POSSE personal monitor system - any thoughts?

jmoorewright · #1 01-06-2012, 07:58 AM

Posse Audio. This looks like a nicely-designed system for personal monitors. I've been thinking about IEM and wondering how this might compare with other solutions.

Looks like it's relatively new; anyone seen it?

TimmyP · #2 01-08-2012, 02:33 AM

Appears to have only one balanced XLR mic input (for vocal). It needs another for an amp mic.

Are there ground lifts on the mic out(s) and mix ins? I expect some possible issues in some venues.

MNAirHead · #3 01-12-2012, 12:09 PM

Looks much like a Rolls PM351... may be good or not... doesn't look like it can be mounted (easily) to a pedal board

musicman7722 · #4 01-12-2012, 04:47 PM

Looks interesting but $500 is a lot of dough

Hactar · #5 01-12-2012, 10:17 PM

$500?

Seems like it could use a little bit more IO at that price point, looks cool though.

Anyone else notice all their promo diagrams seem to made with Google SketchUp?

jmoorewright · #6 01-13-2012, 08:19 AM

I was thinking the price was a bit high as well, assume you're paying for a fairly integrated solution. It also looks targeted at a specific use: singer/player. Might be a bit of overkill for those of us who don't sing while playing...

Joe Smithberger · #7 01-15-2012, 11:24 AM

I believe that $500 price includes the whole system. In there is a goosneck condenser mic to catch an acoustic instrument or you amp as well as the built in ambient mics.

MNAirHead · #8 01-15-2012, 09:13 PM

doesn't look to have cabling figured out.

A RollsPm351 is about $70 used... has a stand mount and bulletproof... EVEN if you don't sing.. you should get the extra input.. you can always use for an ambient mic etc.

MNAirHead · #9 01-15-2012, 09:17 PM

Looking at it.. has cumbersome mutliple boxes etc...

Joe Smithberger · #10 01-16-2012, 08:04 AM

First off, I don't have any association here and haven't even seen the unit...

However this does offer ambient mics, a limiter equipped belt pack, two mic ins and one stereo 1/4 in, another condenser microphone that may work to mic your amp (or not), and and all cabling for that price. I do see that you could put together a system with a used Rolls PM351 and a used Shure wired beltpack for cheaper, but that requires that you pull an monitor input from the board. An advantage here is that each station is independent of what the rest of the band is doing for their monitors.

BTW Amazon price is $449

Wes Whitmore · #11 01-17-2012, 12:38 PM

I use a whole band wireless monitor solution, but I do like this thing for a personal system. I would hardware the floor box into my bass rack though, along with the bass and vocal cables (bypassing the HDMI cable) out to my mic stand and bass amp. I would use the ambient mics, which is a great feature. Nice big volume knobs and clean interconnection. The stereo aux inputs need to be paning at the mixer, but I would only use a single aux feed from our monitor board anyhow as the baseline monitor mix. It does what I need it to do, but it isn't the ultimate flexible system. There is always some limitation. $450 seems about right.

MNAirHead · #12 01-17-2012, 06:47 PM

I'm still kind of tripped up on all the pieces.. looks like their market may be churches and fixed installations.

Wes Whitmore · #13 01-17-2012, 08:06 PM

Im not sure of the intended market..but it looks pretty flexible all the way around. I spent some time and looked at all the info on their website. I still have lots of little questions, but there is a decent page on there with different wiring diagrams for different scenarios. The stacked wireless IEM transmitter on the floor box is good, but I don't know about using a headphone out to as a line output for the IEM transmitter. Seems like a real potential to smoke the IEM input.

I do like that its made in the USA too.

Wes

tmactrace300 · #14 09-18-2012, 03:08 PM

Just updating this post with my experience with this unit.

I've owned the POSSE system since June 2012. I had a hard time pulling the trigger on this mostly because of their branding. It makes me think "unsuccessful singer/songwriter" with too much money...if that's not a complete oxymoron. Kept feeling like I was buying something from a used car salesman. CAD/Google Sketchup diagrams and cheesy videos turned me off to the idea, until the options for a personal solution came down to BOSS ($70) or Hearback ($1000) (Aviom was out of my price range). I needed something light and portable (I fly for all of my gigs).
Posse is still a small company, although the ideas behind the product are great, the unit overall seems like it's still in beta and needs another generation before we ALL go get one.

