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Title: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Tommy Peel on August 01, 2014, 05:48:02 PM
I'm about to order some gear(mostly cables and adapters) from Audiopile for my church band(I'm buying personally).

First: How good is the active DI that they sell? I'd have to spend at least twice what it costs to get a Radial or Countryman. I'm needing something better for our passive bass guitar and the passive pickup one of our acoustic guitar players uses. Currently my DI inventory consists of several very cheap Pyle DIs I bought from Amazon a few years ago; they're fine for keyboard and active pickups but sound terrible for passive pickups.

Second: Is there any reason not to get the Starline mic cables? I know they're not genuine Neutrik and not quite as nice as the premium, but from what I've seen on here they're pretty good. Right?

Also what length of mic cable is standard/best/prefered(I realize that this is one of those "It depends" questions, but what is most common)? Most of what I have now are 25ft with several shorter ones too. I'm thinking getting some 30+ft ones would be good for when we play larger stages(doesn't happen very often, but we've had problems before). We currently have enough for our normal setup so these would mainly be spares or for when we need extras.

Thanks in advance,
Tommy
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Rob Spence on August 01, 2014, 06:28:21 PM
I'm about to order some gear(mostly cables and adapters) from Audiopile for my church band(I'm buying personally).

First: How good is the active DI that they sell? I'd have to spend at least twice what it costs to get a Radial or Countryman. I'm needing something better for our passive bass guitar and the passive pickup one of our acoustic guitar players uses. Currently my DI inventory consists of several very cheap Pyle DIs I bought from Amazon a few years ago; they're fine for keyboard and active pickups but sound terrible for passive pickups.

Second: Is there any reason not to get the Starline mic cables? I know they're not genuine Neutrik and not quite as nice as the premium, but from what I've seen on here they're pretty good. Right?

Also what length of mic cable is standard/best/prefered(I realize that this is one of those "It depends" questions, but what is most common)? Most of what I have now are 25ft with several shorter ones too. I'm thinking getting some 30+ft ones would be good for when we play larger stages(doesn't happen very often, but we've had problems before). We currently have enough for our normal setup so these would mainly be spares or for when we need extras.

Thanks in advance,
Tommy

I found that very few different lengths was a time saver on setups. Long time ago I had 3,6,10,20,25,50. Well, I still own em but for small stages I use 20 for everything except a few drum mics where I know there is a stage box right next to the kit.
The light bulb went off one day when I watched a helper try to get just the right length for each run. I was placing 4 cables to his one. Next day all the other lengths came out of the cable bin. I still use em but usually at the shop.
On larger stages I run several stage boxes and everything is 25' for inputs again except for some drum mics where I use right angle connectors.

Get one real good DI (at least). Many years ago I got a Radial J48 for electric bass and a JDI for keys. The sound was so much better than the low end ones I was using. Why would you spend less than the cost of a pretty decent mic for the DI? Is that instrument's sound less important?

Now, except for one Type85, all I have are Radial.
Buy once, cry once.

I may have a hundred Starline cables with the EWI connectors. No failures in 7-8 years (not counting cuts). Of course, I treat my cables like gold. I have 2 cables with Switchcraft ends on them that I made in 1968.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: George Dougherty on August 01, 2014, 06:47:46 PM
The DI's are decent, but I have had 2 out of 7 develop problems. That's over several years of use but still...  Radial J48 on passive sources is my call as well.

Go with the premium cable over the Starline. The XX series ends are better all around, especially the male end with the solid shell vs the cutout window.  I also prefer the way the premium cable handles and lays. The Starline feels like a loose jacket over the internals by comparison.  Braid coverage is also better on the premium.  Skip the quad, they're decent but the heavier gauge makes for a stiffer cable that doesn't always behave well.  Most quads drop to 24/26ga, vs the Audiopile 22ga IIRC.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: David Simpson on August 01, 2014, 08:55:07 PM
The DI's are decent, but I have had 2 out of 7 develop problems. That's over several years of use but still...  Radial J48 on passive sources is my call as well.

Go with the premium cable over the Starline. The XX series ends are better all around, especially the male end with the solid shell vs the cutout window.  I also prefer the way the premium cable handles and lays. The Starline feels like a loose jacket over the internals by comparison.  Braid coverage is also better on the premium.  Skip the quad, they're decent but the heavier gauge makes for a stiffer cable that doesn't always behave well.  Most quads drop to 24/26ga, vs the Audiopile 22ga IIRC.

