"auto-calibration" microphones

ilikesound · February 2008

my question is: are they all the same?

i have one that i use with my pioneer elite, but if i hook up the Denon one i found in the basement, obviously of better quality, will it affect the sound drastically?

Gadabout · February 2008

Just a guess on my part, but I would think it might matter more of the calibration routine that they run. I know the Denon runs Audyssey, not sure about the Pioneer.

From the folks at Audyssey....
Is the microphone calibrated?
Yes, the microphone is calibrated to a 1/4" industry-standard measurement microphone. The correction is applied to the measurements as they are being taken. It is important to use ONLY the designated microphone that comes with the product as the calibration curve built-in to the product is specific to that microphone. It is also critical to point the microphone upwards and to place it at ear height. Any other microphone will have different characteristics and thus will not produce the right results.

Probably didn't answer your question, but it will give you more information for your research.

Scott

ilikesound · February 2008

scott,
Thanks, that was a bit helpful! never knew the mics were special in any way..food for thought. on a lighter note, were your BJ cables worth the money? curious on those as well..

john22614 · February 2008

Gadabout....when you say to point the microphone upwards...do you mean pointing the pie face straight up at the ceiling form ear level at the listening position? I' ve wondered about that. I did mine on the Outlaw 990 with the microphone facing the front stage at ear level, and thought that might be incorrect. Maybe I should do it over?

Gadabout · February 2008

ilikesound wrote: »

scott,
Thanks, that was a bit helpful! never knew the mics were special in any way..food for thought. on a lighter note, were your BJ cables worth the money? curious on those as well..

I think they were. For the $'s spent they are good cables with good connectors. I purchased:
7 channel from AVR to amp, and a couple pairs of RCA's and an Optical Cable. I also grabbed a 25' sub cable, 2 HDMI's, 2 DVI to HDMI. 25' of unterminated speaker cable too. They are easy to do business with and I liked that I could pay with PayPal. The cables were at my house about 4 days after the order was placed.

So yes, I would purchase some more if needed from them.

john22614 wrote: »

Gadabout....when you say to point the microphone upwards...do you mean pointing the pie face straight up at the ceiling form ear level at the listening position? I' ve wondered about that. I did mine on the Outlaw 990 with the microphone facing the front stage at ear level, and thought that might be incorrect. Maybe I should do it over?

From the guys at Audyssey....
What is the proper way to point the microphone?
The microphones used in MultEQ are all calibrated for grazing incidence and should point to the ceiling. Standing near or behind the microphone or holding it in your hand will introduce serious measurement problems including reflections and low frequency noise that will affect the performance of the filters.

This seems to be specific for the MultiEQ microphones. Not sure about the procedure or microphones that Outlaw uses. To me, this makes sense to make the measurements this way. I used a tripod to hook the microphone too when I was doing the intial calibration.

Hope that helps,
Scott

(Sorry if I derailed the thread)

john22614 · February 2008

Thanks Scott.....guess I was doing it wrong in more ways than one because I was standing there holding it as well. I'll give Outlaw a call and see what the say.

John

ShinAce · February 2008

Either hang the mic facing down, or secure it pointing up.

Hanging can be a good compromise in many circumstances. If you do this, try to make sure there is a rug on the floor beneath the mic.

"auto-calibration" microphones

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