"Ian Molton" wrote in message


On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 19:09:28 +0100
Chris Morriss wrote:

Now I've had to buy my own mic, I use a MUCH cheaper Behringer
ECM8000.

The price is right...

The response is good,

I taped one to the side of a DPA 4006, aligned the fronts and measured the
frequency response of a speaker. The two response curves sat on top of each
other from about 50 to 15 KHz. The ECM 8000 has -3 dB points around 40 Hz
and 20 KHz. Above 10 KHz neither the 4006 nor the 8000 are perfectly flat,
and they're unflat a bit differently.

I also did some distortion measurement comparisons and they were too much
the same to talk about.

but being an electret it is rather noisy.

People say that but other people (like me) use them for recording and get
good results.

One thing for sure - the 8000 puts out a good strong output signal. Stronger
than most. Pop one onto a cable that had a live SM57 on it and you'll have
feedback, for sure.

In general, the quietest mics in the world aren't electrets but there are
lots of conventional condensers that are as noisy or noisier than the best
electrets.

IME the 8000's reputation for being noisy is at least partially based on the
fact that it does have a lot of output and it is a lot more omnidirectional,
especially above 10 KHz, than just about any other mic that most people have
real world experience with.

Easily good enough for LS measurements though.

One well-known guy who uses the ECM-8000 for development is Ken Kantor of
NHT fame.

Ok, so given that, the next question is:

How do I fudge a 'phantom powered' XLR mic into the mic in on my PC ?

Bag the mic input on the PC and get a cheap Behringer mixer with a
phantom-powered mic input or a cheap mic preamp like the Rolls MP13.