I stocked my venue with all Starline cables many years back. No issues with them yet, and we do a couple of hundred shows a year. The cables still look like new.

I have not used their DI boxes, but I agree that you should have at least a few good active DI's in your kit. The extra $50 makes a difference.

~Dave
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Tommy Peel on August 01, 2014, 09:02:33 PM
Thanks everyone for the great info. How does the Pro48 compare to the J48. I can't really do a $200 DI right now, but I could afford a Pro48.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Ben Brunskill on August 01, 2014, 10:02:36 PM
Thanks everyone for the great info. How does the Pro48 compare to the J48. I can't really do a $200 DI right now, but I could afford a Pro48.

I’ve used both and couldn’t tell them apart. I think the J48 has a few extra features.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: David Parker on August 01, 2014, 10:16:52 PM
I've used all of audiopiles cables, including the cheapest, and I've never had any trouble with any of them. I've also used a lot of the audiopile no-name neutrik look-a-likes with no problems. I have had multitudes of problems with other no-name neutrik clones.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Mark Cadwallader on August 01, 2014, 10:37:38 PM
FWIW, most of my cables are EWI "premium" with Neutrik XX ends. I have some EWI Starline with EWI ends in patch lengths, but I note they are 24 AWG cable. No problems to date. I personally prefer the Neutrik ends and 22 AWG "premium" cable.  I own some of the quad cables; I would not buy them again; price to value is not as good, IMO.

I have not done blind testing between EWI DIs and Radial or Countryman Type 85s. I own a small stack of the EWI boxes.

Mark C.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Jared Koopman on August 02, 2014, 12:35:37 AM
We use the premium cable with ewi xlr ends and they work great. We made our own with the bulk cable in 3, 5, 10, 25 and 50 ft increments.

I have only used the passive ewi di but I have not directly compared to others.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Geoff Doane on August 02, 2014, 09:55:24 AM
Thanks everyone for the great info. How does the Pro48 compare to the J48. I can't really do a $200 DI right now, but I could afford a Pro48.

I've used them both, as well as testing them on the bench.  I couldn't hear any difference, and the Pro48 (yes, cheaper one) actually tested slightly better.  The power LED also stays on all the time on the Pro48, instead of having to push a combination of buttons on the J48 to verify that phantom is making it to the box.

If you don't need the polarity, merge or HPF functions, the Pro48 seems like the clear choice.

GTD
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Darin Ulmer on August 02, 2014, 01:15:48 PM
I've used both types of Audiopile cables and never had a problem.  We have a number of the active DI's and have never had a problem with them or the passive ones either.  For a general purpose DI they work very well and are built very solidly.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Tommy Peel on August 02, 2014, 03:06:41 PM
Thanks for all the info guys. Looks like I'll pick up a Pro48 and some Starline 25ft cables with the intention of getting another Pro48 down the road.

Have a great weekend,
Tommy
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Tomm Williams on August 02, 2014, 03:08:41 PM
Have a number of their cables and both active and passive DI's..........no issues.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: George Dougherty on August 02, 2014, 04:06:38 PM
Thanks for all the info guys. Looks like I'll pick up a Pro48 and some Starline 25ft cables with the intention of getting another Pro48 down the road.

Have a great weekend,
Tommy

Think in the long run you'd be happier with the premium.  The EWI female ends tend to stick a little in non-neutrik male xlr jacks (Behringer X32 and ADA8000, I'm looking at you). 

For ~8 more per cable in your 25ft length you get heavier gauge conductors, tighter braid, better jacketing (Neoprene instead of PVC) and much better connectors.  You'd pay about that difference retrofitting them with the better Neutrik ends if you wanted to down the road.  The premium stays much nicer in colder weather.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Ned Ward on August 03, 2014, 11:23:41 AM
Tommy - have had no issues with the Audiopile mic cables I've bought from them. I also have a 50' EWI 8 channel snake that helps clean up stages for those times you do need more length and don't want to have 8 mic cables strewn all over. Bought to Male XLR-XLR adapters and two female XLR-TRS adapters, and now two channels of the snake can be used for monitor sends, further cleaning up stage or rehearsal spaces.

