recordinghacks

Behringer ECM8000

Omnidirectional Condenser Microphone

Based on a small electret condenser capsule, the ECM8000 omnidirectional mic is billed as a measurement mic due to the flat frequency response of the capsule. In combination with appropriate test hardware, it can be used to benchmark loudspeakers, diagnose room modes, and so on.

Unsubstantiated reports state that the mic is, or was, manufactured by Tenlux.

The microphone body is physically identical to a 6mm measurement omni made by MBHO, the MBNM 550 EL. Another mic sharing this body is the Audix TR40.

Harvey Gerst, 2001

[The ECM8000s] are identical to the Audix TR-40, except in 3 areas: They’re silver, not black, they have gold XLR contacts, and they say Behringer on the barrel, not Audix. The plastic storage box is almost identical to the Audix as well (except a little taller). Listening to the self noise and sensitivity, they seem to be absolutely identical to the Audix TR-40.

The capsule has been reported to look like a Panasonic WM60-A, although Scott Dorsey has stated “it’s not a Panasonic capsule,” and further, “the capsule the Behringer [ECM8000] uses is a Chinese knockoff of the Japanese capsule design that [the] Earthworks [QTC1] uses. It’s a surprisingly good knockoff, though, considering it probably costs less than a quarter.”

The same rec.pro.audio exchange revealed that the ECM8000 (and QTC1/QTC40) have high levels of self-noise, in the neighborhood of 22-23 dB:

Norbert Hahn

The ECM 8000 has almost white noise between 300 Hz and 15 kHz, dropping then with 6 dB per octave. Between 300 Hz and 30 Hz the self noise rises by 18 dB at lower frequencies. Thus, the self noise of the ECM 8000 sounds like a mixture of pink and white noise.

Reports around the web indicate that Behringer has released two versions of this mic, one with a transformer and balanced output and the other with an integrated circuit-based, transformerless output. No model number or serial number designation has been made to identify this design change.^{1, 2}

An extensive and popular thread on homerecording.com details a monthlong odyssey by Marik (Mark Fouxman) to improve the ECM8000; see the sidebar link or jump to page 5 to read the results… unfortunately, the thread is, at this point, surprisingly unsatisfying in that the links to the sound clips are failing and there’s no real review of the modded mic.

See also the schematic for Marik’s ECM8000 mod, formerly hosted here (the link died in early 2011):
http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3626&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=ecm8000&start=27

The mic ships in a hard case with a mic clip.

The Behringer ECM8000 is also known as: ECM-8000.

Specifications

Frequency Response - OmnidirectionalClick Graph to Compare!

Pickup Patterns	Pads & Filters
Omnidirectional (1 mV/Pa; 15 - 20,000 Hz)

Capsule Dimensions	Impedance	SPL/Noise
Diameter n/a	600 Ohms (Low)

Weight	Length	Max Diameter	Interface(s)
120g (4.23oz)	n/a	n/a	3-pin XLR male (1)

Power Specifications
Requires phantom power Phantom voltage: 15-48v

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