Measurment Setup for a Laptop

[69Stingray]

I know this has been discussed before, but heck if I can find the thread. I thought it was a stinky at one time.

I have the Dayton (and Behringer since it is on sale and in stock) microphone on my X-Mas list.

I will be using a Dell laptop with XP. What is the most cost effective setup?

Pre-Amp? External Sound Card? I think I read somewhere there was an combo unit? The internal sound card will not work for what reason (internal electrical noise)?

If I recall, M-Audio was a favorite.

[Arc00]

I have a M-Audio MobilePreUSB and it serves me well. It have phantom power for the mic built in.

[ThomasW]

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=23212&highlight=measurement+systems

[69Stingray]

Thanks Thomas.

I am also looking for recommendations on an external sound card (assuming I need one). Will an internal sound card on a new Dell work?

Any other options (more cost effective) then the MobilePreUSB? Does the MoilePreUSB do everything I would need it to do?

I will probably be starting with Speaker Workshop.

[Black300zx]

I have this USB Soundblaster that has worked well for me.

[ThomasW]

Does the MoilePreUSB do everything I would need it to do?.

The MobilePre is...

1) a soundcard
2) a mic preamp
3) a phantom power source for the mic

[69Stingray]

OOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhhh, thanks Thomas. I completely missed that. The price is a little more realistic now...

[chasw98]

OOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhhh, thanks Thomas. I completely missed that. The price is a little more realistic now...

The M-Audio Mobile Pre is a favorite because it can be easily powered from the USB port (No AC power needed), has low distortion, and can be bought for a very reasonable price from the auction place. With the mic, the Mobile Pre, and a laptop you are ready to measure. Just need to pick a piece or a few pieces of software to use and you are good to go.

It is very hard to use a sound card built into a laptop for 2 reasons. I have never seen one with phantom power built in (which is needed for almost any measurement mic) and also for the fact that you never see a line ouput from the laptop. It is a very rare feature which is needed to get your test signal from the sound card. Almost all laptops have a headphone out which will give you very good distortion when used for a precision line level output :E

[Black300zx]

Wow! I wish that M-Audio unit was out when I put together my measurement setup. It would be much less cumbersome than my setup which consists of the SB Live USB card I linked above plus a Behringer Xenx 802 mixer for Phantom power.

[69Stingray]

Thanks chasw98! The M-Audio Mobile Pre is going on the list

[JonP]

I have this USB Soundblaster that has worked well for me.

That is a good one, borrowed one from a friend for a long time. Unfortunately, it's been out of production long enough it's impossible to find new now. After searching around a lot, I got a SB X-fi 5.1 card, which seems to do pretty good as a replacement. I miss the RCA out SPDIF digital out, new one has optical only. Not a measurement issue. Has no mic preamp, have to keep using my external like I have been.

The M-audio line has a few good choices, there's a new smaller than the Pre model that might be good. (has a phantom mic pre) Looked at the Tascam 144, (that line also has powered mic pre's) but I had driver problems I never resolved, it should have been a great solution but I had to return it. I noticed PE has the Tascam 122 at a pretty good price. Not all of the USB soundcards that have a mic pre also are able to run just from the USB... several I looked at needed an AC wall wart. Depends on how important the portability aspect would be to you for that.

E-mu has a few high quality interfaces with powered pre inputs in this lower price range, as well...

[jquin]

I have Edirol UA-25 USB soundcard.
Good sound quality, some issues because it's not mainstream.
Only an issue if you want sample rates higher than 48ksps or more than 16 bits.

[69Stingray]

Thanks for all of the great feedback.

For measurements with Speaker Workshop, I will still need an external amplifier, correct?

[JonP]

You can get started with just the soundcard out... but I had found that it won't always will have enough power to do the job. Lower efficiency, lower impedance drivers will challenge it. You have to watch out for clipping of your output when turned too high, as well as clipping your input with too much signal. If you have a scope this is easy to see, if not... not. Try turning down your levels a bit if you have a noisy or "funny" measurement. It will suddenly clear up, if clipping was the cause.

You do eventually want to get an external amp. Then you'll just have to worry about that input level. I got much more reliable performance with an amp. Just be careful that you don't blow up your soundcard inputs with too much amp output!!

The level setting was one of the trickier parts of Speaker Workshop, but once you get the hang of it, and know what your setup tends to need, it's easy. Look for a little program that would save your soundcard levels, and re-set them on demand. It's mentioned in some of the SW 3d party tutorials out there, very much a timesaver!