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Aviom Personal Monitoring System

Topics: aviom, Gear Reviews, mixer, Monitor Mixing By: Chris Huff June 24, 2008

The Aviom personal monitor mixer system puts an end to the phrase “can you turn me up a little in the monitor?”  Imagine never hearing those words again.  Personal monitor mixing systems take the control away from the sound operator and pass it to the user.

Simply stated, personal monitor mixer systems are digital systems where all sound board mixer channels are routed into a digital cable.  This cable then feeds individual mixers where each mixer controls the volume of the same channels for the output hooked into that specific personal mixer.

The monitor system is comprised of three pieces; an input component for routing all signals into a digital format and into a digital cable, small personal mixers which are feed the digital lines, and some form of speaker attached to the lineout of the mixer.  The speaker takes the form of a monitor or headphones.  The headphones are usually IEM’s (in-ear monitors) that sit in your ear canal, thereby not allowing outside sounds to be heard.

Personal monitor mixers allow each user (singer, musician, soloist, etc) to control the various sounds they hear.  For example, a guitarist wants to hear the drums for establishing the beat and a bit of the singer to match the mood (laid back, intense, etc).  Singers standing close together might not be able to hear themselves, so a personal mixer would be great for hearing their own voice with a little bit of volume of the other singers so they can harmonize.

Personal mixers, like the Aviom, are ideal for providing sound that is needed and eliminating the sound that is not.

Personal mixers are ideal for a variety of users.  Worship teams with musicians and singers benefit from hearing only the sounds they need.  Soloists benefit from CLEARLY hearing the accompanist or accompaniment track.

The mixers can be placed anywhere.  Singers like them on a stand.  The keyboardist might like a small stand or sitting right on the piano.  They are only limited by the length of digital cable available.  The cables can be plugged into a floor jack or straight into the rack unit.  In the case of the optional Aviom distributor unit, the unit connects via a single cat5 cable to the rack input module in the sound booth.  Otherwise, each mixer cable would have to come from the sound booth.

Aviom or Hearback?
In a recent upgrade at my church, we looked at the Hearback and Aviom monitoring systems.  The Hearback system was a very good system that was significantly cheaper than Aviom.  Also, the folks at Hear Technologies were very helpful in answering our questions.  The Aviom system was a good chunk of money and based on that alone, we initially ruled it out.

Comparing the two systems, they both had their pro’s and con’s.  However, the more we researched Hearback, the more limitations we found in developing a middle-to-large scale mixer system.  Primarily, Hearback mixers allowed control for six audio channels – [note: they have recently increased this to ten].  We have a worship team that takes ten channels and we were expecting to add a couple more.  Aviom mixers allow control for sixteen channels.  By the time we’d configured a Hearback system to match our needs, the price was just under Aviom but still with the six channel limitation.

We’ve been using the Aviom personal monitor mixing system for a few months now and love it.  Congregation members are saying our worship teams sound better.  Those of use using the system are finding we are playing more confidently and blending better.  Singers are saying “I can finally hear myself!”

The biggest benefit of the Aviom system is ease of use.  During practice, we adjust our mixer levels and for good measure save the settings as a preset.  Then, when it’s time to walk on stage, we just plug in our headphones and we’re good to go.

Additionally, you can have a worship team practice without a sound booth operator.  As long as you can turn on a few components, all sound is going through the Aviom system which each person control.

One disadvantage of the system is it doesn’t include mixer mounts.  If you want to mount your mixers on a mic stand, you must purchase the $25 mixer mounts.  That’s $25 each.

Components
Here is the base package you need for setting up the Aviom system.

Aviom AN016/i 16 channel input module
“The AN-16/i converts sixteen line-level analog audio channels into uncompressed, full bandwidth 24-bit digital data transmitted via Aviom’s proprietary A-Net protocol. A dedicated audio Thru is available for each input channel, allowing the AN-16/i Input Module to be inserted into an existing audio signal path.” from Aviom.com

Aviom A16ii Personal mixers (you need one for each person that will be using one)
“The A-16II Personal Mixer allows each performer to control his/her own mix including: volume, mute, solo, and pan for up to sixteen audio channels. Sixteen custom mix snapshots can be saved as Presets for instant recall. ” from Aviom.com

You’ll also need plenty of cat5 cable and headphones (IEM’s) for each user.  Shure makes the E2 and E3 IEM’s ideal for this situation.

We opted to add the Aviom A-16-D Pro Net Distributor.  It eliminates the need to daisy-chain personal mixers and simplifies stage setup.  Additionally, if our sanctuary is ever enlarged, we only swamp in one longer digital cable instead of one for each mixer.

