Since there are more and more people using the same frequencies, having more tuning bandwidth is a good thing. The big brother 5000 Series system has a whopping 230MHz of tuning bandwidth. In terms of marketing, the 5000 Series is very clear that it has true diversity. This means that each receiver has two separate receiving circuits, not just two antennas.
You’ll have to look a little harder to find out that the 3000 is also a “true diversity” system. I got to look at a handheld system with the ATW-R3210 rack mount receiver, the ATW-T3202 handheld transmitter, and the ATW-C510 capsule. For lavalier use, I had the ATW-T3201 body-pack transmitter and an AT831cH miniature cardioid condenser lavalier microphone, though “miniature” is a bit of a misnomer since the 831 is bigger than an ECM-50.
[content-egg-block template=offers_logo hide=price]Specifications
- Atw-r3210 True diversity receiver
- Atw-t3202 handheld transmitter
- Atw-c510 dynamic microphone capsule
- Wide 60 MHz UHF Tuning bandwidth
- 2395 frequencies, 328′ Operating range
Where to get Audio-Technica 3000 microphone?
Before getting into the details, I thought I’d do a quick walk test with the handheld and the 2.4GHz handheld system from a leading brand. This is not a line of sight, but it is in a complicated building, which was a bit of a letdown. The range of the 3000 system was just so much better that it made the contest pointless. In a way, this makes sense because radio waves become more focused as their frequency goes up, and the 2.4GHz gear runs at about four times the frequency of the Audio-Technica gear.
So, an old friend of mine used to carry a VHF system with him all the time, just in case he needed a little more range. I’m sure that if there was a line of sight test, things would be closer, but that just shows.
Before we move on to harder tests, let’s talk about the features and technology. The R3210 receiver has a very nice, bright mono display that shows a lot of useful information. The usual press-and-turn knob is used to move through the menu. Both the beltpack and the handheld have small, bright screens that show you all the information you need. Group scanning and infrared communication between the receiver and the transmitters are both part of the 3000 system.
In an RF environment that is getting busier, group scan is the best way to get a system with more than one mic up and running as quickly as possible. The scan function has a variable threshold, so you can choose to get the most channels and live a little on the edge, or you can choose to get the most stability and have fewer open frequencies.