should) I would expect this to be quite muffled unless you are playing really loud!

 

I would expect you to plug in as you describe but take the feed for your ears from an Aux on the desk. This should enable you to hear ‘what you want’ or, if it’s a basic desk, hear either a shared monitor mix or what’s going out over FOH. For me either would be preferable to just bass.

 

As for which set up I guess it depends whether you want to be wired ‘or not’. I have the Nux version of the Xvive. The comes in a charging case was one of the major pluses for me. Oh, and whichever way you go make sure you have an xlr/Jack or jack/xlr converter so you can plug in to any desk (I’m using a Zoom L12 with jack auxes, the popular Berhinger desks have xlrs).

 

Thank you and some of your replies were things that I was unsure about.

 

I think the bit in the link I'm not getting is the sound from the desk back to me to my headphones. I've got a DI going from my Sansamp to the desk so the FOH is sorted. How do I then get a wired monitor mix from the desk back to me and into my headphones. The first page suggests using a headphone amp like the Behringer P1 or P2 so an XLR is connected into this but what's the other end of that XLR connected to? It cant be the desk as that might be the other side of the room and that would be a very long cable for me to be connected to. I'm missing something in the chain somewhere on how the monitor mix comes back to me from the desk and into my IEM.

Edited 2 hours ago by Linus27

[WalMan]

4 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

 

Thank you and some of your replies were things that I was unsure about.

 

You mention that it would be better to take the feed from the Aux on the desk to get the FOH mix or whatever mix I want which makes sense. My worry with this is it would be wireless using something like the Xvive so if connection dropped or there was interference then I'd be in trouble right as I'd lose what was in my ears?

 

When you say wired or not, do you mean from my Sansamp to the desk or from the desk to my ears?

I’ll be adding an xvive to for sale shortly having got the G4 😁.  It works fine, and others use them with no problems, but I found that it needed careful placement of the transmitter that had a tendency to wipe out the connection between my phone/ipad and the desk and I often ended up switching to hardwired with the Behringer P2.

 

I don’t think I have had a drop on signal

 

[Wombat]

32 minutes ago, WalMan said:

Do you mean one out of the aux splitting to a pair to feed L&R inputs of the G4? Like this: Splitter I think I have something like that in my IEM bits bag

The Mackie desk has a mono 6mm Jack so if I put a stereo Jack in I only get one ear. Using a 6mm stereo/mono converter (mine goes to 3mm so I can plug my nux straight in). Not sure how that would work with xlrs I’m afraid.

[Wombat]

32 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

 

Thank you and some of your replies were things that I was unsure about.

 

You mention that it would be better to take the feed from the Aux on the desk to get the FOH mix or whatever mix I want which makes sense. My worry with this is it would be wireless using something like the Xvive so if connection dropped or there was interference then I'd be in trouble right as I'd lose what was in my ears?

 

When you say wired or not, do you mean from my Sansamp to the desk or from the desk to my ears?

I would go wired from your sansamp & wireless from the desk to your ears. If you are playing a ‘venue’ and not near the desk you might need a long cable for your P2. Although it may be that it comes to a stage box so you would take the feed from there.

as Walman said I’ve not experienced dropouts either. But I suppose there’s always a first time!

[Linus27]

4 minutes ago, Wombat said:

I would go wired from your sansamp & wireless from the desk to your ears. If you are playing a ‘venue’ and not near the desk you might need a long cable for your P2. Although it may be that it comes to a stage box so you would take the feed from there.

as Walman said I’ve not experienced dropouts either. But I suppose there’s always a first time!

 

Ok perfect, that's making sense, thank you and to @WalMan

 

So DI from Sansamp to desk. Wireless Xvive from desk to Xvive on belt with IEM. Alternatively if large stage then wired cable from stage box to P2.

 

Of course, all redundant if venues have stage monitors.

[WalMan]

24 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

 

Ok perfect, that's making sense, thank you and to @WalMan

 

So DI from Sansamp to desk. Wireless Xvive from desk to Xvive on belt with IEM. Alternatively if large stage then wired cable from stage box to P2.

 

Of course, all redundant if venues have stage monitors.

Well yes and no to your last.  The venue may have monitors but I would still go with IEM’s if that were feasible, which is another question. If you’re using house pa how are you going to manage the aux feed and set your mix? Will you have time to set a mix with the sound guy, or ability to connect and set your own? When we did a local festival last year on a tight change over schedule it just wasn’t practical to use my IEM’s and get set, so I just went with the flow and what the monitors were giving.

 

Otherwise you’d probably be looking at wireless to the xvive on a large stage, and just hard wire to a P2 on a confined stage - well that’s what I do anyway. If you’re stuck in a corner with no space to move then hardwired takes potential wireless drops out of the equation. On a stage with space then hardwired is another cable to trip over - my favourite trick is to step back onto the IEM XLR

Edited 2 hours ago by WalMan

[EBS_freak]

Quick Q, did you read the opening posts? There’s some key concepts you seem to be missing.

[Linus27]

24 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

Quick Q, did you read the opening posts? There’s some key concepts you seem to be missing.

 

I did but I'll be honest that some of it went over my head. I've read it twice now and it's making more sense. It's not the way it's written, it's more me just not understanding the terminology etc.

Edited 1 hour ago by Linus27