I'm having a real problem with analog microphones. The short of it is
that in the past 10 days or so, I've purchased 3 headsets manufactured
by 3 different manufacturers and a microphone by an even different
manufacturer. All of the headsets and the microphone alone had
defective microphones. One of the headsets came with Creative labs
webcam. It has earpiece and microphone like what is found with
cellphones. Actually that particular microphone worked the best but a
person still had to raise their voice quite a bit and hold the inline
microphone right in front of the mouth to get a reasonable signal. The
other headsets were an Altec Lansing and Logitech. The Altec Lansing
you literally had to scream into the microphone to get a viable signal.
The microphone on the Logitech headset didn't work at all. The
microphone was a Plantronics desk microphone but you literally had to
hold that microphone within about and inch of your mouth to get a
viable signal.

The planned use of the headsets is to use with instant messaging
internet services like Yahoo Messenger and Skype. I had turned up all
the settings on the computer operating system to maximum values. All
of the microphones were also tried with an old cassette recorder and
had the same successes.

In an old electronic box I have, I found an old electret condenser
microphone that I purchased from Radio Shack some 20 years ago or so.
With that microphone I got a good signal on both the computer and the
cassette recorder.

Unfortunately I am one of those folks who has less then perfect hearing
and would prefer to use a headset because even with my hearing aids in
they are less then perfect in regards to understanding voices from the
typical small detachable computer speakers.

The one headset came with the webcam. The Altec Lansing headset and
the Logitech headset were about $20.00 each. The Plantronics
microphone was $20.00. As mentioned earlier these are analog sets.

Odds of 4 microphones from 4 different manufacturers purchased from 4
different vendors all being bad or way substandard quality seems
astronomically high. Now it's true I didn't spend big bucks on the
setups. My hearing just can't appreciate great quality sound anymore,
so why spend big bucks.

But as the subject says I am in a conumdrum. I would appreciate input
and opinions on this matter. At this point I don't know if I should be
seriously looking at USB headsets (why would the microphones be any
different). I'm just kind of lost at this point. Thirty five or 40
years ago, when you bought a tape recorder they were reel to reel types
for playing around, not the expensive quality audio units, they all had
plug in microphones. I don't remember built in microphones. I can't
think of anyone that had a tape recorder that had problems with their
microphones.

So I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. I guess for folks to say
(if it's true) yes, you can buy a headset that has a working microphone
and no you don't have to mortgage the house or stop giving your dog
heartworm medicine to afford it. You should be looking at a specific
brand (although I have used a Plantronic amplified headset on my
telelphone for a good ten years and it has worked well).

Would appreciate your thoughts and opinions.

Thank you,
Jim

"Harmonica Lover" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm having a real problem with analog microphones. The short of it is
that in the past 10 days or so, I've purchased 3 headsets manufactured
by 3 different manufacturers and a microphone by an even different
manufacturer. All of the headsets and the microphone alone had
defective microphones. One of the headsets came with Creative labs
webcam. It has earpiece and microphone like what is found with
cellphones. Actually that particular microphone worked the best but a
person still had to raise their voice quite a bit and hold the inline
microphone right in front of the mouth to get a reasonable signal. The
other headsets were an Altec Lansing and Logitech. The Altec Lansing
you literally had to scream into the microphone to get a viable signal.
The microphone on the Logitech headset didn't work at all. The
microphone was a Plantronics desk microphone but you literally had to
hold that microphone within about and inch of your mouth to get a
viable signal.

It's possible some of the headsets you bought have microphones that require
DC on the microphone jack to power the internal circuits. If your soundcard
doesn't have this DC present, the microphone will have little or no output.

Peace,
Paul

Harmonica Lover wrote:
I'm having a real problem with analog microphones. The short of it is
that in the past 10 days or so, I've purchased 3 headsets manufactured
by 3 different manufacturers and a microphone by an even different
manufacturer. All of the headsets and the microphone alone had
defective microphones.

I'll bet they don't, but they have microphones that require what's
known as "plug-in power" (as opposed to phantom power). It's a scheme
that's fairly popular on Minidisk recorders and the like, but older
sound cards (those before anyone thought of needing a headset mic as a
home computer accessory) don't. Without power, these mics have little
or no output, which is just as you've described them.

I'm sure somebody must make an adapter, probably a box with a plug on
one end, a jack on the other end, and a battery inside, to solve this
problem. I'd go to a computer newsgroup rather than a pro audio
newsgroup to find it.

Harmonica Lover wrote:
I'm having a real problem with analog microphones. The short of it is
that in the past 10 days or so, I've purchased 3 headsets manufactured
by 3 different manufacturers and a microphone by an even different
manufacturer. All of the headsets and the microphone alone had
defective microphones. One of the headsets came with Creative labs
webcam. It has earpiece and microphone like what is found with
cellphones. Actually that particular microphone worked the best but a
person still had to raise their voice quite a bit and hold the inline
microphone right in front of the mouth to get a reasonable signal. The
other headsets were an Altec Lansing and Logitech. The Altec Lansing
you literally had to scream into the microphone to get a viable signal.
The microphone on the Logitech headset didn't work at all. The
microphone was a Plantronics desk microphone but you literally had to
hold that microphone within about and inch of your mouth to get a
viable signal.

You may need a battery box to power the mic if your sound card doesn't
supply the necessary power:

http://www.andreaelectronics.com/Buy...esc/APS100.htm

You may also need to check a box on the sound card recording control
panel to give an appropriate gain, though I think your problem is the
battery box is more likely the problem.

bobs

Bob Smith
BS Studios
we organize chaos
http://www.bsstudios.com

In article .com,
I'm having a real problem with analog microphones. The short of it is
that in the past 10 days or so, I've purchased 3 headsets manufactured
by 3 different manufacturers and a microphone by an even different
manufacturer. All of the headsets and the microphone alone had
defective microphones. One of the headsets came with Creative labs
webcam. It has earpiece and microphone like what is found with
cellphones. Actually that particular microphone worked the best but a
person still had to raise their voice quite a bit and hold the inline
microphone right in front of the mouth to get a reasonable signal. The
other headsets were an Altec Lansing and Logitech. The Altec Lansing
you literally had to scream into the microphone to get a viable signal.
The microphone on the Logitech headset didn't work at all. The
microphone was a Plantronics desk microphone but you literally had to
hold that microphone within about and inch of your mouth to get a
viable signal.

All these mikes require plug-in power. What are you plugging the thing
into, and does it have plug-in power available?

In an old electronic box I have, I found an old electret condenser
microphone that I purchased from Radio Shack some 20 years ago or so.
With that microphone I got a good signal on both the computer and the
cassette recorder.

I bet it takes a battery, doesn't it? And does not require plug-in power.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Mike Rivers" wrote:

I'll bet they don't, but they have microphones that require what's
known as "plug-in power" (as opposed to phantom power). It's a scheme
that's fairly popular on Minidisk recorders and the like, but older
sound cards (those before anyone thought of needing a headset mic as a
home computer accessory) don't. Without power, these mics have little
or no output, which is just as you've described them.

Maybe the sound card has a switchable mic power and it needs to be
switched on in the mixer applet of the sound card.

Norbert