their Snakes are a good value and if its for light duty like your church band, should last a long time if cared for.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Cailen Waddell on August 03, 2014, 11:59:25 AM
Tommy - we use the audiopile active DI as our stock DI... General purpose....  We have yet to have any issues.   I did remove the batteries so that they require phantom power.  Otherwise we would forget, and a battery would eventually explode....
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: George Dougherty on August 03, 2014, 04:28:23 PM
Tommy - have had no issues with the Audiopile mic cables I've bought from them. I also have a 50' EWI 8 channel snake that helps clean up stages for those times you do need more length and don't want to have 8 mic cables strewn all over. Bought to Male XLR-XLR adapters and two female XLR-TRS adapters, and now two channels of the snake can be used for monitor sends, further cleaning up stage or rehearsal spaces.

their Snakes are a good value and if its for light duty like your church band, should last a long time if cared for.

Huge +1 on the use of subsnakes.  IMO, you're better off having a handful of subsnakes and shorter mic cables.  I regularly use 2-3. 1-2 8x4 up front and a 12x4 at the kit.  The vast majority of my cables are then 10ft and 20ft. 

It's much easier to trace and deal with one thick bundle that's clearly labeled on either end along with short cables than a pile of longer mic cables.  It drives me up the wall when I show up and a soundco has 24 long mic runs all over the stage back to the main snake head.  If somebody plugs one in  wrong and you're not sure where it terminates, it takes longer to hand-follow through the tangles back to the snake head.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Tommy Peel on August 03, 2014, 04:56:41 PM
Tommy - have had no issues with the Audiopile mic cables I've bought from them. I also have a 50' EWI 8 channel snake that helps clean up stages for those times you do need more length and don't want to have 8 mic cables strewn all over. Bought to Male XLR-XLR adapters and two female XLR-TRS adapters, and now two channels of the snake can be used for monitor sends, further cleaning up stage or rehearsal spaces.

their Snakes are a good value and if its for light duty like your church band, should last a long time if cared for.
Huge +1 on the use of subsnakes.  IMO, you're better off having a handful of subsnakes and shorter mic cables.  I regularly use 2-3. 1-2 8x4 up front and a 12x4 at the kit.  The vast majority of my cables are then 10ft and 20ft. 

It's much easier to trace and deal with one thick bundle that's clearly labeled on either end along with short cables than a pile of longer mic cables.  It drives me up the wall when I show up and a soundco has 24 long mic runs all over the stage back to the main snake head.  If somebody plugs one in  wrong and you're not sure where it terminates, it takes longer to hand-follow through the tangles back to the snake head.
Funny y'all should mention subsnakes. I was looking at them on Audiopile the other day when I made this post and thought an 8-ch would be really nice for the front of the stage for our normal setup. I've always got 5 or 6 mic cables running from the stage box(by the drum set, near the back) to the front of the stage for vocals, keys, and acoustic guitar. This isn't a very long run(maybe 10ft) but it would be nice to have 1 cable instead of 5+; it will be even more helpful if we switch to wired IEMs later this year like we're talking about. Probably won't be getting one now, but it's on the short list for future purchases. Is a 50ft a good length or would shorter/longer work better?
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: David Parker on August 03, 2014, 05:10:02 PM
Funny y'all should mention subsnakes. I was looking at them on Audiopile the other day when I made this post and thought an 8-ch would be really nice for the front of the stage for our normal setup. I've always got 5 or 6 mic cables running from the stage box(by the drum set, near the back) to the front of the stage for vocals, keys, and acoustic guitar. This isn't a very long run(maybe 10ft) but it would be nice to have 1 cable instead of 5+; it will be even more helpful if we switch to wired IEMs later this year like we're talking about. Probably won't be getting one now, but it's on the short list for future purchases. Is a 50ft a good length or would shorter/longer work better?

depending on your intended use, sometimes a subsnake with a fan on both ends is better than one with a box/fan. audiopile has both.






Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Tommy Peel on August 03, 2014, 05:16:18 PM
depending on your intended use, sometimes a subsnake with a fan on both ends is better than one with a box/fan. audiopile has both.
Yeah, I'd thought about that too. The fan to fan ones are quite a bit cheaper. How well do they hold up? I would say that for 90% of the stuff we do a 15ft fan to fan would work well and 30ft would probably do everything we need. And most of the times we've needed longer cables it's been a situation where our PA was too small for the job.

