Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I moonlight a couple nights a week as a Karaoke host in 2 different bars in town. I have a pretty nice setup of equipment and use a Shure Beta 58A Supercardioid Dynamic Microphone as my DJ mic. However for my Karaoke guests, I use these Nady Duo's because they are super cheap and for the most part work pretty good in this application.
Why is cheap important? Because mics that you pass out to singers at the bar are going to be more often than not, especially if their singing karaoke, very drunk! Some sing well and some, not so well but one thing in common happens. Mics get dropped, beer spilled on them and just in general, abused! Though its never happened to me, they can also be stolen. "Shure" in my opinion makes the best mics, however they are also very expensive ones too. When you watch a $600 microphone get dropped or tossed into a puddle of beer or bar-floor muck, you cringe in terror. So the first rule of Karaoke Mics, they must be cheap! Unless you really know and can trust a singer not to destroy it.
The next most important thing to consider is sound quality. Now again, Shure mics have top notch sound quality and these Nady's are a fraction of that. But the difference to be heard in live amateur karaoke singing performances will not be apparent in 80% of all singers. So these Nady Duo Cordless mics sound good enough for most people and the best singers that you will have, wont really expect you to have outstanding mics anyway so its very likely you'll never hear a complaint.
Drawbacks:
Reception - The range on these mics isnt as good as many of the higher priced cordless mics. However you do get a good 40-50 feet of range in clear view of the receiver before you have any chance of a reception problem. I stack the receiver on top of my PA speaker for a little better reception. It seems to work well in every bar application that I've used them in. You will lose range if you need to go through walls!
Feedback - Absolutely all mics can feedback. It depends on how much you have them turned up (gain) and the useable range cone or arc of the mic. What I mean by range cone or arc is if you are holding the mic straight up and down, there will be a V shaped area from the head of the mic upwards that it will pick up sound. So obviously if you are making noise directly pointing at the bottom of the mic, its not going to pick it up unless it reflects off of a surface and hits the top. The Cone range that these mics pick up is fairly large. So it is pretty easy to pick up background noise or feedback because it is too close to a PA speaker. I again compare this to my Shure Beta 58a that has an extremely narrow cone, that mic does has a narrower cone and you almost need to point the mic directly at a speaker to get feedback. So the main key with these Nady's is.. stay clear of the direct path the speakers are pointed in by about 15-20 feet. In fact stay out of the direct firing range of all of your speakers and you'll be in good shape.
Interference - I have seen 3 different sets of these in action. The first set I got, one of the mics has a very consistent whine when turned on. So I only use that one if someone wants a mic for a backup singer. Luckily they have on/off switches so you can flick it off right when they are done. Not all sets will have this and its really only happened with 1 in 3 sets that i've used. I'm sure you can return one and get one that doesnt have this problem.. but for the cost, i didnt feel it was even worth the shipping of sending it back.
So overall, this is a decent low cost wireless microphone set. If you have never owned a mic before and just need them to mess with or the karaoke application that I mentioned, get them. If they dont work out, im sure you can unload them on craigs list for more than you bought em here for. If you need a high quality mike for a band, i suggest you take a look at the Shure SM 58's or Beta 58a's!
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Nady Dual Channel Wireless 2-Microphone System - DKW-DUO HTEach transmitter operates on a separate single frequency in the VHF 170-216MHz band and can be used singly (w/DKW-3 or DKW-Duo receivers) or together simultaneously (DKW-Duo receiver only)
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