Want to buy the Behringer ECM8000, have a computer, what else do I need?

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I have a Ratshack SPL meter and want to upgrade to something better. The Behringer ECM8000 is sitting in my PE shopping cart, but I'm not sure what else I need to use it with my computer.

What kind of connector does the mic have, and what cable would I use to plug it into my computer?

Does phantom powered +15v +48v mean it has batteries, or do I need to provide power?

Do I need a preamp? My soundcard is a Hercules GameTheatre XP, which has a mic preampt and volume control knob, but I hear sound card preamps suck in general.

Thanks for any help.

Dan
 
I thought there was more to a behringer ecm8000 than a wand, capsule and connector. I've also seen the aricles and posts about using the Panasonic capsules from digikey, but didn't want this project to end up like most of my other DIY projects (only half finished).

Dan
 
I've been doing more reading but am still pretty confused.

Can I provide phantom power to the ECM8000 using some 9v batteries, a pair of matched resistors, a capacitor, and use the microphone input on my sound card?

Can I use the ECM8000 without phatom power or a preamp, by finding a way to plug it into the microphone input on my sound card?

Is there more to the ECM8000 than a wand, mic capsule and connector? Are there other electronics inside the wand?

Dan
 
Well, I am guessing that owdi wants to upgrade his radio shack spl meter to a better mic, since like... that is what he said :)

More than likely he wants to use the mic to measure speaker performance. As luck would have it, I want to do the same thing, and have the same questions.

Though, let's just assume a pre-amp really is required... what this n00b doesn't understand is... what is special about a mic pre-amp? Why can't I use a "normal" pre-amp, say the Kookaburra or even a t-amp (probably further showing my confusion on amp vs pre-amp...?)
 
It wasn't clear if the original posters attempt was to upgrade or modify the radioshack mic or to switch to PC tests for room acoustics or what.

The answers are there if you know the questions.
Q1) I want to buy a microphone and preamp for a reasonable/ lower price to get going on speaker tests right away using computer software.
A1) Others have used and recommended a Behringer ECM8000 mic with a BEHRINGER UB1202 pre amp. Cost is approx $50 + $80 repectively.

Q2) I would like to DIY a microphone/preamp to save some money but sacrifice my time and effort to eventially be able to use it for speaker testing. This has a fixed gain but can be modified as needed by those with technical understanding of such things.
A2) see Linkwitz link http://www.linkwitzlab.com/sys_test.htm#Mic
and http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/components/pdf/em06_wm61_a_b_dne.pdf
 
Thanks for the answers Infinia.

Jackin' the original post for my own purposes, $130 is crazy talk :) But there are certainly issues around effort vs quality vs savings.

Building your own mic (to me) is an easy choise, since the panasonic capsule gives give results, and is incredibly cheap.

However, the pre-amp is way more complex, the effort is way higher, and the savings is, at least for me, sorta unknown. And there are a ton of schematics which we aren't qualified to evaluate. It's all bad :)

Why is the $80 pre-amp recommended, as opposed to...

this little board for $14: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=320-204

or more realistically, this behringer for $35: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=248-600

or is there a $5 solution around this madness!?: http://www.record-producer.com/learn.cfm?a=3080

And I am still curious what happens if I just hook up a t-amp to the mic, simply cuz it has more general use than a mic pre-amp. I have no doubts this would not work, just curious why not.
 
Sillyboy said:
Thanks for the answers Infinia.
$130 is crazy talk :) But there are certainly issues around effort vs quality vs savings.

Why is the $80 pre-amp recommended, as opposed to...

or more realistically, this behringer for $35: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=248-600

or is there a $5 solution around this madness!?: http://www.record-producer.com/learn.cfm?a=3080



Why is 130 too much? I've seen many people spending that amount on a single driver or even a pair of crossovers. Sometimes as with any tools, if you cheap out in the beginning you eventually have to pay more to get back on track at the end.
Please note that some of the other Behringer mixers do not have phantom power.
Now if you are determined to DIY the mic, Then I suggest you read and reread the text on the Linkwitz site. If you are still intimidated with the simplest, most cost effective, and with quite good performance solution given on the Linkwitz site, then you should rethink DIY.

An even better solution for a preamp using the $5 secret part is used on a Rane MS1 preamp. schematic provided is also food for thought. http://www.rane.com/pdf/ms1bsch.pdf
 
infinia said:
Why is 130 too much? I've seen many people spending that amount on a single driver or even a pair of crossovers.

The question is idiotic and the analogy is almost as bad. It's like saying "Why is $100k for a ferrari too much? I have seen people spend that much on a garage to put it in".

The question shouldn't be "why is 130 too much", it should be "why is 20 (or whatever) too little".

infinia said:
Please note that some of the other Behringer mixers do not have phantom power.

Ok, that makes sense. Though, it looks like the UB802 does have phantom power at $50 http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=248-602, saving $30. Any reason that would not work out?

infinia said:
Now if you are determined to DIY the mic, Then I suggest you read and reread the text on the Linkwitz site. If you are still intimidated with the simplest, most cost effective, and with quite good performance solution given on the Linkwitz site, then you should rethink DIY.

You are (rather strongly) making the point that the panasonic mic will perform better w/ slight modification. Agreed. That seems worth doing to me, especially since you can buy 10 of them for less than $20 and screw up several before you get it right. :) Though, I do kinda wonder if the mic w/o the modification would be "good enough" for basic crossover design, so long as you are careful not to do measurements against too many SPL...

infinia said:
An even better solution for a preamp using the $5 secret part is used on a Rane MS1 preamp. schematic provided is also food for thought. http://www.rane.com/pdf/ms1bsch.pdf

This is where things get tough for the n00bs again :)

I read that as "the $5 solution would work fine, but you can do better, if you are willing to build a very complicated circuit". Well then... for my needs, I would go w/ the cheap solution :)

In reality, however, I am skeptical of the $5 solution. It needs like eight 9v batterys (how do I know how much phantom power the mic needs?) at a buck a piece... which are going to die and make me sad. So I am not sure I would actually bother trying it (though... it might be a reasonable entry for me into the scary world of circuits...)

For my tastes... it seems worth it to diy the mic... since you can spend a reasonable amount less than $50 and can expect very good results. For the pre-amp on the other hand... while I suspect I could get good results for less than the cost of the behringer, it's so much more confusing (and certainly rather time consuming) that just shelling out for the behringer is probably the way to go (though I am happier at that $50 price point, than the $80).
 
Though, I do kinda wonder if the mic w/o the modification would be "good enough" for basic crossover design, so long as you are careful not to do measurements against too many SPL...
You don't need to modify anything. You should be more concerned with whether you'll settle for a standard or custom calibration file to go with the electret.

8 9v batteries. lol

Just do it already ;)
 
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