Full Range Measurements with REW - What Equipment?

[Drizt]

Hi Guys,

I have had a little play around with REW using my radio shack SPL meter buts its pretty apparent that its not really up to the task for full range measurements.

I did a quick search for "Full Range" etc, but didn't quite find what I was after. Can you guys please tell me what equipment is necessary to make accurate full range measurements. I assume a mic pre-amp and mic would be required, but what are the ones to look at for accuracy (with price a constraint)?

I have had a mate recommend the following,

Rolls Mini-Mic Preamp, Legend Instrument Condenser Mic........with cables around $300 or less.

What do you guys think of the above suggestion?

Can you make some other suggestions for me?

Regards

Drizt

[terry j]

Hi Drizt

you'll need a mic obviously, and about the cheapest is the behringer ecm 8000, around $100 here in Australia, prob less if shop around. Use the generic cal file off the shack.

Then you will need to get those measurements into the computer, so some sort of mixer with phantom power is reqd. I use the behringer xenyx 802, about $110 but shop around. With Behringer gear they usually give you a discount straight away!

mic leads, not expensive say $20 a pop, and even a mic stand from any old music store, say $50.

Still use the R/S meter to set the sound level (I don't usualy bother with it, as long as I have a good signal I just tell it it is 75 db and off I go).

Off hand can't think of anything else, good to see another aussie, hope they keep coming ha ha.

see ya

[Drizt]

Thanks very much Terry J, good to see a familiar face around

Just curious, how is the behringer gear regarded in terms of accuracy?

[terry j]

Ultimately I suppose it is not as accurate as some (most?) but then again, it all depends on what level of accuracy you need.

It is certainly more accurate than the R/S meter (isn't it?? ha ha) and gets the job done.

If you are using it to get an idea of what you mains are like FR wise (else you wouldn't need full range measurements) who cares if it is one or two db out here and there, as you won't be doing anything to change it anyway!

If you use it from your seat then it matters even less that it might be out a bit, and a mic costing ten times as much will not give you any more information in that situation anyway.

Drizt, I can see you are new here and so probably don't know the procedure and what happens next.

What happens next is that someone comes along and corrects everything I just said ha ha, because as you will find there are a lot of very knowledgable people here and they are very helpful too! (well maybe not on this post, as it is pretty straight forward.) Browse around, there is a lot to be learnt here.

[Drizt]

Thanks Terry J.

If I find that my tweeter is running hot then I can make a change to rectify it

[alan monro]

Drizt wrote:

Thanks Terry J.

If I find that my tweeter is running hot then I can make a change to rectify it

YES,.Give your bird tons of water and shift the cage to the cool outside Seriously , How do you know if your tweeter is running to hot?? . Have you felt it and it appears hot ? . I can imagine if one overdrives a speaker it may get warm before it blows out , but not get hot to touch. If the tweeter is getting hot replace it with a more powerfull unit . Kind regards Alan.

[Glyptoron]

Hi Drizt,

I'm using this german kit. It's a very good deal and the price is around 300 AUD including postage.
http://www.content.ibf-acoustic.com/...products_id=35
It's the one recommended for ETF5.
You can ask any question to Mr Frank, you'll get an answer.
Cheers.
Bernard

[brucek]

I'm using this german kit. It's a very good deal

Looks like a nice mic and pre-amp. Did you get a calibration file with it?

brucek

[Glyptoron]

Hi Bruce,

The calibration file is included in the kit on a 3.5" diskette.
It's not a "standard" calibration file. It's the appropriate file of the mic you purchase.
Indeed, it's a good mic and the pre-amp works with a 9 V battery. No noise from AC current.
Regards.
Bernard

[brucek]

The calibration file is included in the kit on a 3.5" diskette

You can easily create a meter.cal file from it that would work with REW. The REW cal files are simple txt based.

brucek

[Drizt]

alan monro wrote:

YES,.Give your bird tons of water and shift the cage to the cool outside Seriously , How do you know if your tweeter is running to hot?? . Have you felt it and it appears hot ? . I can imagine if one overdrives a speaker it may get warm before it blows out , but not get hot to touch. If the tweeter is getting hot replace it with a more powerfull unit . Kind regards Alan.

Hot is a figure of speach.... if the tweeter is running higher dB then my mid/bass driver then its running 'hot' ... nothing to do with temperature.

[alan monro]

Drizt wrote:

Hot is a figure of speach.... if the tweeter is running higher dB then my mid/bass driver then its running 'hot' ... nothing to do with temperature.

Havn't heard that one before,

[Drizt]

Hi Guys, I'm after a bit of help with regards to mic preamp suggestions. Thanks already to Terry J for his suggestions.

Behringer MIC800 Mini Mic Preamp
http://www.allansmusic.com.au/defaul...uctCode=MIC800

Behringer 802 Xenyx Series 8 Input 2 Mic XLR Mixer [ON RANGE]*
http://www.allansmusic.com.au/defaul...tCode=XENYX802


Just wondering if either of these will do, or is one better than the other for my needs. Again sorry for the noobie question.

Regards

Drizt

[brucek]

is one better than the other for my needs

Go with the 802 - it's the one most people use. The MIC800 has a low cut filter that can't be defeated. You want the preamp to be as flat as possible....

brucek

[Drizt]

brucek wrote:

Go with the 802 - it's the one most people use. The MIC800 has a low cut filter that can't be defeated. You want the preamp to be as flat as possible....

brucek

Thank you for explaining. Ill go with that one.

I believe that I saw a picture of this unit with the proper settings to be used with the REW somewhere but I can't find it again. Does anyone know where this is? Thanks
Ray

[brucek]

You mean this?





brucek

Yes. Thanks brucek.

Ray

[aktiondan]

Drizt, I plan on doing full-range measurements with the aforementioned pieces of equipment as well. In fact, I just received my ECM8000 and Xenyx 802 mixer this weekend and have been having quite a bit of fun playing around with it. I haven't had the mic calibrated, but from the couple of plots I've done so far, I'm really happy with the setup. Much better than the RS meter for sure. And the cost is just about right too!

[Drizt]

brucek wrote:

You mean this?
brucek

Cheers, I found that one before and it helped a lot

Got mine all up and running and seems to work well. Thanks for all the help guys.