Sent from my Moto X (XT1053) using Tapatalk

Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Ned Ward on August 03, 2014, 05:24:35 PM
Tommy - for us the 50' works great as when we provide PA, it's usually a small bar. Even for rehearsal, it cleans things up dramatically. If you can go for longer, great; the 75' is $22 more than the 50' and that extra 25 feet will come in handy, especially at a HOW.  If you can get the 8x4 vs. the 8, great, but only you know what your needs are, but for 100', $209 is a pretty good price...

If you run out of inputs on the 8 channel snake, that can still be used as a sub snake to get channels across the stage, for back line, etc. I could see getting another Audiopile snake, and would next time get an 8x4 100' as at some places, the 50' is too short when you have to route it around various things...


On the Patch snakes, it's the same cable, but terminated in XLRs vs. a stage box.  Probably more of a personal preference. If you're thinking 30', I'd recommend 50' as being able to move the snake out of the way a few feet can be a real help.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: David Parker on August 03, 2014, 06:23:17 PM
Yeah, I'd thought about that too. The fan to fan ones are quite a bit cheaper. How well do they hold up? I would say that for 90% of the stuff we do a 15ft fan to fan would work well and 30ft would probably do everything we need. And most of the times we've needed longer cables it's been a situation where our PA was too small for the job.

Sent from my Moto X (XT1053) using Tapatalk
you would want a fan-fan if you were connecting some DI boxes on the other end, or some other situation where you would have to add a cable to a stage box to connect whatever. If you are plugging mic cables in, spend the extra and get the stage box.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Rob Gow on August 03, 2014, 06:25:15 PM
Don't know if you are still looking....


Look at this on eBay:

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=221511676692

Radial J48 Active Direct Box
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Tommy Peel on August 03, 2014, 06:29:58 PM
Don't know if you are still looking....


Look at this on eBay:

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=221511676692

Radial J48 Active Direct Box
Got it on my watch list. Unfortunately the seller has no feedback so I'm a little wary of it, but we'll see. It is a nice price if it doesn't go up anymore.

Sent from my Moto X (XT1053) using Tapatalk

Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Tommy Peel on August 03, 2014, 06:35:40 PM
you would want a fan-fan if you were connecting some DI boxes on the other end, or some other situation where you would have to add a cable to a stage box to connect whatever. If you are plugging mic cables in, spend the extra and get the stage box.
In this case it's a mix of DIs(2-4 right at the end of the drop snake) and a few mics. I'll probably just go with a fan to fan when I get one. I might just skip the mic cables this time and get a drop snake and a new DI. That would eliminate the need for a few mic cables so buying some wouldn't be as high a priority.

Sent from my Moto X (XT1053) using Tapatalk

Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: George Dougherty on August 04, 2014, 12:43:52 AM
In this case it's a mix of DIs(2-4 right at the end of the drop snake) and a few mics. I'll probably just go with a fan to fan when I get one. I might just skip the mic cables this time and get a drop snake and a new DI. That would eliminate the need for a few mic cables so buying some wouldn't be as high a priority.

Sent from my Moto X (XT1053) using Tapatalk
For durability and ease of use, I prefer a box. I dislike having to hunt down the right cable out of the spaghetti mess and the box protects things pretty well.  Fan connectors can get beat up if you don't take really good care of them. 

If you're thinking about wired IEM, get at least an 8x4 now. I find a 50ft is long enough on most stages. 30ft often comes up short, especially if you're routing out of traffic paths.  Don't think I've ever found myself really needing longer than the 50'.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Rob Spence on August 04, 2014, 12:55:51 AM
For durability and ease of use, I prefer a box. I dislike having to hunt down the right cable out of the spaghetti mess and the box protects things pretty well.  Fan connectors can get beat up if you don't take really good care of them. 

If you're thinking about wired IEM, get at least an 8x4 now. I find a 50ft is long enough on most stages. 30ft often comes up short, especially if you're routing out of traffic paths.  Don't think I've ever found myself really needing longer than the 50'.

