Whats is your "Audio Response" Set to? :jump:

[Bell-Two]

I really dont think you are missing anything running in normal. Its the Normal mode to be in. Mostly preference. Read Andy's book...tells all about it.

Andys book says exactly what the manual says. pg 31 in Sabisch's Book... regarding normal and i quote "This is the easiest mode to learn BUT in high trash sites can result in targets in close proximity to the 1st detected target to BE MISSED" Then he refers us back to the owners manual

.......I am not trying to be rude but you are wrong.. We now have the owners manual and Andy's book telling us the same thing....

So in conclusion, If we are hunting a trashy site or a "Hunted out park" Normal is not the mode to be in.....

So in conclusion, Its up the the operator as to what response he is comfortable with.

You realize on page 31 Andy is talking about the Explorer and not the E-Trac. One of the difference in the two machines is recovery speed, the E-Trac supposedly recovers faster which may obviate the caveat of the statement on page 31. But as stated try different setting and find what works best for you at your different sites.

Andy's book is very helpful but requires careful reading since he is discussing different models and sometimes switches between the two without a lot of warning!

 

[digmeahole]

I really dont think you are missing anything running in normal. Its the Normal mode to be in. Mostly preference. Read Andy's book...tells all about it.

Andys book says exactly what the manual says. pg 31 in Sabisch's Book... regarding normal and i quote "This is the easiest mode to learn BUT in high trash sites can result in targets in close proximity to the 1st detected target to BE MISSED" Then he refers us back to the owners manual

.......I am not trying to be rude but you are wrong.. We now have the owners manual and Andy's book telling us the same thing....

So in conclusion, If we are hunting a trashy site or a "Hunted out park" Normal is not the mode to be in.....

So in conclusion, Its up the the operator as to what response he is comfortable with.

You realize on page 31 Andy is talking about the Explorer and not the E-Trac. One of the difference in the two machines is recovery speed, the E-Trac supposedly recovers faster which may obviate the caveat of the statement on page 31. But as stated try different setting and find what works best for you at your different sites.

Andy's book is very helpful but requires careful reading since he is discussing different models and sometimes switches between the two without a lot of warning!

Actualy It starts in the E-Trac section on page 42 which he then referers E-trac users back to page 31 and i quote pg 41 now

" The four options are the same as those found on the Explorer se & se Pro. A description of the different options is provided on page 31"

 

[Flambeaux]

I went out this morning with the sole purpose to try out the other responses. Long story short......Im sticking with Normal...tho I will continue to tryout Long until I can really see a difference in targets that I might of missed.

 

[digmeahole]

I went out this morning with the sole purpose to try out the other responses. Long story short......Im sticking with Normal...tho I will continue to tryout Long until I can really see a difference in targets that I might of missed.

What is it that you didn't like about long or smooth.... I didn't get a chance to try it yet....

 

[UtahRich]

Digmeahole -

This topic has been discussed at length since the original Explorer XS came out nearly a dozen years ago and if you would like to really gain a greater understanding about the Audio Response setting you can research the archives for both the Explorer and the E-trac forums.

There are a lot of experts on this and the Explorer forum that I respect for their skills with their detector and their willingness to share THEIR way of doing it. I would be willing to bet that every one of the them has read the owners manual more than once as well as Andy's books on the Explorer and the E-trac. (He's written two) A novice might be shocked to learn that they set up their detectors differently. Those more experienced hunters have come to learn that mineralization, trash content, ground moisture, hearing capabilities, headphone response, sweep speed, target depths, your level of patience that day and a bunch of other variables all influence how we interact with our detectors.

Andy's book is a fantastic guide to get a Minelab newbie started as well as a great reference for the more experienced user looking to tweak their detector to the local conditions. I have read it many times myself. Besides Andy's book, this forum is also an excellent well of knowledge where real life people gather to share experiences, answer questions, and solve troubles. I wouldn't want to curtail the willingness of others to share their settings by responding back that their choices are wrong or in error and hope that you would extend those same courtesies to those who respond to your posts.

Sometimes we learn things from the most unexpected sources.

