SSSheridan
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- Joined
- Mar 3, 2021
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Hey all, I'd appreciate some pointers in interpreting these early results and where I should go from here.
I have some secondhand Bose computer speakers (active) and a Yamaha subwoofer (active). The one piece that I trust is my Focusrite Scarlett Solo. And for now, I've picked up a couple of cheap XLR mics on steep discounts from Amazon Warehouse: a Behringer XM8500 dynamic mic for 15€ and a G-Mark G-77 (seems to be a new/unknown Chinese brand) condenser mic for 9€.
I'm looking to characterize my system so I can optimize what I have and prioritize my upgrades on a limited budget. It's okay that the accuracy won't be great; I'd just like to get a basic testing setup so I can try things and see what happens. For example, my subwoofer has a really weak response around 60-70Hz. If I try to fix that with EQ, how badly will it distort? That sort of thing.
Here are a few ARTA graphs. These are not careful measurements; the room was noisy. The point is just to learn how to measure and how to interpret what I'm seeing.
Prominent harmonic distortion. I checked the signal being sent to the (active) speakers and it was a clean 1kHz signal, with no harmonics. Can analog (XLR) microphones produce harmonic distortion, or is that definitely the speakers?
Next, comparing the two microphones' readings of white noise:
Most of the peaks and troughs are shared between the two graphs, which makes me think that the peaks and troughs are mostly characteristic of the speakers.
How good/bad are cheap XLR mics plugged into a decent ADC like the Focusrite? Given a limited budget, I'm not sure whether to return both of these fellas and invest in a better mic, so I can have more trustworthy measurements, or whether I should just save the money for a speaker upgrade.
Appreciate any thoughts and pointers!
I have some secondhand Bose computer speakers (active) and a Yamaha subwoofer (active). The one piece that I trust is my Focusrite Scarlett Solo. And for now, I've picked up a couple of cheap XLR mics on steep discounts from Amazon Warehouse: a Behringer XM8500 dynamic mic for 15€ and a G-Mark G-77 (seems to be a new/unknown Chinese brand) condenser mic for 9€.
I'm looking to characterize my system so I can optimize what I have and prioritize my upgrades on a limited budget. It's okay that the accuracy won't be great; I'd just like to get a basic testing setup so I can try things and see what happens. For example, my subwoofer has a really weak response around 60-70Hz. If I try to fix that with EQ, how badly will it distort? That sort of thing.
Here are a few ARTA graphs. These are not careful measurements; the room was noisy. The point is just to learn how to measure and how to interpret what I'm seeing.
Prominent harmonic distortion. I checked the signal being sent to the (active) speakers and it was a clean 1kHz signal, with no harmonics. Can analog (XLR) microphones produce harmonic distortion, or is that definitely the speakers?
Next, comparing the two microphones' readings of white noise:
Most of the peaks and troughs are shared between the two graphs, which makes me think that the peaks and troughs are mostly characteristic of the speakers.
How good/bad are cheap XLR mics plugged into a decent ADC like the Focusrite? Given a limited budget, I'm not sure whether to return both of these fellas and invest in a better mic, so I can have more trustworthy measurements, or whether I should just save the money for a speaker upgrade.
Appreciate any thoughts and pointers!