WEDEMARK, GERMANY — Sennheiser wireless products celebrate their 50th anniversary this year, as the first Sennheiser transmitter (Photo above), which had a short life span because it required a tube and far too many batteries, was created in 1957. The follow-up, the Sennheiser SK 1002 pocket transmitter, introduced in 1958, was considerably smaller thanks to transistors. Around the time of its launch, Sennheiser teamed with Telefunken to create wireless microphones under the brand name "Mikroport," which transmitted on two channels licensed by the German postal authorities.
In the late 1970s, Sennheiser engineered HiDyn, a proprietary compander system. The 1980s introduced UHF broadcasting, which made wireless audio transmissions dramatically more robust.
RF technology, in combination with clip-on microphones, put
Sennheiser wireless equipment onstage in musicals, such as Cats and Starlight Express.
And the Future?
"But all of our success has been placed in jeopardy by the impending sell-off of UHF spectrum," explained Volker Bartels, speaker of the Sennheiser Executive Committee. "If a spectrum isn't reserved for wireless microphones, the consequences for the whole entertainment sector will be disastrous. It will spell the end of lavish stage shows, major productions, concert tours and musicals. Complete freedom of movement onstage — as made possible by wireless microphones and wireless monitoring — will be a thing of the past. But I'm an optimist. I think that everyone involved can reach a sensible solution together."
[For more information on the opening of UHF frequencies, see Steve La Cerra's On the Bleeding Edge in the February issue of FOH.]
For more information on Sennheiser, visit www.sennheiserusa.com.
