Anyone know of a good electret mic & small speaker that can pick up broad freq range?

[AudioWorks]

Ive had an idea for something in my head for a good while and im just now getting to the point of prototyping it. ONe part of the project has a small 3in speaker in it and i would like to mic the speaker with in the tiny cabinet.
Im wondering about those small elecret mics if you can find any good quality ones that can pick up lows as well as highs with a clean clear signal. Or if theres another small type of mic i could look into. Im wondering what they use for those little handheld portable recorders that have the two small stereo mics, that would prob even have a mic with an even higher quality then i prob need.

Also does any body know of good quality rather small 1-4inch speaker?
Im just looking faithfull reproduction in both and as good a quailty i can get at these small sizes, i dont need anything esoteric or vintage.
Thanks for any help

[rocket]

There is an article in the net about building hi-Q mics from panasonic (I think) electret capsules ( type is something like ...65 or ...66)

For speaker you can look for Fostex wide range speakers (if you need wide/full range).
They are HIFI though with low efficiency compared to guitar speakers.

[Enzo]

"High quality" 3" speakers are just as limited in their low end response as cheap crummy ones. Tweeters don;t make good woofers, regardless of quality. I can't think of anything with a 3" speaker that honestly sounded like a larger speaker. I would suggest making a "proof of concept" unit with parts you can find, and then if it works reasonably, you can think about what part changes might make improvements. I think most of those little electrets don;t sound bad. If you want something of real quality, consider a lapel mic or a headset mic element, AT makes some nice ones for example.

I don't know what you are doing, but in my mind I imagine you building a little isolation chamber.


Maybe related or not, a story:
I like to laugh and tell jokes, so one day I decided I needed a rim shot. I carried one of those pocket recoders at the time, for taking business notes. I got out a drum machine, and carefully recorded some rim shots, a bass drim ke-thump or two, and a few other drum hits. Then I went to play them back. let me just say that my nice big bass drum thud comes out of the little 2" pocket recorder speaker more like a little "thp." yes, the sound you make when trying to spit a hair off your tongue. The actual rim shot came out more like "tick."

SO much for my big "Pocket Rim Shot" being the next big thing...

[AudioWorks]

I hate to give away my silly little idea but its just got to be pretty small, its more for an effect to add to guitar and keys, i mean you wouldnt allways have the effect 100 percet wet it be more like 50 50 mixed in with original. Im just looking for the best quailty small speakers i can find. I might go up to 6 inch and i would have some tone controls built in to boost the bass and other frequencies.

[Enzo]

Get some small speakers from any source, a table radio or dead TV even. Make a small enclosure for them. Play music through them. Listen to the results, make it sound nice. Now goose the EQ to try to get more extended range from them. I think you will find it pretty tough to get a lot of 100Hz out of a 3" speaker no matter what. Just because you can EQ it in, doesn;t mean speaker can put it out. A lot of commercial music boosts like 250 to fool you into thinking there is bass response.

If you get something you think sounds nice, then you can worrky about sticking a mic in front of it. On the other hand, experiement separately with the little mic elements. They will probably sound OK, but they will need a power source. And you can find out how much SPL they can handle without sounding like crap.

And I am still assuming an isolation chamber idea, but instead of looking for small speakers, try a headphones driver. Play whatever you are doing through headphones and stick a little mic in the earpiece. And I never use them, but what about ear buds? Tape an ear bud right on the front of a mic capsule. How's that work for you?

[Tom Phillips]

Rather than a small speaker I think you could use the element from a headphone or maybe a decent ear bud type unit. They do give amazing sound for their size. The important factors, I believe, are the relatively low SPL and the chamber (your ear canal) that it sits in. You can produce low frequencies with a small element, you just need to keep the overall SPL very low. A very small chamber with an ear bud at one end and an electret mic at the the other might satisfy your need. Since it would operate at at low sound level you would need to sound proof it well to prevent high sound level from outside sources from getting into the chamber.
Regards,
Tom