Electret Condenser Microphone (ECM) Preamplifier


Posted on Feb 6, 2014

A microphone amplifier that may be used with either Electret Condenser Microphone (ECM) inserts or dynamic inserts, made with discrete components. The preamplifier circuit is self stabilizing and will set its quiescent point at roughly half the supply voltage at the emitter of Q2. This allows maximum output voltage swing and also the highest dynam


Electret Condenser Microphone (ECM) Preamplifier
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ic range. Both transistors should be low noise types. In the original circuit, I used BC650C which is an ultra low noise device. These transistors are now hard to find but BC549C or BC109C are a good replacement. The electret condenser microphone (ECM) contains a very sensitive microphone element and an internal FET preamp, a power supply in the range 2 to 10 volts DC is therefore necessary. Suitable ECM`s may be obtained from Maplin Electronics. Although the schematic is drawn showing a three terminal ECM, two terminal ECM`s may be used, the following page in the practical section shows the changes. The 1k resistor limits the current to the mic. This resistor should be increased to 2k2 if a supply voltage above 12 Volts DC is used and is not needed if the Mic insert is dynamic. The first stage amplifier built around Q1 is run at a very low collector current. This factor contributes to a very high overall signal to noise ratio and low overall noise output. The emitter resistor of Q1 is decoupled by the 100u realizing a maximum gain for this stage. The noise response of the amplifier measured across the 10k load is shown below. Please note that this plot was made with the mic insert replaced by a signal generator. The second stage amplifier, built around Q2 is direct coupled, this minimizes phase shift effects (introduced with capacitive and inductive coupling methods) and acheives a flat output response from 20Hz to over...




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