At 8:54 AM -0600 4/4/06, Bruce Wilson wrote:
>Since I've been posting preamps specs in dBu, I might as well post some mic
>specs in the same units, for comparison.
>
>All values are noise floor in dBu, sensitivity in dBu, maxSPL in dBu.
>Noise floor: the lower the better, if this is
7-10 dB?
> higher than your preamp EIN,
>your mic will add more noise than the preamp, which is typical.
>Sensitivity: doesn't really matter if your recorder has gains above 60 dB,
>otherwise the higher the better.
Perhaps in a lot of situations, but for ambience in quiet locations,
sensitivity can translate into more effective voltage and more bit
depth. I can easily tell the difference in sound file saturation
between a mic with 25mv/Pa and another with 19 mv/Pa sensitivity at
all (matched) gain settings.
>MaxSPL: Should be lower than your preamp max input level.
>
>Sennheiser MKH (no MaxSPL reported in specs):
>30: -110, -29, ?
>40: -110, -29, ?
>50: -112, -29, ?
>60: -112, -26, ?
>70: -112, -24, ?
>80: -110, -26, ?
>800: -110, -26, ?
Interesting. With the Rane Notes 148 Table 3 in hand, the dBA numbers
are for me easier to use. 3 dBu difference in sensitivity is pretty
significant. The Mkh40 with -26 dBu sensitivity and the MKH-80 with
-29 dBu produce very different saturations. Rob D.
>
>Rode:
>NT1-A: -118, -29, +13
Sennheiser provides sensitivity for the mkh-40 at 25 mv/Pa as does
Rode for the NT1-A. Why are their sensitivities stated in dBu -26 vs
-29? Different weighting? I know a good part of the NT1A's output is
below 30Hz if this helps.
>NT2000: -121, -34, +19
>NT4: -114, -36, +13
These numbers for the NT4 seem inconsistent.
With the attenuation removed from the Rode supplied 3.5mm-> cable
>NT5: -114, -36, +13
>
>Cascade (a typical cheap condenser):
>XT1: -108, -32, +8
>
>Let me know if you want any other mics spec'd this way.
>
>
>Bruce Wilson KF7K
>http://science.uvsc.edu/wilson
>
>
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