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<blockquote data-quote="Brian jojade" data-source="post: 90439" data-attributes="member: 211">Re: Which preanmps are best ?This isn&#039;t a spec that you&#039;re likely to find published.&nbsp; And if it is, it&#039;s not going to be the same across anything.A mic element has a maximum SPL that it can handle.&nbsp; This you can often find as a published spec, but as with anything else, the spec may not be useful without knowing the context of measurement.&nbsp; Most decent mics can handle anything a human voice can throw at it in terms of volume, so that&#039;s not much of a concern.If you&#039;re just using a wired mic, then all you have to do next is make sure your trim on the mixer is backed down enough as to not clip the preamp.&nbsp; Simple, easy, cheap.With a wireless mic, it&#039;s the same concept.&nbsp; However, the first pre-amp you have to deal with is the one in the mic transmitter itself.&nbsp; Here begins the difficulty.&nbsp; If you set the trim on your mixer wrong during setup, you can easily make adjustments during the show to correct it.&nbsp; If it&#039;s wrong on the mic, it&#039;s pretty inconvenient to go up on stage to make the change.&nbsp; Some mics, such as the Shure SLX and PGX series only have a 2 position trim.&nbsp; 0db, or -10db.&nbsp; Problem with that, is that the level can still be too hot and the preamp inside the mic distorts.&nbsp; Nothing downstream can fix that.Other mics have trim pots that allow you to dial back the input much further.&nbsp; The problem though, is that the more you trim at the mic, the more you have to re-amplify the signal downstream, either at the receiver or at the board.&nbsp; This induces noise into the signal.&nbsp; Cheap mics are horribly noisy. What this means is that if you turn the gain down to handle the headroom of a loud singer, then you have to amplify the noise along with the signal to get your level back.&nbsp; If the singer is loud the whole time, that often will mask the noise.&nbsp; However, if they are only loud in peaks, the noise will become very noticeable.This again is where you need to spend $2K on a wireless to even get close to what a $100 wired mic would do.&nbsp; At that price point, you can get the dynamic range without significant noise and still have the headroom needed to get the job done.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Brian jojade, post: 90439, member: 211"] Re: Which preanmps are best ? This isn't a spec that you're likely to find published. And if it is, it's not going to be the same across anything. A mic element has a maximum SPL that it can handle. This you can often find as a published spec, but as with anything else, the spec may not be useful without knowing the context of measurement. Most decent mics can handle anything a human voice can throw at it in terms of volume, so that's not much of a concern. If you're just using a wired mic, then all you have to do next is make sure your trim on the mixer is backed down enough as to not clip the preamp. Simple, easy, cheap. With a wireless mic, it's the same concept. However, the first pre-amp you have to deal with is the one in the mic transmitter itself. Here begins the difficulty. If you set the trim on your mixer wrong during setup, you can easily make adjustments during the show to correct it. If it's wrong on the mic, it's pretty inconvenient to go up on stage to make the change. Some mics, such as the Shure SLX and PGX series only have a 2 position trim. 0db, or -10db. Problem with that, is that the level can still be too hot and the preamp inside the mic distorts. Nothing downstream can fix that. Other mics have trim pots that allow you to dial back the input much further. The problem though, is that the more you trim at the mic, the more you have to re-amplify the signal downstream, either at the receiver or at the board. This induces noise into the signal. Cheap mics are horribly noisy. What this means is that if you turn the gain down to handle the headroom of a loud singer, then you have to amplify the noise along with the signal to get your level back. If the singer is loud the whole time, that often will mask the noise. However, if they are only loud in peaks, the noise will become very noticeable. This again is where you need to spend $2K on a wireless to even get close to what a $100 wired mic would do. At that price point, you can get the dynamic range without significant noise and still have the headroom needed to get the job done. [/QUOTE]

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