We received a phone call the other day and the customer had an issue with their Audio Technica 3000 Series Wireless Microphone System. A very common occurrence is that someone will damage a body-pack during a performance or event. This customer happened to have an older version of the Audio-Technica 3000 series wireless system (Generation 1-3).  This version has recently been discontinued and replaced with the new 4^th generation Audio-Technica 3000 wireless series. If you purchased the AT 3000 series in the last year (January 2019 or later) you will probably have the new 4^th generation wireless.  Anything that is over a year old (January 2019) will be the older AT 3000 series wireless.  There are some important changes that will effect how you buy replacement parts for your existing older system now that it has been discontinued and replaced with the 4th generation.  Let's review so your experience buying replacement parts is as easy as possible!

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OLD (GEN 1-3) AND NEW (GEN 4) AT 3000 WIRELESS SYSTEMS:

There are a couple of things to be aware of when you are going to buy replacement parts for the old AT 3000 wireless. You can buy a new 4th Gen body-pack or handheld and they will work with the older receivers for the AT 3000 series. The signal and audio will work as normal. However, on the receiver you will lose the battery strength icon and the signal strength indicator for audio. You will see the frequency strength but lose those other two functions. This does NOT cause any operational issues, but you may notice this change on the indicators on the receiver. 

You should also be aware there is a new connector (CH) where the mics connect to the body-packs. The older series has a CW type connector with the familiar AT mini 4-pin connector. The new 4^th Gen has a CH style connector which is a screw-type connector for better connectivity. Luckily, AT came up with an adapter cable that will allow the two different types of connectors to work together. This new connector is called the Audio-Technica AT-cWcH adaptor cable. If you are buying a new beltpack to use with an old microphone, you will need to purchase the adapter cable.

One last thing to be aware of when ordering new transmitters is different Band types.

C-Band is 530-590MHz and I-Band is 470-530MHz. If you are buying just a beltpack or handheld microphone to match an existing receiver, your frequencies MUST match. In addition, if you have frequencies in the 600MHz range, you have a D-Band series which has been made illegal by the FCC and needs to be replaced all together. The FCC is now using this band width for emergency broadcasting and cell phone connections. Please contact us and we may be able to help you get a rebate when purchasing a new Audio-Technica wireless microphone system. The AT rebates will end at some time, but the rebates will last for a little bit longer (rebates for Shure, EV and Sennheiser have already ended).

When ordering wireless microphone systems and/or parts, please refer to the different

models below and match the appropriate series transmitter to the receiver you have onsite. Thank you and stay tuned for more…(more updates coming July 2019!!).