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Sound quality of Louroe Mic Kit

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andyr - 27 Apr 2005, 03:39 pm
I'm using a Louroe Ask-4 Kit #300 with a Kalatel SafeStore Pro and I'm very disappointed in the sound quality. It seems to pickup a lot of abient noise. We ran the audio to a video monitor and the sound is the same on it, so the DVR isn't causing any problems.

My customer is hoping for pin drop quality audio. I don't know if thats reasonable, but I have to deliver something better than this..
scottj - 27 Apr 2005, 04:10 pm
Is your customer willing to pay for pin drop quality sound?

If you need to stay in the Louroe pricing level, then I would recommend a Crown PZM11-LL (line Level) wall or ceiling mount kit. It is a pressure zone microphone, not a boundry. We have used this setup with the geovision DVR and it works fairly well considering. Im not a Kalatel expert by any means, but I do know that one of our customers replaced 30 units with our systems to achieve better sound quality. Ambient noise will always be there, unless you use an extremely expensive microphone and have a way of cleaning up the audio (equalizing, sampling rate, etc.)

Scottj
rory - 27 Apr 2005, 04:55 pm
Hmmm, ive used the Verifact A Microphones with the Kalatel DVRs and its fine. Not crisp stereo like Skype (LOL) but good enough to hear everything within 15' from the mic.

Not sure if I understand, you want to hear a pin drop but dont want to hear everything?

A PC will obviously give you better quality, as there are more hard ware and software factors involved, compared to the cell phone type Operating System on the Kalatel ...

Like Scott said, you will need to spend for something more than just the louroe .. amplifiers, equalisers, etc ...a PC DVR can generally give you more inputs also ... so if its audio that you are looking for, then the PC would be a way to go. Why not do this:

Tell them if they want the features and audio capabilities of a stereo system, then they will need a seperate PC for that, loop out from the Kalatel to the PC. That way you have best of both worlds, the Plug Play and Forget machine that will never crash or give you the MS Send Error ...and the PC with all the features on the moon and mars .. :-)

There are some audio only professional recording systems out there also, which will be much better than any DVR audio .. you can simply use a seperate PC for the audio if they want to get tricky ...

Might be best to check with a local audio/dj specialist on this ..

Rory
AVCONSULTING - 27 Apr 2005, 04:59 pm
Louroe ASK-4 KIT microphone is an omnidirectional mike and if mounted on the ceiling will pick up all noise in a 30' radius. You might have to change out to a unidirectional microphone. See if your supplier has this model available and would lend it to you on a trial basis. Here are the specifications.

http://www.louroe.com/datasheets/kmic_cs.pdf
wahloon - 27 Apr 2005, 10:45 pm
Your customer is going to have to spend some extra bucks
andyr - 28 Apr 2005, 11:24 am
I guess I'm overstating the quality expected by "pin drop". :) I'm sure they'd be happy with decent audio.

Right now I have the speaker mounted on the ceiling and it seems to pickup ok, but you can hear a constant background noise. Almost like its picking up the sound of the fidges and heating system. You can hardly hear what anyone is saying.

I know that on higher end audio equipment, there's filtering done to quiet the abient noise. I was just wondering if they made something that would do a good job, without spending thousands of dollars.
andyr - 28 Apr 2005, 11:28 am
I should mention. Rory's idea about the pc might help, but they'll be listening remotely via the kalatel. Not at the location.
rory - 28 Apr 2005, 11:30 am
QUOTE:
I guess I'm overstating the quality expected by "pin drop". :) I'm sure they'd be happy with decent audio.

Right now I have the speaker mounted on the ceiling and it seems to pickup ok, but you can hear a constant background noise. Almost like its picking up the sound of the fidges and heating system. You can hardly hear what anyone is saying.

I know that on higher end audio equipment, there's filtering done to quiet the abient noise. I was just wondering if they made something that would do a good job, without spending thousands of dollars.


make sure it is far away from any high voltage wires also, as that will cause noise in it too .. i dont get any of that background sound from the ones i installed...
andyr - 28 Apr 2005, 11:34 am
Good point! Actually the wiring I'm using isn't sheilded either, so maybe I'll try replacing it.
rory - 28 Apr 2005, 11:44 am
Dont worry, I ve only ever used regular 2 pair telco wire ...
scottj - 28 Apr 2005, 02:48 pm
Try XLR Microphone cable
Jasper - 11 Nov 2005, 02:16 am
I am looking into purchasing a Crown PZM-10LL microphone for a covert microphone placement.

Looking to pickup sound within a 5-10 foot radius. Hoping the Geovison Software will allow me some flexibility in the adjustment of it.

I see that this microphone uses a XLR cable. Is this type cable available in a length of 50 feet?

Are there XLR cables that have female RCA connectors at the end of them? Need those cables to be terminated with a male RCA so I can insert them into my Female RCA connector leading to my dongle. :lol:

How would I provide power to the microphone? Is there another cable for power?

What kind of power supply would I need to buy? Would a standard 500ma work?

As you can see I don’t have experience with an XLR cable yet. :?

I was looking at the Louroe microphones, but I didn’t see anything I thought I could hide or that didn’t look like a microphone. :?: [/b]
rory - 11 Nov 2005, 02:23 am
I ceiling mount these bad boys everywhere:
http://www.louroe.com/mics.asp?model=amic

and throw these suckers outside when i need outdoor audio ..
http://www.louroe.com/mics.asp?model=emic

12V DC, can use existing camera power supply, or power it seperate ... depends ..
Jasper - 11 Nov 2005, 02:54 am
I forgot to mention it will be indoors. This one has a further pick up range which is nice.

What is that supposed to look like? In case anybody asks me. It definitely is an eye catcher being that large.

On that model A, can someone easily remove that black cover and discover what it is?

It is an 8 foot ceiling so it can be reached by someone fairly tall.

Is there pre-made cable for these things to provide power and connect them to RCA female jack?
rory - 11 Nov 2005, 03:04 am
looks like a heat detector, its very sleak and small

as for the cover .. no., its some rubber type material.

rory
Jasper - 11 Nov 2005, 03:11 am
Thanks. :wink:

I just have to lookup the Westpenn 452 wire it mentions in the specs and see if that is all I need to hook it up to my Geo Card.
rory - 11 Nov 2005, 03:16 am
2 pair telco is all you need, and it only uses 3 wires ..
Jasper - 11 Nov 2005, 03:21 am
That’s good I have about 500 feet of that stuff in my garage.

So the ground for the 12volts is shared with the ground for the RCA cable?

Is there an RCA adapter available or do you have to make your own cable?
rory - 11 Nov 2005, 03:28 am
first off, they sell base stations which makes multi audio possible, and easier/

Red, Black, Green ... Pos, Neg, Audio

Okay its been a while so take this as you will, in other words I do them every so often and do it right when I do it, juts not that common .. anyway,

Take a RCA cable, cut a short piece off.
You then have Middle and braid.

Tie the Middle into the Audio (Green Above)
Tie braid into the Neg (black above)

Red (pos) and Black (neg) all goes to the Pos and Neg of the power supply.

Anyways, its very simple.

Rory
Jasper - 11 Nov 2005, 03:37 am
I just cut the end off an RCA cable the other night when I created a spot monitor cable.

So I can use this end and splice it into the telco wire.

It won’t be pretty, but it will work. And they will be happy they don’t have to buy a base station.

Thanks for the info Rory. I appreciated it. :)
rory - 11 Nov 2005, 03:39 am
RCA is RCA ...

Electric Tape is your Friend. It "can" be very neat.

Also look at Terminal Strips and Enclosures if it will be alot of audio mics.

Rory
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