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IEM: Carvin EM900 vs AT M2

sleepy_monkey

sleepy_monkey

Dec 20, 2007
4,169
199
Asheville, NC
#1
I have a chance to get 2 sets of the AT M2 at a pretty good price...used. Or I can buy the Carvin EM900 new. This will be used for 2 things....IEM at my house to practice and to send a signal to my powered speakers when I have an event. So with the AT I would be getting 2 full setups (2 transmitters, 2 receivers, etc), with the Carvin I would be getting 1 transmitter and 2 receivers.

Anyone used both?
 
#4
I think the Carvin setup is gonna be my tax time purchase this year. I don't really need another bass (shh.. Don't tell my wife!!), so I've decided to shop for an IEM rig. I already own a kickass Carvin PA, so it just makes sense to me to stick with what I know is quality. I'll report back in a few weeks when I get them.
 
#7
No experience with the Carvin but I've had the M2 for a couple of years and it's a solid unit I've had no issues at all with it. Once in a while I have to change the channels because of interference but that's about it.
 
#8
sleepy_monkey said:
Carvin raised their prices on all the IEM stuff within the last 2 months or I would have already pulled the plug. That takes them closer to the rest of the competition so now it makes sense to give the others a look too.
Click to expand...

Maybe they raised their prices when they improved the warranty. I looked into their device last Fall and I recall the warranty was super short - 10, maybe 20 days? No more than a month. That really surprised me and turned me off to the idea of buying it. I had two Carvin amps crap out in the 1990s, and one had been repaired twice by Carvin. Left a sour taste in my mouth and suspicious of the integrity of their electronics. I had better luck with their speaker cabinets (of which I owned six different models) but eventually moved on to better sounding products.
 
#10
True...add in the rack ears....$35.

I can get 2 used AT M2 sets for $530 total (2 trans, 2 rec, rackmount stuff, 2 sets earbuds) or the Carvin setup for $660-ish...1 trans, 2 receivers, 1 earbuds. Decisions.

I like the look of the carvin better....I am a sucker for readouts...haha.
 
#11
I used the Galaxy Audio AS-1100 until it died, and then I went with the Carvin EM900. The Carvin has a much lower frequency response. I'm using Shure SE425 ears, and I hooked up a 15 band EQ to the unit. Now I really only use my cab to feel the vibrations on stage because my bass in my ears now sounds as deep as my cab did.
 
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#12
sleepy_monkey said:
True...add in the rack ears....$35.

I can get 2 used AT M2 sets for $530 total (2 trans, 2 rec, rackmount stuff, 2 sets earbuds) or the Carvin setup for $660-ish...1 trans, 2 receivers, 1 earbuds. Decisions.

I like the look of the carvin better....I am a sucker for readouts...haha.
Click to expand...

Go with the AT.
You're getting two for the price of one. I have three sets.
 
#15
sleepy_monkey said:
This will be used for 2 things....IEM at my house to practice and to send a signal to my powered speakers when I have an event.
Click to expand...

I've used only the Carvin, not the M2s, but...

How likely are you to expand your applications? As-is, the 2nd transmitter would let you and a bandmate each run a stereo IEM mix for rehearsals. But if you might eventually expand the system with more receivers for gigging, the 2nd transmitter is a bigger deal. (Personally, I don't mind wired for rehearsal—and it's a lot cheaper that way. So if this were a system I wouldn't be gigging, I probably wouldn't drop the scratch just to expand a *wireless* IEM rehearsal system. YMMV.)

As-is, with the Carvin's one transmitter and two receivers in dual-mono mode, you could have a mono IEM mix for yourself while sending the FOH mix to one powered cab; but you'd have to daisy-chain a pass-through signal from that first cab across stage to your second powered cab.

But with the AT system's two transmitters, add a 3rd receiver, and you can drive your powered FOH cabs while still enjoying your own stereo IEM mix.

Add a 4th receiver, and you could feed both of your active FOH cabs wirelessly, while still having a stereo IEM mix for yourself. Or you could wire your FOH cabs, and instead run four custom mixes (in dual-mono mode) for bandmates. Or, you could feed your active FOH cabs w/o daisy-chain cabling, and have dual mono mixes for yourself and a bandmate.

Not going to do any of that? I'd get the Carvins, which work well and are good value. Thinking of expanding? The two-transmitter system starts to give a lot more flexibility.
 
#16
Not to mention that with Carvin's replacement Out of Warranty program, you send them the broken unit and they charge you 1/2 price and just send out a brand new receiver. We use the Carvin recievers with out Nady PEM-500's which are not sold by Carvin any longer. It was great. They were like $120 new and when we broke on, it was $60 for a replacement. No questions asked.. I did like that.
 
#18
Well, we had been using the Nady/Carvin packs for years. When Carvin discontinued the older series that stopped. We stopped using the Nady's about the same time. I actually think Nady replaces theirs the same way. IIRC, we exchanged them for about 4 or 5 years when they discontinued them. Not sure if they still have that policy, but that was the Out of Warranty program. The new body pack receivers are metal now and won't break as easily as the old Nady/Carvin plastic case ones.
 

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