Shure UHF-R Wireless Microphone System
It has been 10 years since Shure introduced the venerable UHF-Series wireless microphone system — certainly a testament to its sound design and market longevity. During this time, the UHF series has been updated considerably while still retaining its trademark “stub-tail” antenna on the handheld transmitter. Well, say goodbye to the stub-tail. Make way for the improved, streamlined and updated UHF-R System.
First Thoughts
We received the Dual Diversity Receiver UR4D (List Price: $3,052.80) to test, the model I think most users would buy since it conveniently combines two independent receivers into one rack space. When mounting the unit, one of the first features I noticed was the nice cast-metal rack ears with built-in handles. Also supplied is the Shure Wireless Workbench computer software that allows you to monitor and control one or more receivers over a network. Two half-wave antennas are supplied along with extension cables for front antenna mounting as well as the ubiquitous Shure “shorty” power coupling cable along with the regular power cable.
Upon powering up, it was “Christmas time”. The limited viewing-angle LEDs of the previous model are now bright, colorful and quite visible. Now you can easily spot the RF and audio levels across the room. And, very importantly, the old 16-segment alphanumeric display has been finally replaced by a very readable multiline dot-matrix LCD display. Operation is very simply learned. I spent about 10 minutes reading the Shure manual and had most of the features down when I actually reached out and touched my first colorful button. There are menu selection buttons on the side of each LCD display as well as an encoder wheel that you turn and push to change parameters for both the receiver and transmitter.
The built-in RF scanner is easy to use and pretty quick — about 55 seconds to do a scan of the complete band. We were supplied with a system on the J5 band covering parts of TV Channels 32 through 41. Our location in San Francisco is just right for testing RF performance, being one of the most congested in this country. The scanner found 14 simultaneous available channels on group 9 (there are 10 groups in the J5 Band) while other groups had from 1 to 13 channels apiece for a total of 83 available channels in our band.
To achieve these results, Shure has really improved the UHF-R series receiver selectivity. When adjacent channels were available, there was no notice- able crosstalk or interference from the adjacent UHF-R transmitter. It also bears witness to the improved Shure transmitter design that reduces spurious output and kept the emissions well in-band. Indeed, it was some of these criticisms regarding the older UHF series that prevented it from being considered as the leader in the number of simultaneous channels available, especially in “RF-challenged” locations such as New York and Los Angeles. With the UHF-R series, Shure is back in the fold again.
So, lets take a look at the transmitters. First, the UR2 Handheld (List Price: $1,132.80), which was supplied with the Beta 58A capsule. The new transmitter body shape is more streamlined and more comfortable to hold over the length of a service. And as mentioned earlier, gone is the “stub-tail” antenna. The new UHF-R antenna looks more like a couple of buttons stacked on top of each other. Programming the UR2 is a breeze. Taking a cue from Shure’s SLX series, there is an IR port that sends all programming information from the UR4D receiver to the UR2 transmitter and then issues an acknowledgement using a bi-directional protocol. Simply unscrew the metal shell, locate the transmitter IR window near the batteries, and sync with the receiver. Changing other parameters locally on the transmitter is easy, using the four buttons on the transmitter or easier yet, use the programming feature on the receiver. Channel, battery and other information is visible in an LCD display which is also user programmable with up to 12 characters for vocalist ID.
We also received the UR1 bodypack transmitter (List Price: $876) with the headworn Beta 53 omni-directional microphone. The magnesium bodypack looks slimmer than the earlier UHF series model and also has a detachable antenna. LCD display, programming and control is same as the handheld, as well as using two AA batteries for power like the handheld. The Shure “standard” four-pin tiny-QC connector is now standard on this pack. Both the bodypack and handheld have two selectable RF power levels — 10 mW or 100 mW for the bodypack and 10 mW or 50 mW for the handheld. The Beta 53 headworn is a miniature two-ear model with a thin gooseneck boom.
But How Do They Perform?
With the UR1, the self-noise of the receiver itself was -100 dBm unweighted. With the transmitter on, the noise level was -98.2 dBm unweighted — very impressive. Another notable feature of the UHF-R system is the improved companding system. All analog wireless systems use some form of compression on the transmitter side and expansion on the receiver side as well as some EQ and limiting. How these designs are implemented determine the audio quality in many cases. I often use the “jingling keys” test to listen for compression artifacts and recovery “breathing” as well as listening for high-frequency loss. Using the UR2/Beta58A there is a definite audible improvement over the previous UHF series, something Shure stresses is a feature with their new “audio reference companding.”
Oh yes, while you jingle the keys, take a quick look at the new audio level display. It really grabs your attention using a series of vertical LEDs done in a nicely weighted “bouncing ball” display for really easy viewing of the audio level. Other manufacturers should take a lesson here.
Finally…
I will say that Shure has listened well to its customers over the last 10 years of building the older UHF series. The new UHF-R system justifies the increase in price with significantly improved features, improved audio, very good RF performance and user-friendly operation. Additional ruggedness is also a bonus.
With the debut of the UHF-R series, Shure is truly one of a handful of premium wireless systems worthy of consideration for the highest quality audio for houses of worship. As I’ve always said, your sound is only as good as your microphone and loudspeaker — besides the skilled engineer, that is. Add to that the wide variety of capsules and elements from Shure and this is one product churches should take a good look at. It really is a reflection of decades of Shure’s experience and listening to the user’s needs.
Arthur Yeap is a principal with Novo Group in San Francisco. He enjoys designing video and audio systems that encourage the people to worship together. He is the inventor of the automatic equalizer, and was a participant in setting the SMPTE digital television standards. Art Yeap can be reached at art@novogroupinc.com.