For some gigs I use both a sub snake and a fan snake. I have a 10' 8ch fan snake labeled for a drum kit. I plug it into a stage box near the kit (might be a sub snake ) and then I can have all labeled ends right where I need em and use 10' cables on the mics or in the case of miniature mics with captive cables, plug em right in.

I have 3 sub snakes, 2 are 50' and the other is 35'. I bring the right ones for the stage layout.
 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: David Parker on August 04, 2014, 06:32:01 AM
For durability and ease of use, I prefer a box. I dislike having to hunt down the right cable out of the spaghetti mess and the box protects things pretty well.  Fan connectors can get beat up if you don't take really good care of them. 

If you're thinking about wired IEM, get at least an 8x4 now. I find a 50ft is long enough on most stages. 30ft often comes up short, especially if you're routing out of traffic paths.  Don't think I've ever found myself really needing longer than the 50'.

I used a fan to fan snake when I was using separate snakes for mic inputs and mixer outputs.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Tommy Peel on August 05, 2014, 01:16:33 AM
Thanks for all the helpful advice. I just put in an order with Audiopile for the drop snake(decided on a 50ft 8 channel fan to fan) and a few odd adapters I've been needing for my kit, and an order with Full Compass for the Pro48. Spent a little more than I'd planned on but I'm sure it's worth it.

Have a great week,
Tommy

Sent from my Moto X (XT1053) using Tapatalk

Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Tommy Peel on August 13, 2014, 12:59:35 PM
Got all the stuff I ordered in and used it last night for the first time. Love the Pro48; the bass sounds MUCH better. The sub snake also helped clean the stage up and get the cables out of the walk ways on stage.

Before:
(http://i.imgur.com/qanfuf2.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/b9Hn0Go.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/WUjMHIH.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/9qiTl9Z.jpg)

After:
(http://i.imgur.com/f1wDZZ3.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/jffEKBd.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/pP6AIcR.jpg)

I didn't get one of the front of the stage showing where the snake was routed but I had it running along that low wall on the left side of the 3rd pic and around the front of the stage to behind the communion table instead of through the middle of the stage where the musicians walk all the time.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: kel mcguire on August 13, 2014, 01:37:16 PM
nice!

I bought a few EWI snakes. I like their cables. You have places to hide snake boxes and such. For my Downstage vocals I like the Whirlwind dropbox since the XLR are on the side of the box and lay flat. Sometimes you can hide a vertical style snake box behind a monitor, and sometimes you can't and it's an eyesore.
Title: Re: EWI Active DI box and other questions for Audiopile order...
Post by: Jeff Hague on August 15, 2014, 10:57:30 AM
I'm about to order some gear(mostly cables and adapters) from Audiopile for my church band(I'm buying personally).

First: How good is the active DI that they sell? I'd have to spend at least twice what it costs to get a Radial or Countryman. I'm needing something better for our passive bass guitar and the passive pickup one of our acoustic guitar players uses. Currently my DI inventory consists of several very cheap Pyle DIs I bought from Amazon a few years ago; they're fine for keyboard and active pickups but sound terrible for passive pickups.

Second: Is there any reason not to get the Starline mic cables? I know they're not genuine Neutrik and not quite as nice as the premium, but from what I've seen on here they're pretty good. Right?

Also what length of mic cable is standard/best/prefered(I realize that this is one of those "It depends" questions, but what is most common)? Most of what I have now are 25ft with several shorter ones too. I'm thinking getting some 30+ft ones would be good for when we play larger stages(doesn't happen very often, but we've had problems before). We currently have enough for our normal setup so these would mainly be spares or for when we need extras.

Thanks in advance,
Tommy

I have used the EWI passive and acctive DIs for 6+ years with no problems and my ears cant tell the difference between those and the occaisonal Radial or Countryman that someone might bring.
I havent used their cables but I have several of their snakes and have bought a bunch of gear from Audiopile and everything is good quality - they are excellent folks to deal with too! I am actually biting the shipping bullet in about a week for a big order of EWI cases instead of buying local (they ar in WA and Im in VA) just bc I know theyll be good.
As far as cable lengths I have found that 15', 25' and 50' are all I need. You wont get much bang for the buck going from 25' to 30'. The only time Id use different lengths is maybe for a loom for a drum kit in which case Id typically make the cables myself.