PROS
Stereo Mics: These are incredibly sensitive and add room dimension to my mix from the canned stereo sound I often get from an Aux send. Recently did a live record with full Aviom system and stereo room mics and still tied in my Posse for it's clarity and ability to capture sound accurately from my position on stage.
Mixer: I love having it at my fingertips. I'm constantly tweaking my mix, between singing backing vocals vs. lead, adjusting bass tone, needing more of this-or-that, and while I rely on FOH for the rest of monitor mix, I've got lots of control where I need it.
Packaging: The case is great, packs up easily, and has everything I need organized well.

CONS
Price point: high. But what alternatives are there after you move past the $70 BOSS PS351?
Quality: While made in the USA (which I love), there are a few things that I question. The input jacks (esp. the 1/4") feel a bit cheap. I haven't had problems with connections, but they don't feel quality.
Input Options: Combo jacks for the stereo instrument inputs would be a massive improvement. It only has 1/4" inputs: either on the stand box or the base unit.
Usability: There are a lot of options. The additional features make it flexible and versatile, but very confusing for the uninitiated user with setup and use.
Marketing: I mentioned this above, but I initially DID NOT have a high level of trust because of the cheesy branding.

The POSSE is not IEM heaven, but hasn't left me feeling I'm in a sonic Pergatory. It's expensive and while it hasn't broken or caused me trouble, it's still not a fully developed top-of-the-line piece of equipment, but it's close.

And besides, show me another option with these features at the price point?

seamonkey · #15 09-18-2012, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmactrace300

J
...
But what alternatives are there after you move past the $70 BOSS PS351?
...

Another option coming soon
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/P16M/

I've also seen some digital mixers coming out with personal monitor mixes controlled by IOS apps.

auser · #16 03-07-2013, 12:10 AM

Purchased a unit this week. Initial thoughts on equipment/hardware...

Pros: super convenient setup for home use and/or rehearsal (not nearly as confusing as I thought it would be), thoughtful design and placement of mics/jacks/cables/knobs (especially with respect to the ambient mics, which are noisy and a bit unnecessary in a quiet living room but very helpful in a louder room/bar), and solid housing for most parts of the system. The HDMI cable is also no big deal and works very well for its intended function.

Cons: crappy jacks and cables (especially the midi cable), embarrassingly silly logos and case, manual tuner on-off switch that auto bypasses your signal (so the tuner can't stay on full time if you use a foot mute to bypass the signal), and goofy jack configuration if you want to run wireless IEMs (jacks are on front of rack-mounted unit).

Now, for the sound.

Pros: You control the levels pre-amp. That's it.
Cons: To start, I've never used a wired microphone amp or personal wired monitor, so I'm not sure what they're supposed to sound like. But I have used a decent sounding amp for a while and a wireless sennheiser IEM system with a stage-mounted, jump-snake-fed mixer (i.e., while the whole band in-ear), and, when run through a nice set of headphones, it was clear and pleasant. So, that's my baseline. For reasons unknown to me, the Posse, run through a nice set of headphones (not included) (i) makes my strat sound like a cheap acoustic guitar played through a tin can, and (ii) it has much trouble dealing with changes in the signal coming from my effects loop. With respect to (i), because, as you'd expect, the Posse puts out sound before hitting your amp, the sound in your ears is only guitar, effects, posse. But it sounds so unlike a guitar amp (a blues junior in this case) that I find myself becoming increasingly distracted with the effects settings and less concerned with the playing -- perhaps I should have expected this problem. In a live scenario, this isn't so much of an issue if the amp is mic'd because that's the sound that you'd probably like to have running back into the aux-in jack, which you can then control as necessary from the mic stand unit. In any case, it sounds astronomically worse than the iRig unit I occasionally plug into when quiet time is a must. Also, it's worth noting that my acoustic sounds "ok" mic'd via the aux microphone. With respect to (ii), I'm not sure what the problem or the fix is. All I know is that fuzzface + wah + clean booster + eq = crazy squelch (like, rip your headphones out of your ears bad), but wah + clean booster + eq = warm tone (inside of tin can). Similarly, my BOSS Blues Driver sounds robotic at even minimal gain levels. If I cut the signal on the guitar for the louder or gainier effects the effects disappear entirely. It's like there's increased sensitivity to the pedals on the whole of my fingers on the volume knob, which causes me to rehearse in a way that's slightly different than how I'd do any playing live. For these reasons, I think the unit is probably worth getting if you're a singer-songwriter solo act, but not otherwise.

Anyone having problems similar to those described above?