[Ivan1892]

Hello, I am currently looking for custom molds and Have several questions to ask.
 
I play at different churches and 7/10 times I use Aviom systems. I play electric guitar and need to hear myself!
My current IEMs are UE TripleFi10s. I love them but I am getting very tired of buying foams every 3-4months(3pack).
 
Here are my questions. 
Since I own triples I don't know whether it would be down-grading to buy duals. Will it?
What would give my the best clarity for electric guitar?
With that said... My budget is around $700. (Not including impressions. I can get those for free.)
 
All the friends that I know in the church music scene are giving me their opinions and I hear doubles are better than triples for guitar players and vise versa... It's annoying. This is coming from friends who own Fidelity duals to UE16's and everywhere else in the middle... 
 
I'd like some advice from someone other than my unhelpful friends....
 
Builders of interest are UE, JH, Fidelity or whatever you think would be better. Or cheaper!
 
Thanks in advance

 

[JackKontney]

Sound quality is only marginally related to the number of drivers. Adding drivers really just provides more headroom; their effect on SQ is dependent on their deployment (positioning, crossovers, model of driver, etc etc).
 
I urge you to look at Sensaphonics, which designs its products specifically for musicians. The 2X-S model runs $750, just slightly above your listed price range. While you may have trouble differentiating between all the acrylic shell designs on the market, Sensaphonics IEMs have soft-gel silicone earpieces, which provide better fit and comfort, superior seal and isolation. And awesome, reference-style audio in a dual driver design.
 
Best of luck in your search.

 

[average_joe]

Welcome Ivan!  I agree that there is a lot of mis-information in the world of custom IEMs and that since people usually only try one or two they usually like them or don't, and when they like them what they have is the best.  If you ask you friends why they selected what they did and what their upgrade path has been you may be able to get better answers.  
 

As Jack said, the number of drivers doesn't always correlate to better sound, especially for your guitar portion of the mix and I would bet a well designed dual could perform better than the TF10.  I also reviewed a reshelled TF10 in my thread and that would be the lowest cost option as Fisher Hearing can reshell for $90 plus the cost of impressions (and shipping).
 
I have reviewed several custom IEM and you can see my summary reviews here, but most are not in your price range.  Depending on how long you are willing to wait I will also be reviewing an Alclair triple driver and the Livewire Trips in addition to my i9pro and DRM Earz (will be changing to Dream Earz) aud-5X (5 driver 4-way system).  The aud-5X is $565 and new product (so new it is not on the DRM Earz site yet) that was recently developed and offers a good balance and is a great fit for musicians, which is who the monitors are primarily sold to.  Contact them if you want to check this out.  Of course there are plenty of options in your price range from JH Audio, Westone, UE, 1964 Ears among others, but I have not heard their custom IEMs within the price range and some others such as Sensaphonics and Future Sonics that cost more.
 
As far as silicone vs. acrylic, there is a difference in isolation however it isn't huge in my experience and for a Church environment I am not sure how much of an advantage silicone will truly offer, but it will greatly reduce your options.  However, the more isolation you do have the more you will be able to keep the volume down and possibly help with long term hearing loss  The 5X uses a silicone back fill of the canal portion for added isolation, but I haven't tested vs. my two silicone shelled custom IEMs.

 

[kryten123]

Hi Ivan,
 
I would recommend a British company called ACS - http://www.acscustom.com (they do have a US presence now)
They make single, double and triple BA monitors in medical grade silicon. Their customer service is excellent and I would suggest you drop them an email explaining what you need from a custom, and I am sure they can help you choose the right model for you.
I have owned a lot of earphones, headphones over the years and the T1s are the best I have ever heard...so much so, that I bought a 2nd pair incase my 1st pair break or need warranty work.
 

 

[Ivan1892]

Thanks for the replies! It really helps a lot. Right now I'm debating whether or not to reshell my TF10s or just to drop the money on something new. 
I think i'm going to wait and just soak up some knowledge from this site. I will be email a couple companies as well. 
1964 and DRM ears are looking pretty good in my price range

 

[ZARIM]

I will highely recommend to buy used JH13Pro from here (F/S forum) and reshell them. They are superb and sound like fullsize headphones with amazing clarity n punch for electric guitars.