Early this year, I had the opportunity to run monitors for the Taylor Guitar stage at NAMM in Anaheim, Calif. Karl Winkler, director of business development at Lectrosonics, was kind enough to let me use their new Quadra IEM system for the artists that came through. I was impressed with the piece and asked Winkler if I could take it out for a week of worship nights with Darlene Zschech and the Hillsong team at various churches in the states. He was kind enough to send me a unit to use at the first church we would be at in Calif. I opened the box and read the serial #000001 on the transmitter ... pretty cool. Since I had already used the Quadra before, I was already accustomed to its features and got straight to setting things up.
The Quadra is a digital IEM solution that is unlike anything else on the market currently. It provides analog and digital inputs, 24-bit 48 kHz audio, digital RF modulation, and discrete four-channel mixing.
A look … and a listen
The transmitter is a half rack-size box that accepts up to four inputs. The four inputs can be configured as four channels of analog, 2 x 2 channels of analog and digital, or four channels of digital. The connections are locking XLR that accept balanced XLR or AES/EBU inputs. The transmitter is constructed of metal, and very sturdy. Lectrosonics did not skimp on the construction—this is a solid piece. Because the unit is a half rack, you can mount one unit with the appropriate rack ears, or you can mount two transmitters side by side in a rack.
The receiver can be configured to provide either two or four channels of audio to the performer. The receiver is a bit larger then other IEM receivers that you may have worked with, but that is because instead of the typical single volume pot, the receiver provides four pots that can be assigned to control different channels of audio. With this unique feature, the performer can customize their mix and get “more of me” at any time.
Let me say, on the outset, that from purely an audio standpoint I was impressed by the performance of the Quadra from day one. I've tried virtually every wired and wireless IEM system out there, and the Quadra sounds the best to my ears. The unit has a low noise floor, a flat frequency response and, by operating in the licensefree 900 MHz range, there is much less RF conflict. The Quadra also has ultra-low latency, which I find extremely critical to vocalists. The latency on Quadra is 1.0 ms for an analog connection and .5 ms for digital. These are incredibly low numbers, making the Quadra the closest thing I have heard to having a wired pack.
For the first worship night I decided to run the receiver as a typical two channel stereo mix. Four channel mixing aside, I wanted to see how the Quadra would compare from a straight performance standpoint. I handed the pack to Darlene and said, “I'd like to try something new tonight. I think it sounds really good. If you don't like it we can always use the old system.” She was happy to try it out. Darlene used the Quadra for about 20 minutes of the rehearsal, then asked if she could hear her other usual receiver. I handed her the other receiver, which had the same mix. After using it for about 5 minutes, she noticed the difference and said, “I'll just use the new one, it sounds so much cleaner.”
The first point of the game goes to the Quadra. Up until this point I had not talked with anyone else that had used the Quadra (other than the Lectrosonics guys) so this was my test to see if it lived up to my own thoughts of it.
We used the Quadra for this first worship night and, for the most part, it was great, until about 25 minutes into the worship set when the pack went for a ride. If you are familiar with Hillsong worship, you know that they can be quite energetic— dancing, sometimes jumping around the stage a bit. Because the receiver pack is a bit bigger and weighs a bit more, it fell off Darlene's belt and came unplugged. Point lost for Quadra.
The receiver pack has the typical volume pots and 1/8 jack on the top, but because there are four volume pots on the top, the antennas are on the bottom. Most performers I know put their packs in their back pocket to help secure it. With the antennas on the bottom of the Quadra receiver, it discourages one from jamming the pack into your pocket (in fact, the user manual points this out as a no-no). While I wouldn't call this a flaw in the design, it does make it different than most packs out there. Lesson learned. Although it probably would not be good for the antennas, this pack would have to live in the back pocket for the rest of tonight's set. The rest of the set went off fine. No complaints of RF interference at the end of the night. Darlene's only comment at the end of the night was that because there was so much clarity and separation in the mix, it took some getting used too. Is this a critique or a compliment? I suppose after 3+ years of hearing yourself on the same system, anything different can be a bit off-putting.
At the end of the set I was pleased to see that after roughly two hours of continuous operation the Quadra's green battery indicator light was still telling me it had plenty of juice left. The receiver takes three AAtype batteries and does not have a battery meter that shows the life of the battery as an icon. Rather, a green light indicates battery life is good, red means it has gone through 2/3 of the battery life, and blinking red means that it is time to change batteries. It was not until after next morning's 30-minute worship set that I saw the light change to red. I'll give a point to the Quadra for a good battery life.
Test 2
At the next church in Houston, where we were leading worship for church on Sunday morning, Darlene opted for her old pack. Though she recognized the difference in audio and RF, she didn't want another incident with a pack falling out of her pocket. Darlene stays very engaged during worship and she did not want the distraction of this new technology to think about. Understandable. Not having enough time to re-patch for any of the other musicians, I used the Quadra as my cue pack. After a morning of multiple services with my buds in, I was pleasantly surprised to find my ears felt much less fatigued than normal. With improved clarity and separation of the mix, I did not have to listen as loud. Very nice.
I was able to test the digital inputs on the Quadra in Houston, as well, as I had a PM5D to work with. I did a test before the band had arrived, monitoring the Quadra while talking into a vocal mic and also listening to some music. While I cannot honestly say that I heard a .5 ms difference in the latency, I did perceive an overall tightness to the sound not heard before. I'll chalk this up to a combination of the already great sounding electronics with the addition of better latency and one less point of A/D, D/A conversion. After A/B'ing with the other IEM system that we travel with, I was blown away by the difference.
That night in Houston we had a worship night and I decided to give the Quadra a go with Dave, who plays acoustic guitar and sings. This seemed to be the most common church scenario for the Quadra: the acoustic guitar-playing worship leader. I was able to give Dave a stereo mix of the band, and then I assigned his acoustic guitar to channel three and his vocal to channel four. I gave him the pack in sound check, showed him how to use it, and he was blown away. He could not say enough about the sound quality, steady RF, and he loved that he was able to adjust his channels at anytime during the set. It ended up being great for me because it was one less mix that I had to worry about. Point back for the Quadra.
After the worship set that night, Dave was really pleased with the Quadra and his enthusiasm got the other band members asking if they could give it a try. (I wish I had a few more to give to the other band members.) Dave did say he experienced a few drop outs. I was surprised by this, because in all my use thus far, I had not experienced drop out. I decided to test the unit that night. I put some music down the mix and listened as I walked the entirety of the room. I did notice two times that there was drop out. It was only momentarily and I'll say much more pleasing then the typical RF dropout effects that you get with other systems (you know, the rushing wind, static, spikes, pops, etc.). The drop out with Quadra that I experienced was literally that: audio drop out. It sounded like someone muted the mix for a moment, then back to normal. One might count this against the Quadra, but considering that I walked the entire 2,000-seat auditorium without any kind of antennae combiner, I was pretty impressed. Though drop out was experienced in Houston, when we moved onto Alabama the next day Dave did not have any other complaints of drop outs.
Final thoughts
The Quadra is an impressive piece of gear that I really enjoyed using. At $3,279 (street price) for the combo of a transmitter and receiver, it's quite a bit more than other systems you may already have in your church. Then again, it's nothing like the system that you currently have, either.
I think any church with a worship leader that sings and plays an instrument every Sunday would benefit from owning at least one of these systems. You'll be giving your worship leader a superior-sounding system that allows them to hear themselves more naturally with great RF stability. All this, and it allows you to worry about one less mix. And that is a great thing.
