IEMs

Well we are going IEM for pretty much a silent stage where I play weekly. Got handed the Aviom for my channel last week.

Looking for your thoughts:
Ideally -
custom molded
budget is 200-400 (before the costs of impressions)
Sound as neutral as possible
would prefer 3 driver versus 2 driver

Looking at:
JH Audio
Westone (3 way here is out of the budget)
Fidelity
Livewires
Alien Ears
Ultimate Ears (3 way here is out of the budget)

What says all of you?

PC has a lot of experience with IEMs, IIRC.

Yeah, my band has used them since 2004, and as we've added more members (horn players), the band bought more of the receivers. We have three transmitters now, i.e., three separate monitor mixes (and actually a fourth mix because the drummer uses a wired set that goes to a different Aux send).

Why I like them: Every other month we play a gig at a club that requires that we use their sound gear. They have nice stuff and they by and large run it well, but it really accentuates the differences between the two setups. The difference to my hearing is huge--my ears ring for days after those gigs with monitor wedges. It also enables us to do as you say and have no stage volume at all beyond the drums (and he is reined in quite a bit by not having to compete with amps), and that's nice for clubs that are touchy about volume issues.

Why I hate them: We don't mic any of our drums except for the kick drum at larger venues, so when I wear the IEMs, I lose my drummer altogether and he is the one thing I don't want to lose. Also, if you move around a lot and/or sweat at summertime gigs with hot lighting rigs, they will fall out--yes, even the ones molded to fit your ears. That is so #$%^ing annoying.

In general I do not wear mine if I'm using my amp, because I just dislike them overall. To me, they make me feel like I'm jamming to a cassette tape in my bedroom--I lose the live-music flavor. In other words, I LOVE that the band uses them so I don't have to--no blaring monitors to hurt my ears, but I can still opt out and hear things the way I want to.

When I use my "direct rig" (Sans Amp pedals) I have to wear them, and although it's sure nice not to haul around my amp, I find a bit less joy at the gigs.

Somy advice after 6-plus years of using them is to by some Shure PSM stuff and don't spend the extra money on super high-end stuff unless you're doing stadiums or playing with a philharmonic orchestra and need to hear when one viola is a sixteenth-tone flat. Shure makes great stuff, we've never experienced one drop out, and it's gig worthy for a band that has now played over 600 shows with them.

Thanks PC. I play a medium size room (seating around 1000) regularly. I will not be wireless on it at 1st, but direct wired to my Aviom mixer. Our drums are Roland Vdrums so that aspect of stage volume is addressed.

My rig is a Fractal AXE-FX Ultra that I give a direct feed to FOH then back to the monitor. Being that they have given me an Aviom, I can control my own mix now in IEMs. (Before I would have a stage monitor and the house would adjust my mix to taste.)

I have tried some universal ear monitors and have not been satisifed by any. Have used some upper level closed back headphones that were quite good though. Just looking to lose the headphones and go IEM for this venue.

Ruggedness is desired. I'll play at this venue say 100-125 times in a year. Not to mention what other possible uses I may put this to.

BL on BL:
IEM's vary in price quite a bit. I am a live sound engineer & have been doing it for 30 yrs. I know many musicians using the inexpensive shure and other brand ear buds. If you stick with the name brands you are generally ok. Why do some spring for the expensive IEM's? The sound quality is significant. If you gotta have great sound quality in your IEM mix then thats the only way other than cans. But for most applications the inexpensive (around $100) buds can work great for many. Unless you get the pricey ones with ambient mic built into the belt pac (Sensaphonics) anything on stage without a mic you won't hear except bleed through from some neighboring mic on another instrument. Many can never get used to them. Those that do generally have much better vocals & such cause they hear well with it not loud. It really can save your ears & you really can hear better. Of course you must take the extra time to dial in a good mix. Sometimes you can throw up a coupla (if there is room) ambient mics to gently feed in sos you don't sound like in a dead closet. Everyone I have worked with that takes the time to go thru the learning curve will never go back to wedges. Done right, it's a no brainer.:sign11:

I bought the Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10 a year ago for $208 on ebay and I like them alot, it seems like I can hear the three distinct drivers and I do not have custom molds. Your budget of 200-400 before molds would include these.