CSL-Calibrated EMM-6 Microphone Sale

**Jodez** · **09-20-09, 05:26 PM**

Newbie to sound calibration. I'd like to set my speakers/sub levels, would this mic be a better tool than a Radio Shack SPL meter for the job? What would I use with the EMM-6 for such calibration? Would "Basic" suffice or would "Basic+" be better?

**wado1942** · **09-20-09, 05:44 PM**

You still need an SPL meter to calibrate levels etc. Ideally, both a measurement mic & SPL meter should be used together.

**Jodez** · **09-20-09, 06:02 PM**

Quote:

wado1942 wrote:

You still need an SPL meter to calibrate levels etc. Ideally, both a measurement mic & SPL meter should be used together.

So what the EMM-6 would only do is plot the full frequency response characteristics of my room? Not for setting levels?

**windowman99** · **09-20-09, 08:34 PM**

Well, not the reply I was hoping for, but at least it's honest. Looks like whatever I get will have to be bought as a matched pair from the start.

**Anechoic** · **09-20-09, 08:53 PM**

Quote:

Mauricio Cajueiro wrote:

Hey Anechoic!
Nice you having this sale.
Can I get them here in Brazil?, I have a an international cc, paypal and a WAMU account.
I´ve been living in Brazil for about 2 years now, and I was wondering if you could ship it over here...
Thanks,
Mauricio Cajueiro.

Shipping to Brazil is $27USD. You can place an order at the site and select Brazil as the ship-to country.

**wado1942** · **09-20-09, 10:56 PM**

Quote:

So what the EMM-6 would only do is plot the full frequency response characteristics of my room? Not for setting levels?

You are correct. The frequency response of the Rat Shack SPL meter isn't nearly accurate enough for frequency response but it IS accurate for determining average level using pink noise. With a measurement mic, there's no way of determining absolute SPL but it WILL give you a good plot of the sound of your room & an approximation of the response of your speaker system.

**yobbo** · **09-20-09, 11:53 PM**

Just ordered mine, thanks for the work. Now I will be able to improve a few of my projects, and help a couple of friends with theirs.

**nwboater** · **09-21-09, 09:06 AM**

[QUOTE=Anechoic;191109]If loudspeaker measurements are your primary use (as opposed to room acoustics), you should be okay with the basic model.

Guess I didn't ask the ? properly. I'm not really interested in measuring just the speakers. My goal is to work on room acoustics, but full range, not just for the future subwoofer. Only mentioned the Khorns because I believe their dispersion (being corner horns) may be different than the typical direct radiator speakers.

Thanks for your good support with this.

Rod

**ndurantz** · **09-21-09, 12:17 PM**

Quote:

wado1942 wrote:

You still need an SPL meter to calibrate levels etc. Ideally, both a measurement mic & SPL meter should be used together.

So I am admittedly ignorant here.

I have a nominal set-up in my living room (Orb Mod 1's 5.1 with Super 8 sub). I have wanted to calibrate my room for awhile, but not even sure as to the steps to go about that. Maybe someone can point me to a thread that describes how to do this? I need to know what I am into prior to purchasing the equipment.

Nonetheless, this does seem like a great deal!

**hans14914** · **09-21-09, 12:52 PM**

I have been meaning to buy a calibrated mic from you for some time for use with a room analyzer, like REW. With a more "simple" program like REW, does the polar respsonse and noisefloor actually make a difference? For use novices out here, could you please provide some software pairings for the various level of mics your are offering? I think that would help alot of us. If REW can only take advantage of the basic mic, and that is the only package you plan on running, then the Plus options make no difference. However, if a more advanced program, say Accourate or Audiolense could use them, and you plan on purchasing that down the road, it seems to make sense to buy the more expensive mic now.

Any info you could supply regarding usability of the calibration levels would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Hans

**varocketry** · **09-21-09, 03:03 PM**

Shackmaster:

I've spent the weekend reading the FORUMS on the microphone offering and upstream to understand. I am interested in the topic as I have a Kenwood THX sound system that I purchased several years ago that I probably never have set up properly.

I need help with Home Theatre Sound System Setup 101 -- it appears most of the forum discussions are graduate level (404) discussions far more advanced than my current understanding.

I'd love to get advice and guidance in setting this current system up properly to enjoy better surround and theatrical sound.

Jim

**wado1942** · **09-21-09, 03:27 PM**

Quote:

ndurantz wrote:

So I am admittedly ignorant here.

I have a nominal set-up in my living room (Orb Mod 1's 5.1 with Super 8 sub). I have wanted to calibrate my room for awhile, but not even sure as to the steps to go about that. Maybe someone can point me to a thread that describes how to do this? I need to know what I am into prior to purchasing the equipment.

Nonetheless, this does seem like a great deal!

I've written a rudimentary article on acoustics. This is more about arranging your speakers/room for best sound but that's where it starts.
http://www.gcmstudio.com/acoustics/acoustics.html

You may also look into reading some of Bob Katz's articles at www.digido.com
His site is geared more toward pro-audio but the same principles apply to home theater.

**Euterpe** · **09-21-09, 03:38 PM**

Quote:

wado1942 wrote:

I've written a rudimentary article on acoustics. This is more about arranging your speakers/room for best sound but that's where it starts.
http://www.gcmstudio.com/acoustics/acoustics.html

Hum, very interesting article, thank you to share with us your knowledge.

Do you have a translation in french to this article?

