NEP Australia, the broadcast services division of the global NEP Group, provides facilities for major sports and entertainment productions nationwide. The company says its portfolio includes AFL — the professional Australian rules football league — NRL — the country’s top-tier rugby league competition — netball, international football and studio programs such as “The Chase.” NEP says it has adopted Sennheiser’s Spectera wireless ecosystem to simplify RF planning and support its ongoing shift toward remote-first audio workflows.
Alex Wong, senior supervising audio director at NEP Australia, said the team has faced growing challenges managing limited RF spectrum, especially in dense urban environments. Wong said, “It’s a pretty hostile world out there for frequency management. We need something agile and easy to set up.”
Sennheiser says Spectera combines microphones, IEMs and control data into a single wideband RF channel designed to reduce cabling and simplify system deployment. According to Sennheiser, its WebUI and LinkDesk tools support remote monitoring and help central engineering teams oversee RF performance from off-site locations. Peter Hall, sales manager for Pro Audio at Sennheiser Australia, said NEP’s emphasis on workflow innovation made them a strong early partner for Spectera’s rollout. Hall said, “They had a very clear idea of the bottlenecks they wanted to solve, which meant we could shape the deployment around real broadcast conditions.”
Faster rigging and more consistent performance
Sennheiser says Spectera is already active on NEP-managed productions, including “The Chase,” Fox Footy — a dedicated Australian sports television channel owned by Foxtel — and AFL coverage, with additional trials underway for NRL events. NEP says early tests have shown faster rigging and more consistent performance in tight RF environments.
NEP recently trialed Spectera during the live broadcast of the SBW vs Gallen boxing match at Sydney’s 20,000-seat Qudos Bank Arena. Wong said, “It sounded great, and the talent was very happy.” Wong added that the field crew, who had not used Spectera before, adapted without difficulty. Wong said, “Once the system was up, everyone got across it quickly.”
NEP says it is preparing to extend Spectera into outside broadcast environments, pairing it with Sennheiser’s 6000 Series handhelds and integrating SMPTE 2110 for IP-based audio transport. Annabelle Salomon, audio director at NEP Australia, said the system’s footprint is a quarter of what they’d typically need, and that setup times have fallen from several hours to under 40 minutes. Salomon said, “Its flexibility and ease of use fit the direction our operations are heading.”
Supporting varied productions
NEP says Spectera’s rollout is influencing internal workflows by shifting more control from field A2s to A1s working in centralized production hubs. According to NEP, the system has supported varied productions, including a recent music segment featuring a mariachi ensemble where engineers used older cabling without issue. NEP continues to operate Neumann monitors and Merging’s Anubis interface alongside Spectera, forming part of its current portable workflows.
Wong said the combined setup enables compact and efficient deployment. Wong said, “It’s a very powerful setup that allows us to transport, set up and run the system single-handed.” Wong said NEP sees long-term potential in fully IP-connected and remotely managed audio systems. “If we can stream signals from anywhere to anywhere, we’re not limited by geography anymore. That’s the future.”
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