Help choosing measurement and modelling setup

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#23
Hi Jan,

Thanks for the help, but I cannot find that user group based on the terms given. Perhaps it was a German group and hence doesn't show on .co.uk or .com versions of Yahoo.

To be perfectly honest I'd rather not pore over schematics and build a preamp myself, I'd be happy to buy a (cheap) pre-amp with phantom power already provided.

Something like this http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?sku=DP28847 is cheap enough but doesn't offer a psu, cabling or clues of how to use it!

edit: at a guess I think the mic plugs into one socket and the preamp into the other, sound about right?

Simon
 
#25
Oooh.. "Dolphin Music" sells the ECM8000 for £35 inc. tax!

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/2077

Also they sell a Behringer phantom power box for £12. Better than the no-brand product as it offers some explanation of what it is and how to use it! And it even comes with a power supply, bargain!

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/8526

Another few pounds or so for an xlr-xlr lead, and I'm sorted for little over £50 - superb! I'll plug the ECM8000 into this box with the xlr-xlr, the phantom box into my Maplin preamp with the xlr-1/4 jack lead I have, and the preamp into my soundcard. I hope this works lol.
 
#26
janneman said:
Yes that seems OK, and for that price you'd be mad to built yourself. But I can't find any tech details. Probably it runs on an external adapter?

So, you plug the mic into this thing I guess and then from it's output to the mic preamp. Neat, good catch.

Jan Didden

Edit: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/DCX2496/
Click to expand...

Ah, tech.groups.yahoo.com! Not seen that before, thanks. Probably won't be joining it as I don't own that product. I presume then that the ECM8000 is the mic typically used for room response correction in combination with the DCX2496?

Simon
 
#27
SimontY said:


Ah, tech.groups.yahoo.com! Not seen that before, thanks. Probably won't be joining it as I don't own that product. I presume then that the ECM8000 is the mic typically used for room response correction in combination with the DCX2496?

Simon
Click to expand...


Yes. Interestingly, the ECM8000 is also bundled with the DEQX 6 channel DSP & room correction unit, at around 4k$! So that mic must have something going for it!

Jan Didden
 
#32
Re: PS400 Phantom Power

I seems the PS400 power module for the ECM8000 is phantom power only, it is not a preamp. It will therefore connect to the PC soundcard mic input.

An external preamp, with phantom power, would be better as it would use the PC line input, which will often be better quality than the low-level mic input.

I am not saying it won't work. I am myself using a ultra cheap panasonic capsule with a simple passive power from a 9V battery. It works OK with my notebook mic input, but a lower noise floor would have been even better.

SveinB.
 
#33
Re: Re: PS400 Phantom Power

Svein_B said:
I seems the PS400 power module for the ECM8000 is phantom power only, it is not a preamp. It will therefore connect to the PC soundcard mic input.

An external preamp, with phantom power, would be better as it would use the PC line input, which will often be better quality than the low-level mic input.

I am not saying it won't work. I am myself using a ultra cheap panasonic capsule with a simple passive power from a 9V battery. It works OK with my notebook mic input, but a lower noise floor would have been even better.

SveinB.
Click to expand...

Hi SveinB,

Easy to miss, back on the previous page, I said I had this cheap mic. preamp:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=29908&doy=21m3

I assume it will be better than the on-board sound card effort. I will plug the ECM into the PS400 and the PS400 into the Maplin preamp, and the preamp into the soundcard's line-input. Hopefully this will give good results.

Cheers,
Simon
 
#36
juergenk said:
I´m using ATB PC pro.
http://www.kirchner-elektronik.de/produkte2.htm
It is easy to use, comes with a microphone and works with most soundcards.
The mic-input is linearised via a calibration procedure. So there is no need for a seperate mic-preamp.
Regards
Jürgen
Click to expand...

Hi Jürgen,

That looks like a really good deal. But you're a day late as I've ordered ordered a microphone and accessories to make it work!

Thanks for sharing the information though.

Simon
 
#37
Hi guys,

My ECM8000, phantom power box and XLR lead arrived today 😀

This evening I've spent 3 or 4 hours already setting up ARTA / my test gear.

I am proud to announce my first tangible result - the noise and distortion loopback test of my onboard sound card (nForce2). It takes a lovely crocodile clip arrangement to make this possible.

Only 103 pages of the manual left to read now...

Simon
 

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#38
The manual states:

"If you get THD+N lower than 0.1% you have a usable soundcard.
If you get THD+N lower than 0.01% you have a good soundcard."

So at 0.016% mine is usable but not "good" in these parameters. I read elsewhere my sound-card has terrible intermodulation distortion performance though! I hope that doesn't matter too much here. One day I'll buy a nice one 😉

Simon
 
#39
Those are impressive specs for an onboard soundcard. Well within spec for loudspeaker measurements 😉

I use the EMU 0404 USB (for about £150) which I think is brilliant for several reasons. Firstly it has very good specs for the price, all controls are external which makes setting levels trivial for measurements, and you can use it independently without a PC as a preamp/volume control which comes in handy often for me.

The ARTA manual is very good. You'll have acoustic measurements very soon 😉

Having never gone through the torturous learning curve of Speaker Workshop, I fear you will never truly realise how easy and intuituve ARTA is. 😀
 
#40
Vikash said:
Those are impressive specs for an onboard soundcard. Well within spec for loudspeaker measurements 😉

I use the EMU 0404 USB (for about £150) which I think is brilliant for several reasons. Firstly it has very good specs for the price, all controls are external which makes setting levels trivial for measurements, and you can use it independently without a PC as a preamp/volume control which comes in handy often for me.

The ARTA manual is very good. You'll have acoustic measurements very soon 😉

Having never gone through the torturous learning curve of Speaker Workshop, I fear you will never truly realise how easy and intuituve ARTA is. 😀
Click to expand...

lol. Firstly, yes, apparently the nForce2 is perhaps as good as onboard sound gets (maybe surpassed by newer nVidia chipsets). It sounds better than the SBLive Player 1024 I previously used. Something external like you have would be great, and definately a future upgrade for me. I'm just relieved this is ok for measurements.

The ARTA manual is good??? It's had me confused a few times and some of the settings I've worked out to put in the setup boxes I'm really not sure about.... But I am working through it and feeling positive now!

I thought Speaker Workshop would be the easy part :bawling:

Oh well, one step at a time!

Simon
 
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