There are a variety of resellers of the Aviom equipment so shop around for the best prices.  If you have a local audio company that performs sound system installations, consider contacting them as well for more information.  They might let you demo the system for a week or two.

Since we purchased the Aviom system, Hearback appears to have beefed up their systems so they are more inline with Aviom but in my opinion, still a few steps short for medium-to-large set-ups.  Study both systems and then determine which product would be best for your need.

 

Filed Under: Gear Tagged With: aviom, Gear Reviews, mixer, Monitor Mixing

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Comments

  1. Victor says

    October 20, 2014 at 9:29 am

    I’m still not entirely clear on this. I understand How it works, but What of big situation Where i have about 128 channels, (never been there before ) How do you select the channels that go into the input module with a digital mixer that has never seen a 1/4 inch and works only with cat 5s

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      October 20, 2014 at 10:56 am

      I know a tech who runs audio for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and deals with such issues. But let’s look at something more likely – a big band with a lot of instruments and singers. You mix down things like drums and backing vocals and send them to a group. Then you route the group to the Aviom unit. As far as the how, you’d probably have to go into a Dante network and deal with a network bridge. Check with Aviom support.

      Reply
  2. Ronald says

    January 11, 2012 at 11:11 pm

    Forgive me but I’m a neophyte to this. I am looking at trying to eliminate stage monitors and the Aviom Monitoring looks pretty sweet. Trying to find out how (or if) this system will (or can) be connected to our mixer. Allan & Heath ZED 436

    Reply
    • Chris says

      January 12, 2012 at 9:15 am

      It should work. That being said, you should check with http://www.aviom.com just in case.

      Reply
    • RIK Eberhardt says

      August 27, 2015 at 3:48 pm

      I agree with everything written here. I advise and assist churches with their media set up. Most of them do not have a Bazillion Dollars to buy all of this high end gear. I realize I am going to have the entire sound world come down upon me, but I have personally been using Behringer X Air systems since their introduction. My partner and I have a Mobile A/V service. We are on the road with this stuff, It -is- durable. As good and easier than the Allen & Heath, PreSonus, Aviom, etc.

      Don’t get me wrong, that is awesome gear. I have used them and recommended them for years. But for less that $1000.00, I can set people up with a mixer, a easy to use tablet, not Apple. Though iPad will work, with limited success, but that is Apple’s claim to fame, limited end user access. The Behringer has a superior wireless configuration than anything which I have seen to date, This includes the Yamaha, PreSonus, etc. (I do IT too, and everything X AIR is plug and play. Way too easy!

      Okay, I am ready for a avalanche of of negative response. All I have to ad and end with; Try it first before you embarrass yourself here. It’s pretty good gear for half the price of “cheap” gear.

      Reply
  3. JGG says

    September 4, 2011 at 7:58 pm

    Aviom’s have always seemed to present a challenge for a clean monitor sound for bass (at least in my experience as a player – I’m not a young gun by any means – been playing more than half my life). It usually sounds like I’m playing through a fuzz box. Any accented attack on the strings results in a rather “hairy” note that decays quickly. I am using excellent gear and quality cables to deliver my sound (Fender P-bass with Seymor-Duncan 1/4 pounder Basslines, Tech 21 SansAmp Para Driver DI, George L’s cables). The tone in the house is an awesome SVT type tone… full, fat, and funky. Yet it’s fuzz box city in the Aviom. What are some hints in communicating with my sound guys to adequately describe the problem and what are some basic things that I can do to facilitate cleaning up the monitored tone? It’s hard to be expressive, dynamic, and creative (as God has designed us to be) when then monitor tone quality is garbage. It inhibits worship rather than propelling it.

    Reply
    • Chris says

      September 6, 2011 at 12:38 pm

      It could be they are adding effects that sound great in house but bad via the avoims. I’d see if they can send you a dry feed instead of an aux send with effects added in. I’d recommend working with them one-on-one before or after a practice session to work this out. Start by sending them a dry signal (no effects/pedals). See how that sounds in the avioms with not effects from the sound booth. Keep this up until you find the source of the fuzz.

      Also, they could be cleaning up your tone with some effects/eq and it would be beneficial for you to hear a post-eq sound.

      Without knowing the room and the sounds, I don’t want to say it’s definitely one thing or another. However, if you work one-on-one and add in pedal / effects as you go, you and your SG will be able to figure out what’s going on.

      Reply

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