Dear fellow audiophiles,

I'm looking for the opposite of a 10db pad for my unidirectional ECM-66B
lavalier mike. Its output turns out to be quite a bit lower than is ideal
for the Edirol R-1 recorder's mic input, averaging about 10db lower than is
ideal for good SN/R, even with the R-1's input volume set to maximum!

Don't know whether such an animal exists, but I figured this would be a
good place to ask. If a really tiny very portable 10db gain doohinky thingy
doesn't even exist, I'd be open to other suggested solutions. Thanks much.

Cheers,

Charles

In article ,
"Charles H. Riggs, III" wrote:
I'm looking for the opposite of a 10db pad for my unidirectional
ECM-66B lavalier mike. Its output turns out to be quite a bit lower
than is ideal for the Edirol R-1 recorder's mic input, averaging about
10db lower than is ideal for good SN/R, even with the R-1's input volume
set to maximum!

Don't know whether such an animal exists, but I figured this would
be a good place to ask. If a really tiny very portable 10db gain
doohinky thingy doesn't even exist, I'd be open to other suggested
solutions. Thanks much.

An ECM 66 is a DIN output standard mic, so it's unlikely it's the problem.
Although I don't know your recorder. How is it connected to it?

--
*If at first you don't succeed, avoid skydiving.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Has this lavalier possibly got an ancient 30 or 50 Ohm coil? This could
explain its comparatively low o/p. Don't go and measure it on an analogue
multimeter. If yes, you'll need a step-up, approx 1:3 xformer.

In article ,
Jim Gregory wrote:
Has this lavalier possibly got an ancient 30 or 50 Ohm coil? This could
explain its comparatively low o/p. Don't go and measure it on an
analogue multimeter. If yes, you'll need a step-up, approx 1:3 xformer.

Sony were the originator of the small high quality personal mic - the
ECM 50. Dunno what ECM actually stands for, but rumour was electret
condenser mic. And I dunno again if they ever made a moving coil personal
- it doesn't make sense these days given how cheap an electret is.

--
*Money isn't everything, but it sure keeps the kids in touch.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Jim Gregory wrote:
Has this lavalier possibly got an ancient 30 or 50 Ohm coil? This
could explain its comparatively low o/p. Don't go and measure it on
an analogue multimeter. If yes, you'll need a step-up, approx 1:3
xformer.

Sony were the originator of the small high quality personal mic - the
ECM 50. Dunno what ECM actually stands for, but rumour was electret
condenser mic. And I dunno again if they ever made a moving coil
personal - it doesn't make sense these days given how cheap an
electret is.

Mental note - get replacement MCE2 for the one I broke last week...


--
We are the keepers of the sacred words: Ni, Pang,
and Ni-wom!

Dave and Tim,
Didn't realise it was a Sony tieclip dooberry he was complaining about. As
it's an electret it should give stacks more level than your ordinary 200 Ohm
moving coil, assuming the polarising voltage is there.

Chas, must be it's connected up wrongly.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
An ECM 66 is a DIN output standard mic, so it's unlikely it's the problem.
Although I don't know your recorder. How is it connected to it?

The ECM 66B has a male XLR connector (you probably knew that!). I'm using a
Shure transformer to convert to a male mini stereophone plug to accomodate
the R-1's mic input.

Cheers,

Charles

P.S. By the way, I gave the ECM66B a healthy knock against a cardboard box
within minutes of bringing the brand new mike home with me. Could that have
damaged it and affected its output level?

Chas,
Ah, a xformer! If it is not a 1:1 ratio (used merely for isolation), I hope
the *low* side of the given ratio of your device is used at the *mic* end
(ergo it steps up into channel i/p). So if it's about 1:3.2, can we rename
it a 10dB Dab?
But using this interface seems drastic and unnecessary.
Is the mic cell at adequate voltage and where is it located? Is battery
switchable off/on?
At the other end, I imagine the mini jackplug should be mono if your R-1
recorder has Mono pannable inputs, or dual mono (stereo plug with tip & ring
in parallel), if your recorder has Stereo inputs.
The knock's result remains to be seen or heard, or not.
Jim

In article ,
Jim Gregory wrote:
Ah, a xformer! If it is not a 1:1 ratio (used merely for isolation), I
hope the *low* side of the given ratio of your device is used at the
*mic* end (ergo it steps up into channel i/p). So if it's about 1:3.2,
can we rename it a 10dB Dab?

If it is a transformer, I'd guess it's for matching a high impedance
dynamic mic (Shure make these) to a low impedance input.

Or, indeed, the other way round.

Something like 7:1.

--
*Remember not to forget that which you do not need to know.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
"Charles H. Riggs, III" wrote:
An ECM 66 is a DIN output standard mic, so it's unlikely it's the
problem. Although I don't know your recorder. How is it connected to
it?

The ECM 66B has a male XLR connector (you probably knew that!). I'm
using a Shure transformer to convert to a male mini stereophone plug to
accomodate the R-1's mic input.

Ah. Wonder if this transformer is high impedance mic to low impedance
input matcher?

If so, this accounts for the level loss as the mic is a low impedance one.

You need a simple XLR to jack adaptor, not transformer.

P.S. By the way, I gave the ECM66B a healthy knock against a cardboard
box within minutes of bringing the brand new mike home with me. Could
that have damaged it and affected its output level?

They tend to get a fair bit of abuse in my hands and survive. ;-)

With this type of mic, the cable is usually the first thing to go.

--
*A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.