Regards

**AudioIronHorse** · **09-21-09, 03:51 PM**

I ordered a calibrated mic. Do I need a microphone preamp to power it in order to use REW? Any suggestions to which one if it is needed?
Thanks!
D

**ndurantz** · **09-21-09, 04:44 PM**

Quote:

wado1942 wrote:

I've written a rudimentary article on acoustics. This is more about arranging your speakers/room for best sound but that's where it starts.
http://www.gcmstudio.com/acoustics/acoustics.html

You may also look into reading some of Bob Katz's articles at www.digido.com
His site is geared more toward pro-audio but the same principles apply to home theater.

Whew! Ok. I will have to pour over this later, but I am looking foward to it. Thanks!

**Anechoic** · **09-22-09, 12:00 AM**

Quote:

AudioIronHorse wrote:

I ordered a calibrated mic. Do I need a microphone preamp to power it in order to use REW? Any suggestions to which one if it is needed?
Thanks!
D

You'll need something to provide phantom power for the microphone. I'll let others give pre-amp/soundcard recommendations, but I'm partial to the Presonus firewire line of sound cards.

**Andysu** · **09-22-09, 07:09 AM**

Quote:

wado1942 wrote:

I'd be willing to bet they're the same microphone as the Behringers made in the same factory by the same people, just sorted & labeled differently.

I was VERY unhappy with the Behringers. They would probably be OK just for measurement purposes, but Behringer way too noisy for anything else. They publish 3 different sets of specs for the same microphones and I don't know which ones to believe. Though the specs INSIDE the box seem to be close.

Strangely, almost all pencil omnis use the exact same Panasonic capsules including some of the Earthworks mics. The main difference is #1, how the capsules are preselected/sorted and #2, the internal electronics. After my dissapointment with the Behringers, I returned them and got a set of Avenson STO-2s which come as a matched pair in a nice little wood case. They're cleaner and quieter which is great for me since I do recording work.

Well yes I have to agree it’s a name change of short. Tell me, this isn’t the same microphone as my ECM8000.

Even the microphone supplied with JBL LSR series looks the same

Although there is some slight cosmetic difference with the JBL calibration microphone!

Even dbx have their own calibration microphone. hold on I’ll get the spray paint out and spray mine black!

The parts that make up the microphone itself are cheap right? I think there no more than £5.00 pounds! Might as well buy the parts and stick them on penile with blutac.

Microphone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone

**Dennis H** · **09-22-09, 03:16 PM**

Quote:

Anechoic wrote:

You'll need something to provide phantom power for the microphone. I'll let others give pre-amp/soundcard recommendations, but I'm partial to the Presonus firewire line of sound cards.

Hi Herb,

Do the Presonus cards work with ARTA?

**Anechoic** · **09-22-09, 03:24 PM**

Quote:

Dennis H wrote:

Hi Herb,

Do the Presonus cards work with ARTA?

Yup. And I can say that definitely since I use a Presonus Firebox with ARTA.

**nwboater** · **09-22-09, 05:29 PM**

[quote=nwboater;191427]

Quote:

Anechoic wrote:

If loudspeaker measurements are your primary use (as opposed to room acoustics), you should be okay with the basic model.

Guess I didn't ask the ? properly. I'm not really interested in measuring just the speakers. My goal is to work on room acoustics, but full range, not just for the future subwoofer. Only mentioned the Khorns because I believe their dispersion (being corner horns) may be different than the typical direct radiator speakers.

Thanks for your good support with this.

Rod

Sorry for quoting myself here, but perhaps Anechoic missed this. I would like to order a mic, and know the sale ends soon. Which one should I order considering the above?

Thanks very much,
Rod

**Anechoic** · **09-22-09, 06:22 PM**

[quote=nwboater;191832]

Quote:

nwboater wrote:

Sorry for quoting myself here, but perhaps Anechoic missed this. I would like to order a mic, and know the sale ends soon. Which one should I order considering the above?

Thanks very much,
Rod

Sorry about that. My guess is that you would be okay with the Basic+ model.

**nwboater** · **09-23-09, 09:36 AM**

Quote:

Anechoic wrote:

Sorry about that. My guess is that you would be okay with the Basic+ model.

Thanks for the follow thru - I ordered the Basic + last nite.

Rod

**Anechoic** · **09-25-09, 12:18 AM**

Well boys and girls, the sale is over.

This is what I'm left to deal with:

(this is shipment #1 of 6)

So I'm going to be pretty busy in the lab trying to process all these mics. First batch went out already and the next batch should go out later today.

I'll try to pop back in later with some observations by my initial impression is that the ECM8000 is a batter mic below 20 Hz and the EMM-6 is a better mic above 20 Hz.

The good news for those that missed the sale is that when I'm done filling all the orders I should have some extras that I'll sell for the discounted rate. I'm not going to offer the $5 off for HTS members, but I will post here first to give HTS members a shot at it. Those extras probably won't go on sale until the 2nd week of October, but since I'll already have them, they should ship quickly.

Thanks a lot guys for giving me my own little stimulus program.

**todd612** · **09-25-09, 02:34 AM**

Newbie here. I have the Radio Shack 33-2050 meter for measurement. I understand it is very low resolution compared to this EMM-6. Now if I was to buy this, can I also use this for other uses (like a regular vocal microphone for karaoke)? It's not a lot of money, but if I just to cal my sub I think the RS meter is fine, right? Thanks!

**melberi** · **09-25-09, 03:43 AM**

Hi Anechoic,

I ordered the Premium service the day this deal came out and I have a question about the sensitivity measurement. Is the sensitivity figure an open-loop voltage (load impedance >> source impedance) or a voltage delivered to a preamp input impedance which may be low enough to make a difference?

EMM-6 source impedance is quoted as 200 ohms. My microphone preamp (EMU 0404 USB) has an input impedance of 1500 ohms. The voltage at the preamp would then be 1500/1700 = 0.882... times the open-loop voltage or approximately -1 dB.

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