Low Cost Mic Preamp for measurements

[basementjack]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum here - this is my first post.

I'm looking for advice for a mic preamp.

This is going to be used to take acoustical room measurements, so I'm looking for something with flat response, no phase issues etc...

It will likely be used with an inexpensive 'calibration/measurement' mic like the Behringer ECM8000 or the Apex 220.

The output of the mic preamp will be connected to a pc sound card.

My local music Store has the Apex APA1 preamp for about $40

Is this sufficient for what I'm trying to do?

Other options

- use a Behringer 802 mixer ($40), but I'm not in favor of that because it has tone controls that can't be switched off.

- Rolls MP13 $60-80 same thing as the apex basically

- Forget the mic pre and get a new usb soundcard with mic input like the M-Audio MobilePre(About $150) or the FastTrack Pro($200) - more expensive, but both would eliminate one box and the need for an AC Adapter.

[itsplayed]

For computer based recording this is your only serious option....

"- Forget the mic pre and get a new usb soundcard with mic input like the M-Audio MobilePre(About $150) or the FastTrack Pro($200) - more expensive, but both would eliminate one box and the need for an AC Adapter."

.....but don't limit your choice to only USB cards.

[Bops2000]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum here - this is my first post.

I'm looking for advice for a mic preamp.

This is going to be used to take acoustical room measurements, so I'm looking for something with flat response, no phase issues etc...

It will likely be used with an inexpensive 'calibration/measurement' mic like the Behringer ECM8000 or the Apex 220.

The output of the mic preamp will be connected to a pc sound card.

My local music Store has the Apex APA1 preamp for about $40

Is this sufficient for what I'm trying to do?

Other options

- use a Behringer 802 mixer ($40), but I'm not in favor of that because it has tone controls that can't be switched off.

- Rolls MP13 $60-80 same thing as the apex basically

- Forget the mic pre and get a new usb soundcard with mic input like the M-Audio MobilePre(About $150) or the FastTrack Pro($200) - more expensive, but both would eliminate one box and the need for an AC Adapter.

Sounds kinda scientific, on what you want to do, cool stuff, I am not understanding why use so many things, and at such a low level of 'quality', in todays market, to form some reputable results. Is this an experiment of some sorts (boppers clenching hands in anticipation)?

[basementjack]

Boppers, itsplayed,

Thanks for your feedback.

itsplayed - this is just to take some measurements, I'd never do any recording with it (I'm not a musician)

Boppers - I'm trying to tweak the sound of my home theater...

I made some tube trap type gizmos, and thought it would be nice to measure the performance of the room both before and after the tube traps - to validate if they were working and to what extent.

I'm using truerta & etf (www.trueaudio.com, www.acoustisoft.com) to take measurements.

I'm using an older 600Mhz laptop with a usb connector on it, connected currently to a low end USB sound card (which is working fine for it's purpose)

So what I really need to know is, is the apex mic preamp flat from 20-20k (and free of noise/hum) so that I can use it to take good measurements - if not then I'm kind of forced to go the mobilepre route, which is a small setback as far as interfaces go (the mobilepre does not have optical digital out, my current usb card does) then I start to question if I'm going to drop 150 for a mobilepre, why not the fastrack (has digitial i/o and 24/96) or the Lexicon Lamda or the omega ($250 after rebate) all have a tradeoff or two.

Thanks Everyone!

[jmail]

Have ya got an old tape deck with mic pres on it? My Sony rtr has some decent pre-amps on it. My Scott cassette deck used cheese for its pre-amps... just an idea to get you by, if you're not needing something "clean", just trying to see "change"...

[basementjack]

I don't have anything I could use as a mic preamp with phantom power for the behringer mic -

I could use a radio shack SPL meter as the Mic, but I've heard those aren't fully reliable 20-20 so I'm trying to get one step above that.

[basementjack]

Itsplayed-

mobilepre on its way - $84 off ebay