So... Is it the sound or the caller

DougK

New member
I have been thinking about sound vs caller quality lately, you think about a lot when your up in the middle of the night with an 8 month old...

Specifically, if you take a very high quality sound (I am familiar with the Johnny Stewart sounds, which in my opinion set the bar for sound quality) and play it in any of the main stream callers will you be able to tell a difference? And will the predators really care?

I have my opinion. What do you think?

Thanks
Doug
 
There's differences in speaker quality for sure among e-callers.

My opinion is that among the best quality callers, they all have pretty good sound.

I get great sound out of the speaker with some played sounds...some sound horrible.

If the sound you are playing is not clear, has static & has been tweeked to maximize volume, it doesn't matter if you are playing it on a $1200 stereo, it'll still sound bad. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Barry
 
In my opinion, a caller has to have decent high-frequency response to work well. It would be very simple to add another speaker (a small dome tweeter) to an existing caller, and improve every one of them.

But I can't prove it (yet).

Especially with rodent/bird calls, you could sacrifice the bass response and increase the treble without making it less effective.

That's assuming the caller sound source even has high frequency content, it depends on the sampling rate and DAC they are using. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
Quote:
In my opinion, a caller has to have decent high-frequency response to work well. It would be very simple to add another speaker (a small dome tweeter) to an existing caller, and improve every one of them.

But I can't prove it (yet).

Especially with rodent/bird calls, you could sacrifice the bass response and increase the treble without making it less effective.

That's assuming the caller sound source even has high frequency content, it depends on the sampling rate and DAC they are using. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif



That's one of the reasons I like mouth blown calls. The accurate electronic reproduction of sounds is very complex, and it's expensive to do it well. I'm working on the faith that a good mouth blown call has all the frequencies it can produce every time I blow it. Besides, it's cheaper and easier to carry.

Having said that, I think their curiosity and hunger will make them investigate anything they haven't been educated about, so the precise calling sound doesn't matter much. I have never owned a mouth blown call that didn't work. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Johnny Stewart sounds are some of the best but humans are more concerned in sound quality than the predators they pursue are. What matters to me is how well built the call is that we use to play the sounds. To me JS sounds are great but their callers need major improving. As long as the caller I use is dependable performing when I need it to with a sound that the critters I am after like it then I am happy. I still do have an old JS tape caller that I have been using since I sent my FX3 off for an upgrade and have been very happy with it. I would hate to see a Preymaster with the same treatment that I have put this caller through. Heck I kinda doubt the FX3 would look to good either with that treatment. JS used to make a tank of a caller back in the day. I also have another JS tape caller that looks like a small hard shelled suitcase and takes either C cell or D cell batteries. Man that thing was expensive to use! Never did have the pleasure of owning the old record player JS.
 
The sound is very important. And the quality in my opinion. I have called in predators with a 8.00 cassette player from radio shack but i am sure i could call in more with better sounds. the quality of the speakers sound and the quality of animal sound is the differance in an animal coming on in or hanging up 1-200 yards out.

That being said i think there are a couple callers that have very good sound and some of the higher end calls that are horrible, we will be doing a comparison on the top calls soon and will play a song and you will be able to tell the clairity of the speakers. On our last outing we called in 18 coyotes in 1 day useing a snow shoe hare call in Texas. Go figure

Most people do not know what a rabbit actually sounds like so they would not know how poor the sound.

Just my opinion.
 
DougK,

We will also be doing our own video comparison. Remember that not only do you need quality sounds, but a unit that will best portray the quality sounds, and one that will deliver the necessary volume. Remember that the frequency of most of the animal distress sounds out there are portrayed very well by a horn type speaker, which is the most efficient out there, meaning that they deliver the greatest volume. There are a few sounds that will benefit from the use of a cone type speaker. Reality is, however, that the cone speakers are not a good choice for delivering volume. That is why, in our systems, we utilize both a horn type speaker and a cone type speaker, giving you the best compromise for animal sounds, not songs. Our comparison will not only portray music, but also animal sounds, and the frequency response of those sounds will also be displayed. Many will be suprised at the results. Some of the high end systems out there are either lacking in volume, or are not what they claim to be. More about this later.
 
Fox pro, Mike
No offence but carity is just that, if it wont play a song with clarity it wont play an animal recording with clairity. When you do your comparison you need the same thing playing on all or it wont be fair. If it will play a song clearly then it will have no problem playing a animal sound. I am in no way biased and if the FoxPro comes out to be the clearest i will tell and show everyone i can. but if it is not i will tell everyone wich one is.
I think FoxPro makes a good product but i am just trying to figure out wich one is best.

in:
remote responce, distance, obstructed, ETC.
clarity
loudness
eas of use
sounds availible number and quality
durability
batteries
price
ETC.

Does it matter whoes is the clearest, loudest, ETC? most of this will not effect you calling coyotes but we all want to get the most for our money. and it cant hurt if they cost the same.
 
Last edited:
Well,

I've got a WT2030, a foxpro FX5 and a Minaska BCB. I keep using the WT because to me it sounds better, but I've called in alot more yotes with the FX5 which unscientifically leads me to believe that once the sound quality reaches a certain point the coyote doesn't really care and will respond equally to a high quality sound played on any high quality machine (with all other factors being equal i.e. stand selection, wind, whether the coyote is educated, etc.)
 
Quote:
Well,

I've got a WT2030, a foxpro FX5 and a Minaska BCB. I keep using the WT because to me it sounds better, but I've called in alot more yotes with the FX5 which unscientifically leads me to believe that once the sound quality reaches a certain point the coyote doesn't really care and will respond equally to a high quality sound played on any high quality machine (with all other factors being equal i.e. stand selection, wind, whether the coyote is educated, etc.)



I would probubly agree with that but still want to know which one is clearer, louder ETC.
I have called in lots of coyotes and fox sqeaking with my lips while bowhunting deer.
 
We will be useing the meters on my camera. as far as how loud. I really dont know of a meter to show how clear????
 
I do have the ability to see the wave forms on my computer on playback. Although i dont understand what he was playing through both? I believe that in order for Foxpro to play something through the WT they would have to bypass the board wich may defeat the whole pupose? They need to do the same thing useing a mike useing the actual sound coming out of the speaker. that is what we and the animal hears. This is why on my comparison thread i suggested we play music so we can see and hear, and that way i know what the wave is supposed to be. I actually may be able to show those wave forms with the music. the actual form and the sound being played, compared
 
Last edited:
EDP,
If you take the new WT and connect an output jack to it, you can directly play it into whatever device you'd like.
I believe that waveform was generated playing digitally generated sine waves at various frequencies as shown beside each graph.
 
It plays out of the caller, just re-routed from the speaker. That way you can run it into any program you wish to actually see the soundwaves. With that, you can compare equal sounds between the various callers, overlay files and see how they compare and sound side by side with equal speakers, headphones...etc.
 
Back
Top