LD Systems MEI 100 G2

Our friends in Brussels recently did something useful for musicians in the EU. We now have some new frequencies we can legally use for our IEMs and wireless mics all over Europe - the EU has forced our governments to clear out channel 65 and 66 (also known as duplex gap or G2) for "wireless audio programme making and special events equipment"

This is in addition to channel 70 frequencies.

I was holding back on buying IEMs because I already have instruments on channel 70 and you can only realistically fit 3 or 4 transmitters on there. I use the new shure 2.4ghz transmitters for mics, but they don't make IEMs with that technology yet, so that means having to buy a licence if you wanted to use wireless IEMs.

Thanks to LDs early adoption of the G2 frequencies, you don't have to buy a licence now in Europe. This model and its big brother the 1000 has plenty of licence free channels including the existing channel 70 and the new 65/66 allocations.

So as far as build is concerned, the belt receiver and transmitter are very high quality build, made to last.

Sound wise the system is functional. The receiver is loud enough, but doesn't have any extra kick so you are not going to go deaf using it.

As it is FM technology, the sound quality suffers at the low end, if you are a bass player it probably won't cut it as the bass is distorted and the lowest end is not present. Also the top end isn't that great, it lacks the sparkle and clarity if you A/B the wireless version compared to the monitor out of the mixer through the same ear buds. So it's not the ear phones that are letting it down. I would compare the sound to a lower end FM car transmitter. I know it's possible to get great FM transmission these days, some of the high end in car FM transmitters are absolutely brilliant with deep bass and great signal to noise ratio, it's a shame LD didn't choose a more up to date encoder chipset, or include some sort of compander technology like HDX like you find on the Sennheisers. It is however functional enough and the additional free channels make it worthwhile and good value for money.

The transmitter range is good enough, I can get 25 meters outside with clear stereo reception.

I think I'll have to vote to stay in the EU now, if we drop out, the British government might want those channels back :)

As I have been playing on small and midrange stages for the last years, the monitoring has often been very bad. So I decided to get an in ear system, so I can make my own monitoring mix on stage. At the beginning I thought of a tethered in ear system (I am a keyboarder), because I can't move that much on stage, and because of many wireless systems, that make use of frequencies in the LTE band, which is unusable after the year 2015. That changed after I met the guys of LD Systems on their booth on the Musikmesse 2013, who showed me the G2 Version of their in ear system MEI 100. It simply uses other frequencies, that are free to use for the next time. The street price of around 199€ convinced me to test this system. As i got it from Thomann, I tested it at home first with a computer playing music as a source. And I have been very surprised of the quality of the stereo signal. I expected less. For shure, it ain't the sound, which you will get out of your professional monitor speakers in the studio, but it's quite good (especially for live situations, where you are often surrounded by lots of different noises). In live situations I don't use the stereo mode. I get a signal from the person who does the monitor mix. The signal contains everything except my keyboard sounds. The second signal is a monitoring signal from my keyboard submixer, that I also use on stage. With the MEI 100 G2 you can use the mono-mode to mix two signals. So I can adjust the bandvolume and the volume of my keyboards as I like, and I'm not depending on the monitor mix of someone else. The in ear headphones are ok. They reduce the environmental noise as much as my Elacin ear protection with 25db filters. All in all the monitoring situation is much better than it has been before. And that counts!

I am not oversensitive to the sound quality so I have used tthis without any big issues. My bass player however could not as it distorted the sound on lowest frequencies too much. Battery indicator goes almost immediately to only 2 bars but stays there until the batteies run out. The most annoying part is that when they do run out you get a constant clipping of sound dropout into your ear so you have to rip it out of your ear immediately to replace the batteries. Midsong that can be quite disturbing. Other than that it is easy to connect & work with but the headphones must be changed out as well if you want some useable sound quality

A very good product, amazing value for money.

The transmission range from transmit or to receiver was tested beyond any distance you'd actually perform with, through various closed doors and corridors, the signal did not deteriorate and it must have been over 30m. On a clear stretch with no obstacles it would go much further.

The signal to noise ratio is not bad at all in mono, but when in stereo it does jump up and would be a little more annoying. However, you would only expect a cleaner signal from higher priced units. I often use high-end Sennheiser packs, and whilst they are much better. For the price of this LD systems unit, I cannot fault it.

Protective casing is good. The included headphones are surprisingly great, but I use my own custom moulds.

The sound quality is good. You can hear a small difference in the quality as the bit rate will be reduced, but in the frequency spectrum as a whole, it is reasonably even and with a good headphone mix, can provide a great monitoring sound. I myself am a singer and often stand right in front of a drum kit. I find this product to do everything I could want from it to a great standard.

Setting this up could not be easier, and also worth noting, on a new set of Duracell batteries, I find the pack lasts for four, two hour gigs. It may do more, but I prefer not to run batteries to low incase they cut out mid gig!
A product worth buying!

I was looking for a wireless in ear monitoring system and having discounted the Sennheiser as too expensive decided to but this one. I've only used it at three gigs, but first impressions are that it is very good. I play and call in a celilidh band and was having problems losing my voice because I couldn't hear myself. This system has changed that. Setup is easy - you just need a feed off the mixer, either pre or post mix, and a mains plug. The wireless connection is reliable and sound quality is good. The ability to change frequencies mean you should always be able to find some free bandwidth. My only gripe is that I would have preferred 'over the ear' monitors rather than ear buds, which fall out far too easily. A less 'sticky' cable would be good too. All in all an excellent product for the money. Good service from Thomann too.