Steps to ordering in-ear monitors?

DrummerBoy95

Senior Member
Hi guys,

I know you've seen this title about a thousand times, but this time it's not about "what in ear monitors should I buy?": in fact, I've decided after quite a bit of thinking to go for the Ultimate Ears custom UE 5's.

[ Just a short explanation why: you can skip it, nothing important here.
I've used the Shure SE215 for a while, but they had a speaker problem which couldn't be repaired: I then said, well fine, I'll upgrade, and got the SE315: same bad luck. After 5 days, the left earphone's sound dies out. I've been told many times that it's just bad luck, but honestly I've decided to give up for now on Shure, and I've been told that the UEs are great earphones: I've used the universal fit line since my bad experience with the Shures up to this day. ]

So, straight to the point: what are the steps to ordering these custom molded earphones? The issue is that I live in Peru, and that UE don't ship here, and there is no retailer to be seen.However, I have friends living in the USA who will soon come here to visit, so they could bring them down here.

So firstly, do I have to buy them online? Then send my ear impression? Or the opposite? Or do I have to contact them first, informing them of the circumstances? It is quite confusing, and I was wondering if those of you who have already ordered custom in ears (not only UEs, I'm pretty sure it's the same steps for all brands) could help me figure out where to start.

Thanks a lot!
 
First thing I'd do is contact an audiologist and see how they do things, they may be able to send your molds to UE or they may have a recommendation for something that they feel works as good if not better than the UE's. After all hearing is their gig ;-)
 
The fist thing to do is have an audiologist take the impression. Tell him what the impression is for as it will make a difference. I think UE has a tutorial on their website to walk you through the steps. You can order the monitors whenever you like but they will obviously not start the build until they recieve the impressions. I have the UE5's as well and they're fantastic. I also have the UE11's which are are unbelievably sonically accurate. UE just happens to be a few miles from my house they did my impressions. They will also hold your impressions on file in case you decide to upgrade or replace. I would just give your mailing address as your friends and have them shipped there. You can also email them with your concerns as there support is awesome. Good luck.
 
Wow, that is bad luck with the Shures, I have 2 sets of them, one set is about 4 years old and the other set is over 10 and both work great and I use them for everything not just for playing. Also if the molded ones are what your looking for instead of paying big bucks to get custom molded impressions done there are a couple different companies that sell do it yourself custom ear plugs and you just tape the hole in the ear bud and after everything is dry you remove the bud, cut the hole thru the molded insert, remove the tape from the end of the bud and re install it in your good to go.

http://www.safetygearonline.com/custom-molded-ear-plugs
 
Last edited:
First thing I'd do is contact an audiologist and see how they do things, they may be able to send your molds to UE or they may have a recommendation for something that they feel works as good if not better than the UE's. After all hearing is their gig ;-)

Haha yes! Thanks for the advice, will do :)

The fist thing to do is have an audiologist take the impression. Tell him what the impression is for as it will make a difference. I think UE has a tutorial on their website to walk you through the steps. You can order the monitors whenever you like but they will obviously not start the build until they recieve the impressions. I have the UE5's as well and they're fantastic. I also have the UE11's which are are unbelievably sonically accurate. UE just happens to be a few miles from my house they did my impressions. They will also hold your impressions on file in case you decide to upgrade or replace. I would just give your mailing address as your friends and have them shipped there. You can also email them with your concerns as there support is awesome. Good luck.

Thanks for the comment! Really helpful, I will get my ear impression soon. :) so if I understand correctly, I first order them via the website, place my order and all of that, and what will happen? Will they send me a confirmation e-mail, telling me it is alright to send my impressions now? Or can I just send them as soon as I place my order?


Wow, that is bad luck with the Shures, I have 2 sets of them, one set is about 4 years old and the other set is over 10 and both work great and I use them for everything not just for playing.

I guess it is bad luck. A shame because they did work quite well (for the time they did work). I was quite surprised with them breaking, because I also have used most of their other gigging stuff (microphones, wireless transmitter for IEM) and they are just great. Glad to hear yours are alright, I hope my case is just bad luck. :)
 
save yourself 200 bux and check out JH Audio's JH-5. Same goodies as UE, but 200 bux less. UEs were originally designed by Jerry Harvey (the JH of JH Audio) and started his own company a few years back. I have a set of JH16s that take audio to a new level - you simply cannot go wrong with the JH5s.


