what does a basic wireless microphone cost?
One of the most common questions I get from churches is about wireless microphones. They contact me, assuming wireless microphones in the $200-300 dollar range are wise purchases. They are not good purchases for budget-wise churches. This is surprising enough, often enough, I thought it worth explaining why that is.
For some products, the most affordable version works fine. These tend to be products where a bit of performance fluctuation is not a big deal. The most basic, affordable microwave you can buy will work fine. For most people, the most basic hammer at Home Depot is reasonable. That’s not true of wireless microphones.
Why is that? And what is the entry-level of reliable wireless?
What do I mean by basic, reliable wireless?
It should have almost no “dropouts” (where the sound cuts out because the radio signal gets lost for a second).
It should not make feedback worse.
You probably expect it to sound reasonably good. Not “recording a Gold Record” great, but good.
You should be able to drop it once or twice over the ten years you will own it. You don’t want to drop it, but it’s going to happen.
You only need between 1-4 “channels” of wireless in your church.
Basically, after installation, you want to change the batteries, and otherwise not think about this thing very much!
That’s it. Basic, right?
What does that cost? What does it cost to get a wireless microphone that you don’t have to think about very much? After all, there are wireless microphones on the market for $200!
Basically, that costs about $750 per microphone (or per channel). There are products on the market that cost less. But those less expensive products do not meet the basic, simple criteria we outlined above. Those products exist to prioritize price over performance.
The least expensive microphones most churches should buy are the Sennheiser EW-D series, or the Shure SLXD series. If you buy cheaper, you are buying problems. Don’t buy problems for your church, buy solutions.
Why is it that wireless microphones cost more than expected?
Every week, I talk to people who expect wireless microphones to cost far less than $750. I don’t know why people expect certain things. However, I can explain what problems you solve at $750 that are not solved as well with lower-priced products.
First, wireless microphones are radios. They share radio frequencies with lots of other things, including cell phones, television stations, EMS services, the church a mile away, and lots of consumer products. So you need a product that gives you the tools you need to reliably find a frequency where your microphone can operate well. Then, you need the radios to stay on the right frequency (cheaper wireless is notorious for frequency drift).
Second, wireless microphones are radios. So their signal literally bounces around a room in ways that are not intuitive. This is far more finicky or fussy than the average person might expect. It’s hard to get it right.
And less expensive microphones don’t give the user great access to the settings and options needed to get this stuff right. Or they cheap out on construction in a way that will create problems down the road. That might be using plastic parts, but it also might be using cheaper radios, that don’t stay on the frequency they are programmed for.
So yes, cheaper wireless microphones exist. In a vacuum, on their own, they often work fine. But when you put them in a church, on Sunday morning, for ten years…cheaper wireless creates problems.
You should budget about $750, at a minimum, for wireless microphones. Don’t buy problems, buy solutions.
There are different ways to handle this, based on the particularities of your congregation. Want to talk details? Email or schedule a call with me! I love to help.
