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Re: New noisy mic amps!

Subject: Re: New noisy mic amps!
From: "Klas Strandberg" klasstrandberg
Date: Thu Aug 31, 2006 6:12 pm (PDT)
>...snip...
>
>No doubt the pre design could be better even not
>considering the PIP restrictions.  I just don't
>want people  to get the idea that there's the
>"flaw, " in Hi-MD makes it worse than old MD or
>other $<350 recorders. In side by side tests, my
>$115 NH700  the Hi-MD was less noisy than my Sony
>D-7, D-8, My Sharp MT-90,  MT-190 and the M-Audio
>Microtracker.

That makes sense.


>Makes a lot of sense that the Low/High
>sensitivity circuit is involved, but  a number of
>us on the list were shocked in July by tests that
>showed the "Low" gain setting works really well
>at eliminating distortion/overload when louder
>sounds were recorded with with vanilla EMC PIP
>mics.  I had always thought the low setting was
>just a pad.

You are right - it has always been "just a pad". Not always.... Uher, which=

I have sent a few posts about, had the same design - lowering the gain of
the mic amp instead of dampening the input.
With less distortion and more noise....



> >
> >About EM23, external powering and phantom power:
> >I have many times said that the EM23 has a "average" sound quality, simi=
lar
> >to ME62 and other 15-20 mm omnis. (HQ sound quality is MKH, Schoeps etc.=
)
> >
> >But used with plug in power, it could be made much smaller and handier t=
han
> >EM62 etc.
> >That was the whole point with it.
>
>And portability/small mass is a huge factor!
>Personally, I prefer your the response curve of
>your EM-23's to that of Senn 62's and your
>packaging could be smaller.  A separate "body
>pack" design  where the pre is separate from the
>heads, like the MBHO 603's could be very popular.
>A pair of me-62's  are $90USD, so maybe you could
>be competitive.

I have an idea... making "raw" small amps for 9v and then let the customer=

do the job with jacks, battery holder, switches etc. Size? Two lumps of
sugar.. or so..? With a few wires coming out.



> >
> >It is not at all difficult to make a small preamp to EM23, but then you
> >loose the point with it. There will be an extra box, an extra battery to
> >worry about, an extra switch to check and an extra cost.
> >
> >As it looks, you can use it without preamp, but you cannot =AD as before=
 =AD be
> >sure that you use it's low noise performance. It might be destroyed by t=
he
> >recorder's low-sensitive and noisy mic inputs.
> >One doesn't know that, and that is what bothers me.
> >
> >I have thought of testing different HiMD's, but such a test is possibly
> >irrelevant. Sony models sold in the US are not the same models as in Eur=
ope
> >(Asia??) and some Sony diagrams have previously shown different circuitr=
y
> >for US models than for European.
> >And being "on the border" one must even consider individual variations.
> >Remember that resistors and capacitors have a tolerance of +/- 10 to +/-
> >40% !!!
>
>I wasn't aware of this. All I have to go on is
>the NH-700 I tested from Australia. It matches
>the performance of my 2 other Hi-MD's. I've
>shared and compared Hi-MD /NT1-A recordings with
>several people in England and I can't hear
>anything in the noise performance of their
>recordings that isn't totally familiar.
>
> >Again I want to point out that there were TWO different problems involve=
d:
> >First the low plug in power, which I could cope with, using another FET-=
IC.
> >Then- now, 2006 - the low sensitivity + mic input noise. (R-09 is the wo=
rst
> >here.)
>
>I guess I'd have to determine whether its time to
>re-look at the EM-23 and consider loosing the
>PIP powering option or doing only on an as-is
>basis. Dan says it works fine with the older
>Sharps-- so keeping a unit around for those
>recorders is fine. But it seems like each new low
>cost recorder brings too many surprises. Some
>offer 24 bits yet only 34-42 dB of gain. Go
>figure.  Looks like the states of PIP are not
>going to get better or more similar.
>Manufacturer's, even Sony, include a power module
>for their better ECM's.
>
> >I have made the tests similar to other "clock-tick" tests presented here=
.
> >It is an easy and reliable method.
> >"Correct" means that what you shall hear is the mic self noise.
> >"Incorrect" means that you hear the recorder's mic amp noise.
>
>Understood. If you can do another test a mic with
>12<dBA self noise or lower then we can compare it
>to Hi-MD performance too. :-D Rob D

Hmm.. I don't understand...

Klas.


> >
> >I will get back to this topic as soon as I have something to report.
> >
> >Klas.
> >
>
>--
>Rob Danielson
>Peck School of the Arts
>University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
>http://www.uwm.edu/~type/audio-art-tech-gallery/
>
>
>
>"Microphones are not ears,
>Loudspeakers are not birds,
>A listening room is not nature."
>Klas Strandberg
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

Telinga Microphones, Botarbo,
S-748 96 Tobo, Sweden.
Phone & fax int + 295 310 01
email: 
website: www.telinga.com







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