F
 
save yourself 200 bux and check out JH Audio's JH-5. Same goodies as UE, but 200 bux less. UEs were originally designed by Jerry Harvey (the JH of JH Audio) and started his own company a few years back. I have a set of JH16s that take audio to a new level - you simply cannot go wrong with the JH5s.


F

Thank you for the advice, but I think you have missed the point: my main concern at this point is establishing an order of steps to be carried out to order any in ear monitors. As I said earlier, the procedure is unlikely to vary between brands, or will vary very slightly, so I was asking for advice on a broader sense as to what steps you would recommend taking in order to order these custom earphones from outside the USA, or for those of you having experience in ordering custom IEM within the USA itself, because I have very little knowledge about it. :)
 

"Select your IEM (don't forget to add that bad-ass picture of a unicorn to your faceplate)."
Haha, absolutely priceless!
Thank you very much, now I am definitely considering the JHs :) it'll be tough, but if I can get better IEM for the same price, I guess I might go for the JHs. How well do they compare? Have you had the opportunity to try both?
Thanks again for the link :)
 
"Select your IEM (don't forget to add that bad-ass picture of a unicorn to your faceplate)."
Haha, absolutely priceless!
Thank you very much, now I am definitely considering the JHs :) it'll be tough, but if I can get better IEM for the same price, I guess I might go for the JHs. How well do they compare? Have you had the opportunity to try both?
Thanks again for the link :)



How do they compare? Considering they were both invented by the same man - and knowing he wants to beat up on UE, Id suggest the JHs will give you more bang for the buck - and for 200 dollars less, youd be silly to even consider UE. When I did my homework for my IEMs, JH was a no-brainer. It is still a privately held company - you can talk to his daughter and wife and get great answers to all your questions. Its a small company that does one thing, and it is the best at it. Save your money - buy from the guy that invented IEMs.

F
 
How do they compare? Considering they were both invented by the same man - and knowing he wants to beat up on UE, Id suggest the JHs will give you more bang for the buck - and for 200 dollars less, youd be silly to even consider UE. When I did my homework for my IEMs, JH was a no-brainer. It is still a privately held company - you can talk to his daughter and wife and get great answers to all your questions. Its a small company that does one thing, and it is the best at it. Save your money - buy from the guy that invented IEMs.

F

Yes, I've just browsed around the website and it seems really neat. I'd probably go for the JH 7 that cost 100$ more than the UE 5 but seem quite a bit better. I'll send them an e-mail tomorrow: I've already sent 3 e-mails to UE in the past 6 months but have gotten no answers... Thanks for the suggestion!
 
Well, I've exchanged a few e-mails already with the people at JH Audio and they seem really nice. I think I''ll stick with either the JH 5 or the JH 7... probably the JH 5 though, because it's going to cost quite a bit to get ear impressions, send them to the USA and all the rest :-( on the other hand, I've read about sealing problems and wrong color and art work on the JH 5s... not sure what to do at them moment.
 
I have had a pair of JH7's for over 6 months now and they work great. The fit was very good - no sealing problems here. In-ear monitors take a little while to get used to, (at least for me), due to the isolation they provide and the slight "pressure" you may feel in your ears. However, after several weeks they feel natural and work well. As you won't have much if any ambient noise bleeding through it is even more essential that your in-ear monitor mix is right on the mark both in terms of mix and volume.
 
I have had a pair of JH7's for over 6 months now and they work great. The fit was very good - no sealing problems here. In-ear monitors take a little while to get used to, (at least for me), due to the isolation they provide and the slight "pressure" you may feel in your ears. However, after several weeks they feel natural and work well. As you won't have much if any ambient noise bleeding through it is even more essential that your in-ear monitor mix is right on the mark both in terms of mix and volume.

Thanks for the reply! Still unsure whether to go for the JH7s or to stick with the JH5s... :-( if I stick with the JH5s, I could invest in a wireless system to play live, but I've really heard great things about the JH 7s... difficult choice to make
 
Another question... if I were to get my ear impressions and send them this week via DHL to the USA, do you think that the guys at JH could get my IEMs shipped to the shipping address in the USA by the 1st of August? Because that's the date when my uncle is coming to visit :-(

That's really a question for JH, only they know their in house production and shipping times and it depends on how long it takes to get for your impressions to them.
 
Back
Top