"mic" and "ear" labels are confusing

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Kahenraz
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Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2020 2:06 pm

"mic" and "ear" labels are confusing

Post by Kahenraz »

I was having trouble saving and loading from my TS1000. I had to read the manual to find out that they labeled these connectors to match the labeling of the cassette player, I guess to make it "easier" for the user. But it's confusing to me because "mic" is actually line-out (microphone/recording output) to be connected to the mic jack on the cassette machine and "ear" being line-in.

Surprise! :x
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1024MAK
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Re: "mic" and "ear" labels are confusing

Post by 1024MAK »

The Mic is at a ‘volume’ level far below a line out level.

As per the manual, it was designed for use with a shoe box sized monochrome cassette recorder, most of which had a ear output and a mic input, both on 3.5mm mono jack sockets. Hence the computers sockets were labelled with the same names so that the user could connect the like named sockets together with the supplied lead/cable.

To understand some things, you need to put your mindset back to 1981 when the vast majority of people had never even heard about computers, let alone see one or owned one.

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rob12770
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Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:39 am

Re: "mic" and "ear" labels are confusing

Post by rob12770 »

in this case its mic to mic, ear to ear
zx-heinz
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Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2017 8:56 pm

Re: "mic" and "ear" labels are confusing

Post by zx-heinz »

As already mentioned by MAK1024 the signal level at the MIC connector is much much smaller than a "line out level" of temporary voice recorders. It is just 5mV in contrast to 200mV for the last mentioned. Make sure you have the right equipment for that.
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