Sound quality of Louroe Mic Kit

[andyr 0]

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 0]

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 0]

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 0]

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 0]

Your customer is going to have to spend some extra bucks

[andyr 0]

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 0]

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 0]

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 0]

Good point! Actually the wiring I'm using isn't sheilded either, so maybe I'll try replacing it.

[rory 0]

Dont worry, I ve only ever used regular 2 pair telco wire ...

[scottj 0]

Try XLR Microphone cable

[Jasper 0]

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.

 

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 0]

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 0]

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 0]

looks like a heat detector, its very sleak and small

 

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

 

rory

[Jasper 0]

Thanks.

 

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 0]

2 pair telco is all you need, and it only uses 3 wires ..

[Jasper 0]

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 0]

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

Edited November 11, 2005 by Guest

[Jasper 0]

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 0]

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

[bpzle 0]

this is an old thread, and I'm sure the creator has already found a solution...

 

however we use these same louroe kits in all our sites and have good results. I do highly recommend using what the manufacture says to use for cabling. I have had experience in using an unshielded cable and we did have problems, especially in runs longer than 75 feet.

 

Another thing to remember is to mount the mic as far away from any fans or air supply/ return vents as you can. The mics don't have any sort of windscreen on them and can be very susceptible to picking up unwanted wind noise.

[thewireguys 3]

Keep in mind the way you have the mic mounted will also effect the sound quality...... drop ceilings will pick up all of the sound in the surrounding rooms.

 

Just finished up an install using ACTI-4201's with audio (built in mic) and I was very surprised with the sound quality. I is very good.

[bpzle 0]

Nice to know! I just sent back by demo unit and I didn't even play witht the audio!