It's a tough decision with a lot riding on it.. You've figured you have thirteen hundred dollars budgeted to wireless mics for your new wedding videography business. Depending on quantity and models, you can have as many as five wireless sets or, going with the "top" models, you can buy one and save up another hundred dollars for the second.
 
  There are a lot of variations on this theme, of course. Maybe you're already in the business and have just figured out that your current inventory of two wireless sets won't cut it for doc-style wedding videography and you quickly need four more sets. What can you afford to buy now? What level of quality must you adhere to? What quality difference is there really, between the $150 and $350 sets; between the $350 and $700 sets?
 
  This article holds the answer for you! Minutes ago, I hooked up four wireless sets - each a different model, around a solid Shure XLR mic (which I inadvertently called a Sennheiser in the audio test!), positioned myself about one foot from the mics and read off the test.
 
  I wanted to get my wife in on this, so there would be both male and female voices, but she was too busy watching Larry King!
 
  I have always said, "yes, it is always better to have the best possible quality..", but reality doesn't always allow that. The best wireless set you can buy, will make the soloist sound terrible if the mic is pinned on the groom, standing fifteen feet away. I firmly believe that audio is at least half of what makes your video. That's why my position on this subject is that "quantity beats quality because when it comes to mics, quantity usually means quality". In other words, it is better to have half a dozen "good" wireless systems than two or three "great" ones.
 
  Consider, for instance, a typical wedding where you have not only an officiant and a groom to mic, but also a soloist, a pianist, perhaps a quartet, one or two readers, oh - and don't forget the father of the bride. That's at least seven mics needed. I like to also have a shotgun aimed at the guests. It's great for getting applause and laughter and for those times when the officiant asks the guests to respond to something.
 
  But there are two sides to my argument. I've stated one side - that even a lesser quality mic will do a better job at close range than a better quality mic will at long range. The other side of the issue is, "just what is the quality difference?" and "does this quality difference justify the expense?".
 
  There is only one person who can answer those questions - YOU!
 
  I've posted five mp3 files, named a;b;c;d and e. 'E' is the control file, made with a Shure 588SDX, XLR'd to a Marantz 660 digital recorder. While only a $90 mic, it is a full-size XLR mic and probably gives as good a quality as we would have a right to expect from a wireless lav system. I bumped the mic stand once or twice, and thought about re-doing the test, but what the heck - we do "reality" event videos, right? So, just consider those bumps a dose of "reality"! :-)
  

I've zipped up the four wave files for purists to download. Those with less time may choose to listen to the mp3 files.

  
  It would probably be best, to listen to each audio file before submitting your opinions.  Please tell your friends to try this test.  Thanks for your participation.  We'll post the results after we get sufficient submissions. Please submit only one entry for each test.  We are tracking IP's and will discard any dupes.
  

Mic Test Results

  
  To address some of the comments below and those made in the forums, I've added a "Mic Test Summary" page. (unforunately, this was lost when we updated our site to Joomla 1.5)

The following comments were posted to this article -  
 
  
  Jordan Berry    | 70.128.172.243 | 2008-08-06 20:38:04 
 
  Hey Hank!
 
  Always doing so much for this community, you're truly an amazing guy.
 
  I definitely like B and D the best. From what I listened to they appear to be the same, besides the volume difference.
 
  Reply 
 
 
 
  Damian    | 71.240.39.36 | 2008-08-12 00:57:28 
 
  There's definitely some differences. The two tops are hard to tell apart, but there is a distinctive Bad, and a distinctive medium unit. Question is, are they consistent with what you would think would be the bad and medium unit? Hope to find out before too long.
 
  Reply
 
 
 
  Hank Castello    | 64.111.250.141 | 2008-08-12 11:08:48 
 
  The majority felt that the Sennheiser 'G' was better, but I'm a bit dumbfounded over the Azden 500 results. This, like the Senn G, is a $700 unit. Mine has the better Sony lav mic as opposed to the Azden mic.
  Thanks for participating!
 
  Reply
 
 
 
  Kevin S    | 71.197.65.127 | 2008-08-12 11:11:36 
 
  This article starts out with a budget assumption which may not be relevant, and then suggests an "all or nothing" choice which is arbitrary at best. If you're just getting started as a wedding videographer then a couple of cheap wireless mics may be your only choice, but we're here to discu...
 
  Reply
 
 
 
  Damian    | 71.240.39.36 | 2008-08-12 12:11:27 
 
  WOW....my picks were all off. That WMS Pro didn't sound that bad at all! I thought sure since it was cheapest it'd be the worst...that's crazy.
 
  Good test!
 
  Reply 
 
 
 
  Hank Castello    | 64.111.250.141 | 2008-08-12 14:22:50 
 
  I've added a summary page to the article (look for link at article bottom) to address some of these posts and forum posts.
 
  Reply
 
 
 
  Todd - price correction & insi    | 71.132.135.82 | 2008-08-19 00:34:21 
 
  THANK YOU HANK! YOU ROCK.
 
  http://www.ggvideo.com/senn_ew100engg2.php
 
  If you e-mail for the better price you get it for $600 but know that there are 2 VERY serious tools here. 1 KILLER lav mic and 1 XLR transmitter to mic the speaker with during dancing, etc.
 
  I now own 2 and use the Azden WMS Pr...