Sennheiser, manufacturer of the Evolution Wireless IEM systems, is introducing XS Wireless IEM. XS Wireless IEM (or XSW IEM for short) is a complete starter set for personal monitoring and has been designed for ease of use and reliability. “The system enables users to quickly establish an easy-to-manage wireless connection in the professional UHF range,” according to the announcement.
“No matter what your musical genre, whether you are rehearsing or performing live, XSW IEM will level up your sound and give you total freedom of movement,” says Bertram Zimmermann, product manager at Sennheiser. “Being able to hear yourself with clarity is a pre-requisite for a great performance. XSW IEM will give you consistency, reliability, and quality audio, and will let you focus on playing and singing your best.”
“Once musicians have tried out wireless in-ears, they will not want to go back to wedges,” says Zimmermann. “The difference in sound is just too obvious. Hearing yourself well through floor monitors, side fills, or even the PA can be a real struggle. The sound changes constantly, especially when you move around, and is also very different from venue to venue. Trying to hear yourself better by increasing the monitor volume makes things worse, even to the point of causing hearing damage. Also, the overall sound for the audience will deteriorate substantially.”
In-ear monitoring with XSW IEM is designed to give musicians a more consistent, reliable sound independent of the location and their position on stage. The detail and transparency they hear can help them finetune and improve their performance. Risk of feedback is also reduced.
Regardless of tech experience, XS Wireless IEM systems are advertised as easy and fast to set up. They can reduce stage clutter and give musicians back more space in their rehearsal room.
XSW IEM uses the UHF band for wireless connection. Aligned and pre-calculated frequency presets ease set up and if desired, transmission frequencies can also be selected manually.
Backlit displays on both the receiver bodypack and the rack-mount transmitter help users see settings in poor lighting conditions. In addition, the system offers a limiter to protect user’s hearing and a high-frequency boost to increase detail and intelligibility.
For their monitor sound, users can opt for a mono mix (one mix, and the pan control adjusts the volume for the left and right ear) or a stereo mix. The latter provides two options: With Focus mode switched off, the pan control will change the left/right volume; with Focus mode switched on, it will determine which of the two input signals will be heard louder, creating a personal mono mix tailored to the musician’s needs. An infrared sensor helps to sync multiple bodypack receivers to one transmitter.
XSW IEM includes a stereo bodypack receiver complete with in-ears and batteries and a stereo transmitter with antenna, rack-mount kit and a power supply with various country adapters.
When starting out, using one transmitter and any number of bodypack receivers is cost-effective, but at a later point users can create more individual mixes by adding an additional IEM transmitter.
XSW IEM retails at $699 USD (MSRP), additional receivers and transmitters at $399 USD (MSRP) each.
XSW IEM is available in five UHF frequency ranges which are aligned with the XSW family of wireless microphones and instrument transmitters.
For technical data, visit https://en-us.sennheiser.com/newsroom/sennheiser-launches-xs-wireless-iem-in-ear-monitoring-system-bd29qv#.
