Behringer XM8500

ecc83

Well-known member
Took delivery yesterday of this £15 microphone* and am very impressed with the plastic carry case. The mic clip seems a bit daft, only fits the XLR and the body of the mic had become unscrewed by 1 turn.
The mic is very solid and I shall be doing a waffle test against my AKG P150 later today.

*Mentioned elsewhere in HR and I want cheap mics for my garden.

Dave.
 
Interested to hear how you think it is after your tests. I too am looking for cheap "bouncible" mic.

Ok, I shall try to crack on. Got to take the Trouble to the docs to be bled in 30 mins but will try to test it today. Note, I also have a Prodipe TT-1 which I found comparable to the Shure SM57, again a very chunky mic but twice the price of the Bherry.

Dave.
 
I have a the set of three XM8500 mikes that you can get.

Their audio quality is reasonable. Not fantastic, but will work fine.

The principle difference between an XM8500 and a, say, Shure SM58 is in the handling noise. The 58 has a solid, virtually indestructible body, and very little noise is transferred from your hand to the body to the capsule. On the other hand, the 8500 is a noisy thing to handle. Stick it on a stand and leave it alone, and it's fine.
 
I have a the set of three XM8500 mikes that you can get.

Their audio quality is reasonable. Not fantastic, but will work fine.

The principle difference between an XM8500 and a, say, Shure SM58 is in the handling noise. The 58 has a solid, virtually indestructible body, and very little noise is transferred from your hand to the body to the capsule. On the other hand, the 8500 is a noisy thing to handle. Stick it on a stand and leave it alone, and it's fine.

The spec shows a -70dB of sensitivity for the XM8500. Have you found you need a bunch extra gain for these compared to the SM58 (about -56dB)? Keep wondering if Behringer botched the spec.
 
The spec shows a -70dB of sensitivity for the XM8500. Have you found you need a bunch extra gain for these compared to the SM58 (about -56dB)? Keep wondering if Behringer botched the spec.

Ah! Now, yes Mark! I have done a quick waffle next to my P150 set to -10dB. The AKG just beats it but if I back the fader off in Samplitude to level them up it is about 5dB less sensitive than the P150. IIRC the cap' mic has a sensitivity of -38dB/Pa so, bash that to -48dB and add 5 = -53dB which is a wee bit optimistic but I did not get the impression that mic is any weaker than a 57 or my Prodipe?
Ran both into the KA6 with the gains at max.

So yes, Behringer have cocked up IMHO.

BTW. In deep do-da with Samplitudes* on my desktop. AMD Black 3G 6 core, been triffic for a couple of years but today Sam SE8 would not open "not responding" Tried Sam Silver ProX, no better. Opened the one I bought, Pro x 3 suite, got the demo tracks up but would not play..DEEEEP FEAR!

I eventually did the mics using Audacity! I have lodged a question with MAGIX because I don't know if I have an activation left for Pro x 3 and I might have to re-install W7 and that could lose me the other Samplitudes (reason for *)

I do have an image saved for the C drive but I have never done a repair using that yet. Presently running chkdisk.

'king computers!

Dave.
 
Good to hear your results. Thanks.
On Samplitude. In my experience (over many many years from Samp 9 onwards), Samplitude installs newer versions beside, not on top of older versions.
 
I did a quick comparison between the SM58 and what I thought was the XM8500 but was in fact an XM1800

It's a very low level recording, but the point was just to compare the levels of the two. It was a rough and ready test . . . I simply spoke into the SM58, then hotswapped to the XM1800 and continued

sm58 and XM1800 comparison
 
I bought 6 of the XM8500 for my Bluegrass band a few years. They are very good microphones, and you can get 5 for the price of one SM58. I'm cheap and won't pay $100 plus tax for a stage mic that isn't even manufactured in my home country...plus you have to worry about all the counterfeit ones out there (or so I hear). SM58 is a better sounding mic in my opinion, but not 5 times better. In the meantime, I slowly replaced the XM8500s with used AKG D770s that I have found here and there. I keep an older 58 and a 57 on hand for solo gigs. Nowadays the bass player keeps the Behringer mics at his place. Makes him feel important. Ha ha.
 
