# Lightweight Headset



## TheTheaterGeek (Jun 15, 2014)

I have been shopping for a headset and they are all pretty steep. Is there a way to just convert another mic'd headset into the xlr-4m and use that? I would really like to use my radio throat mic and earpiece. But that just plugs into my radio with a 1/8" tip ring sleeve. Could i make an adapter? or just splice into the cord?

Thanks in advance. 

Clay


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## n1ist (Jun 16, 2014)

I just wired up an adapter to use a regular PC mic/headset with a Telex beltpack. I used a 3-AA battery holder for the bias voltage. Worked nicely, but I'll likely add an attenuator since the mic was a bit louder than all of the other real Telex headsets in use.

/mike


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## TheTheaterGeek (Jun 17, 2014)

Did you have a diagram for the adapter?


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## n1ist (Jun 18, 2014)

Here's the schematic. I plan to rebuild it into a box with a battery holder and likely add a trimmer to adjust the mic level. I'll see if the headset works on 3V, since finding boxes with 2-cell holders is a lot easier than 3-cell. Alternatively, I could use 1 AA or AAA battery and add a boost converter to get 5V from it, or a low-dropout linear regulator and use those half-dead 9V batteries from the wireless mics that seem to collect everywhere.

/mike


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## Chris15 (Jun 18, 2014)

That's a fairly classical electret bias circuit, but normally there'd be a resistor, 10k or so, between what is connected to pins 1&2 of the XLR.
That might also serve as the atteunator you were considering, or at least half of it.

3V should work fine, you could drop the bias resistor from 2k2 down to 1k5 and keep the same max current draw.


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## TheTheaterGeek (Jun 18, 2014)

DUDE SWEET! Thanks!


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## howlingwolf487 (Jun 19, 2014)

Clay,

PointSource Audio just came out with one. You might want to look into that if you're doing shows frequently. I use an old Shure SM12a headset when I mix audio; I can remove the ear tube when I need to do some critical listening, and it's plenty loud to hear calls. I still prefer muffs for noisy environments, but I'm not usually mixing in those anyway.


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