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Since the release of the 756Pro it has become very obvious that the Heil Goldline is ideally suited to this radio.The Goldline has a full range audio response with deep, rich bass and brilliant highs that the 756Pro passes so willingly.The 756Pro also has the microphone EQ and dynamic range needed to fully tailor and highlight the Goldline to suit your voice and personal taste as to how you want to sound. |
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Several weeks after receiving my Pro in early January my Heil Goldline arrived and was an immediate success. The Goldline plugged right in and worked without any fussing, even my EQ settings I had been running with my SM-20 were the same settings required for best sound with the Goldline.
Once the main shipments of 756Pros began arriving at the start of February my Goldline experience has been duplicated over and over. Friends of mine who had 756Pros on order began plugging their Goldlines into them or buying Goldlines with their Pros after hearing my Goldline/756Pro station.
The Goldline having a full range cartridge as well as the more sharp HC-5 communications quality cartridge gives you everything you need with a beautifull sounding full range studio audio setting as well as the more loud and sharp HC-5 cartridge far better suited to weak signal work and pileup crashing. I do have to clarify here that the HC-5 cartridge on the 756Pro does sound quite good and is not exactly a poor second to the Goldline cartridge but something you can use freely when you need that extra punch.
Your settings for your Goldline on your 756Pro will vary depending on your voice, how loud and how close you talk to the microphone and how you want to sound. I'll give you sound baseline settings ranges here based on my findings and those of others running the Goldline on the 756Pro. I'm speaking here primarily about the full range setting.
Between about half and full open on the mike gain seems to be about right for most people with the Goldline. The Pro does seem to be quite forgiving in this area. For instance I can run mine at full mike gain and speak in a low or medium loudness and do not get too loud or have excessive background noise. Of course if you are in a high noise situation obviously you would want to try half gain and maybe even work downward from there. You do not need the compressor engaged and you certainly do not need any accessory amplifier for adequate transmit audio volume with Heil microphones on the 756Pro as you may or may not have needed with earlier Icom HF rigs. For instance with my SM-20 I found I need to half my mike gain setting on the Pro as compared to my 756. The 756Pro has a very hot mike input compared to earlier Icoms.
I'm finding out the 756Pro/Goldline setup is also quite forgiving in the EQ department. Meaning that although the EQ range on the Pro is quite dramatic and you will find a "best" setting, you don't need to worry too much about being a little off and sounding "bad". Here are my settings for my voice. My voice is a bit deeper than average although not deep deep, plus I speak in a fairly low voice close to the microphone making me sound a bit deeper.
I've found my best settings are +5db treble and between +1 and +3 bass. This might be a bit high on the treble if your voice has more high content in which case you will likely need a little less treble. And if your voice has less bass OR you want to sound more "bassy" you can go higher on the bass and not sound bad all of a sudden. Like I said above, this setup is very forgiving and there are a wide range of acceptable settings. But with everyone I've worked with so far, this high boost with a bit above zero on the bass is definitely a common theme. I've yet to hear a woman's voice on a 756Pro/Goldline station but I suspect the ideal settings would be about the same with maybe with a substantial increase in bass boost in some cases. I'm going to get a friend to get his wife on his station soon if I can so that should be enlightening. You'll find in general you don't need to worry too much about either hard piercing highs or overly deep droning bass with this setup like you may have had to with trying to run other full range setups.
A friend, Darrell (N8FTS) who runs a outboard EQ/Mixer/Maximizer setup, is running his 756Pro/Goldline with his audio rack he ran on his 775 with tremendous success. He seems to be getting a fairly unanimous response that he sounds about the same as he did on his 775 only better. The comments seem to be all around the same theme, that he sounds somewhat clearer, has more clarity, more "resolution" (my words) and has a little more bass. He also seems to have lost the situation where when he ran a little too much bass his bass would get "drony" or resonate like on the 775. The most notable difference I've noticed is that when Darrell runs the Goldline directly into the mike jack of the Pro without the audio rack inline, he sounds almost the same as with the audio rack. On the 775 he sounded quite a bit different (better) with the audio rack inline as opposed to direct into the mike jack.
The Goldline has very little proximity effect. With most full range microphones you'll find the closer you get to the mike the more bass you will have, out of proportion to the normal increase in loudness by getting closer. This is called "Proximity Effect". For instance, my SM-20 has a very pronounced proximity effect, much to my detriment. I always wanted to put a windscreen on my SM-20 to eliminate "voice explosives" but never could bring myself to do it because the windscreen puts me an extra inch from the element and I would lose a good portion of my bass content. This is not the case with the Goldline, a windscreen makes no significant difference in bass response with the Goldline.
Radio Shack has a black foam windscreen (USA part #33-4001) that fits the Goldline perfectly and it covers the entire gold screen area of the Goldline. I find this ideal for keeping my Goldline pristine and new. The screen has no effect on your audio but keeps all dust, cat hair, spit, cigarette smoke, whatever out of my Goldline. And this windscreen slides on and off easily without special precautions so you can take it off when you have visitors to your station which you obviously will want to do to show off your Goldline's great looks.
The Goldline is fully compatible with standard mike stands and boom assemblies. Of course Bob Heil also makes and sells high quality booms and stands including a Luxo. I would recommend using some sort of a boom assembly as opposed to a desk/table stand as the Goldline with it's extreme bass response is going to pick up every vibration in your table. Even the hum from your Astron power supply will go through the stand and into the mike resulting in dreaded "table rumble". At least two of my 756Pro/Goldline compadres have got fluffy towels folded underneath their Goldline's desk stand to clear up table rumble.
