Posted on 14 April 2009 by uddhava
In 2008 i reviewed the Anchor Audio Megavox Portable Soundset. Because our traditional Queensday Harinam in Amsterdam is about to happen again on april 30th i was pondering how to extend the battery life of this sound set. Although the battery life is already excellent (almost 6 hours, volume 50%) i needed more. The harinam lasts at least 8 hours so i need some extra juice. You can read my coming article about that soon.
If the internal battery is getting older and the capacity has decreased you could change it. The battery inside the megavox has the following specs according to Anchor : 12 V 5.4 Amp (Leoch DJW-12). But when i opened the megavox there was a different battery inside : PowerSonic PSH-1255F2-FR, 12 V 6.0 Amp (www.power-sonic.com). The dimensions are the same with 90×70x102 mm (HxWxD).
Anchor created a nice guide to replace the battery yourself. You can visit their blog or watch the slideshow. I have listed the necessary steps below with photos.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 7
Step 7
Step 8
(Copyright Anchor Audio)
Filed under: General, Guides, Harinam | Tagged: Harinam, megavox, megavox pro | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 10 April 2009 by uddhava
I have recently updated my review of the Megavox Pro and added some more insights and photos. Also i extended the review to include some direct competitors of the megavox. So go ahead, read it again
Filed under: Audio, Harinam, Reviews | Tagged: megavox, megavox pro, review | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 9 April 2009 by uddhava
Anchor HBM-60 Headband mic
The supplied headband microphone that comes with the Megavox Pro is not really sturdy and when you move a lot the microphone moves up and down. Secondly the whole headband construction is really flimpsy. So i set out to replace the headband mic.
The wireless receiver (WBM-6000) uses a 4-pin mini XLR male plug for the microphone input although only 3 wires are used to power the mic. I don’t know the reason why Anchor Audio uses a 4-pin plug, but this certainly limits the available headband microphones that can be connected. And also the wiring is different than most other plugs, so you need to be carefull.
So i went on internet and found this headband microphone from monacar that uses a 4-pin XLR plug. I could buy it from a local dealer in the Netherlands since Monacor does not sell to end customers. The price was 125 euro. When i received it by mail i tried it out for a quick test to see if it would work on the receiver. It didnt…. Be
Monacor HSE-130 Headband mic
carefull what you do here because when the wiring is different it could fry the microphone. So i needed to change the wiring of the 4-pin XLR plug on the headband mic. I e-mailed Anchor audio to find out the wiring schema of the WBM-6000 and also found the wiring schema of the Monacor mic (HSE-130) (see images). Then i resoldered the wires to the correct positions (see image below). Afterwards i tested the microphone and it worked!. I was really impressed by the sensitivity of the monacor mic compared to the supplied headband mic. It really picks up your voice more clearly and more loudly.
Here are some instructions with photos to show you how to do it:
Open the mini-XLR plug and locate the wiring of your HSE-130. It should be like this :
Wiring of the HSE-130 Headband mic on the Belt Pack
The wiring of the WBM-6000 Belt pack is different as you can see from this image:
Wiring of the WBM-Belt pack
So to get the HSE-130 working on the WBM-6000 belt pack we need to change the wiring:
HSE-130 -> WBM-6000
- The powersupply wire (on pin 4) needs to be soldered on pin 3
- The Audio in wire (on pin 3) needs to be soldered on pin 2
- The Mass (ground) wire (on pin 1&2) needs to be soldered on pin 1
Rewiring from HSE-130 -> WBM-6000
So with this guide i hope you can change your headband microphone for another type. I attached the wiring schema files for your conveinance:
Filed under: Audio, Guides, Harinam | Tagged: headband mic, megavox, microphone, WBM-6000 | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 4 February 2009 by uddhava
With my last post on the Tascam audio recorders i wanted to summarize the list of audiorecorders. Of course Mark Nelson (O’Reilly) made his excellent comparison list (read here), but to make it even more concise i present my list.
In order of liking:
- Edirol R09HR – comes with remote control and internal speaker.. Hard to beat but pricey for some
- Zoom H2 – Although very plastic still a good second and very cheap
- Tascam DR07 – no reviews yet but looks promising. 2GB SD card is included
- Olympus LS10 – Small and Tiny. Excellent battery life.
There are more recorders out there but i think the list above will fulfill the needs of devotees. If you are on a budget you can consider the H2, and now the Tascam. But at the moment the pound is very low compared to the euro so ordering in England can lead to good deals!!!
Filed under: General | Tagged: Audio, edirol, zoom | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 4 February 2009 by uddhava
The market is slowly filling up with decent wav/mp3 recorders now that Tascam has released two new recorders. The new DR07 and DR100 are there to get you recording classes and bhajans quickly. The DR07 comes even with a 2 GB SD memory card. Now that is what we always wanted!. And it uses standard AA batteries.. Way to go Tascam.
You can read all the details about the DR07 here
I saw the DR07 already for $199. That is not expensive at all with a 2GB SD card.
The DR100 is the bigger brother of the DR07. Tough it might be out of your budget, but if you crave for more microphones (4 instead of 2) then this is the machine to have. But we remind you it default comes with a internal LiOn battery. But you can also use AA batteries. Read more here.
When a review is posted about these gadgets i will post it. I wonder how it will compare to the Edirol R09HR.
Filed under: General | Tagged: Audio, mp3, recording, tascam | Leave a Comment »
