Whirlwind Micmute PPD Latching Switch-On/Switch-Off Audio Switch (Desktop)

Comments about Whirlwind Micmute PPD Latching Switch-On/Switch-Off Audio Switch (Desktop):

These boxes seem expensive, UNTIL

a) You compare them to the opposition and

b) You actually use them.

I've used many similar products over my forty-odd years as a (mostly live) Sound Supervisor/Audio Director.

Most need to be fed batteries and are nowhere near as rugged.

Given the pressures that attend live announcing, I also feel that those which "feature" the option of radical changes to control functions via dip-switches invite catastrophic contributions from unseen fingers.

Whirlwind's "one bulletproof box, one function" philosophy sits really well with me.

Sadly, they'd probably refuse to design one large enough to accommodate the in-laws...

...Still, there's no harm in dreaming...

The PPD's brilliant blue "on air" LED doesn't require batteries when phantom powered mics are involved, yet the fact that dynamic mics prevent its illumination is (equally brilliantly) mitigated by the rocker switch's "survival red" indicator. This creates confidence as well as being (literally) foolproof.

You'll have noticed that I've reported them to be not TOTALLY free of "clicks".

This is due to Whirlwind's technique of switching "off" by shorting both "legs" of the mic output, being pins 2 & 3. They do this to guarantee the maximum absence of noise from a line that's wending its way back to an "open" mic input.

To my mind, these slight switching clicks from the MicMute boxes only makes them unsuitable for the quietest of situations, such as (for example) a late night talk show, or when the mic in question is for hosting the broadcast of a fine music program, ...situations that are almost invariably operated from a console anyway.

I can, however, unequivocally attest that (when it comes to providing P.A. systems for live events) I've found them to be the simplest, most rugged and most dependable method of protecting announcers from attacks of the dreaded "foot in mouth" disease.

Comments about Whirlwind Micmute PPD Latching Switch-On/Switch-Off Audio Switch (Desktop):

These boxes seem expensive, UNTIL

a) You compare them to the opposition and

b) You actually use them.

I've used many similar products over my forty-odd years as a (mostly live) Sound Supervisor/Audio Director.

Most need to be fed batteries and are nowhere near as rugged.

Given the pressures that attend live announcing, I also feel that those which "feature" the option of radical changes to control functions via dip-switches invite catastrophic contributions from unseen fingers.

Whirlwind's "one bulletproof box, one function" philosophy sits really well with me.

Sadly, they'd probably refuse to design one large enough to accommodate the in-laws...

...Still, there's no harm in dreaming...

The PPD's brilliant blue "on air" LED doesn't require batteries when phantom powered mics are involved, yet the fact that dynamic mics prevent its illumination is (equally brilliantly) mitigated by the rocker switch's "survival red" indicator. This creates confidence as well as being (literally) foolproof.

You'll have noticed that I've reported them to be not TOTALLY free of "clicks".

This is due to Whirlwind's technique of switching "off" by shorting both "legs" of the mic output, being pins 2 & 3. They do this to guarantee the maximum absence of noise from a line that's wending its way back to an "open" mic input.

To my mind, these slight switching clicks from the MicMute boxes only makes them unsuitable for the quietest of situations, such as (for example) a late night talk show, or when the mic in question is for hosting the broadcast of a fine music program, ...situations that are almost invariably operated from a console anyway.

I can, however, unequivocally attest that (when it comes to providing P.A. systems for live events) I've found them to be the simplest, most rugged and most dependable method of protecting announcers from attacks of the dreaded "foot in mouth" disease.