Paul,
I'm thrilled to hear of your success and your pleasure in it... A
great accomplishment rewarded with satisfaction is always a joy... I've
been blessed to have a career in oceanographic equipment design &
engineering and have been rewarded more than my share of times with that
joy...
Congratulations...
Mitch...
On 5/8/2012 12:52 AM, Paul Willison wrote:
> Thanks Mitch.
> I just wanted to say, You all have been a tremendous help in this. I end=
ed up finishing the first pair tonight, and the only thing I'll now change =
on further versions is the epoxy to the back of the capsule trick. In my =
design, the capsules are set in rubber grommets with an inside diameter hol=
e slightly smaller then the capsule, but just the perfect size for a tight,=
waterproof seal. These in turn fit perfectly for a waterproof seal insi=
de 3" long 3/4" to 1/2" hose connectors(for bathroom plumbing). These con=
nectors are a heavy dark grey PVC, and actually make a more then decent loo=
king mic housing. They are narrow at the rear, and flare out at the front.=
The mic cable in turn is running through the hose connector, and then th=
rough a smaller rubber grommet I found that fit the back exit just as perfe=
ctly, and has a small diameter center hole that forms a tight water proof s=
eal around the mic cable. The grommets were tight enough
> that no glue of any kind is needed on the front once the mic capsule is=
pushed into place(expanding the grommet somewhat and acting as a locking d=
evice) and at the rear, I did fill the area just behind the rubber grommet =
with a half inch or so of fast dry silicone rubber cement. On the cable s=
ection in between the front and back, I placed two rings of closed cell foa=
m, cut to shape with center holes for the cable. This was simply to positi=
on the cable so it did not hit the inside of the housing, as well as add a=
small amount of handling noise dampening. All in all, a very simple desig=
n. After allowing the silicone to set up enough to be able to handle, I tr=
ied them out tonight. I have to say, I'm very happy with the results! I =
tested them on both an Olympus LS-7 and an LS-10. Using an Olympus LS-10,=
they are FAR better, both in noise floor and gain, then the built in mics.=
The difference was amazingly apparent. I tested them both
> outside(suburban environment) and in my apt. buildings hallway. The t=
hing about the hallway is that my Apt building has excellent noise proofing=
in all walls, and that hallway is a virtual quiet room. Once both the m=
ain building doors are close, and the secondary fire doors closed, you cann=
ot hear anything from either outside, or any of the apts. With the mics, =
I only started hearing any hiss/noise at 3/4 gain on mic high. At no point=
on mic. low did I hear any noise at all...amazing. Better yet, even on =
mic. low, I was able to hear sounds from outside...something again you just=
cannot do normally. With mic high, I may as well have been outside. Th=
e gain..I've experienced before to a degree...but the lack of noise is so n=
ice, these being my first even decent set of mics!
> I should add that on the LS-7, the advantages over the built in mics are =
noticeably less, but still there. In those, the main advantage seems to be=
a bit of additional gain. I was surprised given it's lower price(then the=
LS-10) but the internal mic's/preamps on the LS-7 are apparently much bett=
er then on the 10. The flip side is that if pressed, I'd say there was a =
slight advantage to the external preamps on the LS-10, and this backs up wh=
at is seen on the chart at Avisoft. Both recorders sounded very good with=
these though, and now I can't wait to get the remaining set built, and try=
them on other recorders I have. I'm really looking forward to seeing how=
they sound on the Sony HI-MD I have, as that already makes a very average =
set of mic's sound decent, so these should be really good(and yes...I know=
I need a battery box for that!).
> Sorry for the run-on, but I was just very happy with the final results!
>
>
--
--
Mitch Hill
(Sent from HP DV6T)
"While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause.
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