I did a quick comparison between the SM58 and what I thought was the XM8500 but was in fact an XM1800

It's a very low level recording, but the point was just to compare the levels of the two. It was a rough and ready test . . . I simply spoke into the SM58, then hotswapped to the XM1800 and continued

sm58 and XM1800 comparison

I'll add my 2 cents a few months after this thread, having just seen it. I've got an XM8500 and a three pack of XM2000S's that I've had for 15 years or so. I've also got SM57's and 58's. I use the XM8500 as my live mike at least weekly and use one of the XM2000S's as a bv mike for another band member. Confirming that the really cheapo XM2000S's are quite susceptible to handling noise. They also use the same capsule as the XM8500, which is a lot less handling noise prone than the XM2000S's. Personally I prefer the XM8500 to the SM58 but that's just me. Both my XM8500 and the XM2000S's have had hard lives with hundreds of gigs under their belts and they still go just fine. They've been dropped, kicked and thumped and all. I've never had a problem with any of them and if I did I'd just buy some more, they're so damned cheap. I'm sure they still sell by the truckload. The reason why I got back interested in them is to see if they work as well as 57's as tom mikes in a recording situation within a full compliment of much more expensive, traditional mike choices. I'm planning to find out. I'll come back with the results of that if anyone's interested. G.
 
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I sold my drum kit so I'll have to wait for a mate to do a full test of the XM8500's and XM2000's as cheapo tom mikes but in the mean time I do have a conga so maybe I can do a small comparison using that, hit with drum sticks. Nothing fancy and just SM57 v XM8500 v XM2000, no SM58 into a Behringer UB1202FX & Audacity via a USB Soundblaster. 48Khz 24bit, no EQ, 2:1 compression at -3db made up to 0db exported as WAV and uploaded to YouTube. All three mikes are about the same vintage, 15 years old and I think the SM57 is therefore Mex. I'll leave you to decide the differences. One thing though, both Behringers were hotter than the 57.

 
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"So what's exactly wrong with cassettes then?" How long have you got?
And if it is an HF test you want to do, jangle a bunch of keys.

Dave.
 
Many people who bought it also quite liked the solid carry case it comes with. Overall the Behringer XM8500 is rated as the best budget dynamic microphone when used for live vocals through a PA system.
 
I used an XM8500 for guide vocals in a recent session (the band had a bunch of them). The sound was OK but the pops and breath noise was pretty bad so I guess you need to learn good mic technique if you want to use one successfully.
 
I'll add my 2 cents a few months after this thread, having just seen it. I've got an XM8500 and a three pack of XM1800S's that I've had for 15 years or so. I've also got SM57's and 58's. I use the XM8500 as my live mike at least weekly and use one of the XM1800S's as a bv mike for another band member. Confirming that the really cheapo XM1800S's are quite susceptible to handling noise. They also use the same capsule as the XM8500, which is a lot less handling noise prone than the XM1800S's. Personally I prefer the XM8500 to the SM58 but that's just me. Both my XM8500 and the XM1800S's have had hard lives with hundreds of gigs under their belts and they still go just fine. They've been dropped, kicked and thumped and all. I've never had a problem with any of them and if I did I'd just buy some more, they're so damned cheap. I'm sure they still sell by the truckload. The reason why I got back interested in them is to see if they work as well as 57's as tom mikes in a recording situation within a full compliment of much more expensive, traditional mike choices. I'm planning to find out. I'll come back with the results of that if anyone's interested. G.
It doesnt have the same capsules.
8500 has a SHURE RPM150 type capsule design but turned 180° and with two lines of demping port, and fully functioning back bass port. 1800s has a classicy cheap akg d55s like or could say, any cheap philips/lg etc capsule design, but with additional mesh on it.
 
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