[Elecraft] OT (Yamaha Cm 500)

[Sam Morgan]

well I know this thread is getting to the 'beating a dead horse' stage,
but I had to reply to your comments on this.
When I set up my CM-500 I did it on the air,
using a local friend that has known me and my the sound of my voice,
for the last 15 years, why do I trust his settings?
his credits are,
that he is blind which enhances his sense of sound
and has run sound boards for many bands and other events,
so I tend to trust his setup.

Oh and of course the 1st thing we did was
open his bandwidth up as wide as possible (on his rig.

My settings were as follows:

Gain = 16  Comp = 21

50 Hz    -16 dB
100 Hz   -16 dB
200 Hz   -4 dB
400 Hz   +3 dB
800 Hz   -3 dB
1.6 kHz  +4 dB
2.4 kHz  +2 dB
3.2 kHz  +6 dB

interestingly, when I also went through this dance with a D-104
and the settings were almost identical.

I might also add I have a fairly low voice,
and I have COPD (emphysema) and don't drive a mike well.

I can use an amplified D-104 and have to close talk it (1-2")
and someone can walk into the room 6' away and speak,
and drive the mike harder than I can from 1 or 2 inches.


GB & 73
K5OAI
Sam Morgan

On 11/17/2010 1:00 AM, Jim Brown wrote:
> On 11/16/2010 10:19 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
>>    >   I ended up with:
>>    >
>>    >   50 Hz   -16 dB
>>    >   100 Hz  -16 dB
>>    >   200 Hz  -16 dB
>>    >   400 Hz  -10 dB
>>    >   800 Hz  -16 dB
>>    >   1.6 kHz   0 dB
>>    >   2.4 kHz  +3 dB
>>    >   3.2 kHz  +6 dB
>>
>> I think that is doing too much cutting at the low end and not
>> enough boost at the high end.  Adding 6 dB at each band from
>> 200 Hz to 3.2 KHz would make me more comfortable.  Like, Jim
>> I prefer to leave 50/100 at -16 regardless as they contribute
>> nothing to communication.
>
> Joe,
>
> Yes, I agree that Alan is doing way too much cut on the low end.
>
> I meant to respond earlier to your recommendation of high boost.  I've
> helped a LOT of K3 users adjust their TX audio using a CM500, and I've
> NEVER heard a CM500 that needed ANY boost EQ.  I've also gotten a lot of
> very positive reports on my CM500s (I own two) and I've never used any
> boost.
>
> So I started thinking about why you might like boost -- after all,
> you're a pretty sharp engineer. I can only come up with three scenarios
> where you might prefer that. The first scenario is IF bandwidth on the
> listening station.  I always listen to the other station with my IF
> bandwidth at about 2.7 - 3 kHz, because I don't want what MY RX is doing
> to color my judgment of what the other guy is transmitting. So I get him
> sounding good that way, and THEN I narrow up my IF to 1.8 kHz and listen
> again.
>
> IF you listen at 1.8 kHz bandwidth with the high end of the IF cutting
> around 2.4 kHz or below, you certainly ARE going to want a bit of boost
> on the high end, because the RX IF is rolling it off.. But if you center
> that IF a bit higher, you won't want that HF boost.
>
> The second scenario is that since CM500s are pretty inexpensive
> products, there may be a fairly wide tolerance on the response of the
> capsules.  I've seen some anecdotal observations that suggest this might
> be true.  I DO believe, however, that the CM500s I own, and those I've
> helped set up on the air, do NOT need HF boost.
>
> The third scenario is hearing loss.  We old farts have put a lot of
> mileage on our ears, I know that I've got some hearing loss, and so do
> many of my friends my age, especially those of us who work with audio or
> radio professionally, or even as active hams.  The nature of MOST
> hearing loss is that we lose the high end first, so we want more high
> end boost.  I find that I need to do that with many news magazine and
> interview programs that have poorly produced audio. I find it
> professionally disgusting that the technicians who produce these
> programs have the balls to call themselves engineers when they obviously
> don't know what an equalizer is for or when to use it. But don't get me
> started. :)
>
> The reason I'm going through this is that I hear so much badly distorted
> audio and splatter during contests, and the LAST thing that we need is
> HF boost to produce more of it when the mic is already providing that
> boost, and the CM500s I've heard DO have that HF boost built in.
>