Best of luck in the field

Rich (Utah)

 

[digmeahole]

Digmeahole -

This topic has been discussed at length since the original Explorer XS came out nearly a dozen years ago and if you would like to really gain a greater understanding about the Audio Response setting you can research the archives for both the Explorer and the E-trac forums.

There are a lot of experts on this and the Explorer forum that I respect for their skills with their detector and their willingness to share THEIR way of doing it. I would be willing to bet that every one of the them has read the owners manual more than once as well as Andy's books on the Explorer and the E-trac. (He's written two) A novice might be shocked to learn that they set up their detectors differently. Those more experienced hunters have come to learn that mineralization, trash content, ground moisture, hearing capabilities, headphone response, sweep speed, target depths, your level of patience that day and a bunch of other variables all influence how we interact with our detectors.

Andy's book is a fantastic guide to get a Minelab newbie started as well as a great reference for the more experienced user looking to tweak their detector to the local conditions. I have read it many times myself. Besides Andy's book, this forum is also an excellent well of knowledge where real life people gather to share experiences, answer questions, and solve troubles. I wouldn't want to curtail the willingness of others to share their settings by responding back that their choices are wrong or in error and hope that you would extend those same courtesies to those who respond to your posts.

Sometimes we learn things from the most unexpected sources.

Best of luck in the field

Rich (Utah)

I actual did several searches on E-Trac and audio response and did not find what i was looking for. Thanks for the info but if you read all my posts I did not say any ones choice was wrong I said there statements were in error as they were....

In fact i specifically asked what there choice was and why they used it. I am sorry if you feel that telling someone that there statement is incorrect is not courtesies but I don't agree with you..... I know if i am wrong about something.... which i am often that i want to know. You learn something new every day...after all, isn't that why were all here?

 

[Bell-Two]

quote Digmeahole

" The four options are the same as those found on the Explorer se & se Pro. A description of the different options is provided on page 31"

Which is true you have the same four choices but they are implemented on a different platform so the results are not neccesarily the same. The E-Trac has a faster processor according to Minelab. I have not used an Explorer but have friends that have used or do use both the Explorer and E-Trac and they all tell me that the E-Trac does recover faster. But what it comes down to use whatever works best for you that is always the bottom line.

 

[digmeahole]

quote Digmeahole

" The four options are the same as those found on the Explorer se & se Pro. A description of the different options is provided on page 31"

Which is true you have the same four choices but they are implemented on a different platform so the results are not neccesarily the same. The E-Trac has a faster processor according to Minelab. I have not used an Explorer but have friends that have used or do use both the Explorer and E-Trac and they all tell me that the E-Trac does recover faster. But what it comes down to use whatever works best for you that is always the bottom line.

From what i understand it has nothing to do with the processor or the recovery time. It the way the tone is designed. Its designed according to the manual to drop out to give a sharp end to the tone. So i don't think that would apply. And your absoulty right its what ever you like but I want to know I have every chance of finding that 1 silver or gold that was so close to junk that no one caught it yet! This detector was a huge investment for me as i am not rich so i want to learn as much as i can about it! And try and understand it the best way a newb can!

 

[utahshovelhead]

If there was one magic setting that worked in all areas that would be very nice. I use different audio for different reasons and areas. they each have advantages. I use normal the most but about 60 % of the time.

 

[Goes4ever]

Ok I tried long and smooth both today at the park when I had two close signals and it was absolutely horrible, I couldnt make out anything, it was just a mess of musical jumbo. I flipped int normal and could easily tell the two targets apart. Another thing i did not like was it made it hard to pinpoint because it makes the target seem bigger. I will give it another try in TTF next time but for a park that is trashy, I think it is worthless for me.

 

[Digger]

I view the Audio Response as one of those pieces of functionality that allows the user to most accurately "duplicate" the type of sound they may have gotten use to with previous detectors. If you've been hunting for several years, you've probably had at least one detector that you wish you still had, just because of the sound it made when you struck pay-dirt! If the E-TRAC is one of the first detectors you've owned, then it is just a matter of what sound suits your style. As someone who has owned more detectors than they care to admit, here is my take on it......

Most of my detecting is for old coins at old sites. Typically old farm fields where homesteads or Fair Grounds use to be. In those areas, I use Normal at least 90% of the time. TTF in areas with an abundance of iron and MTC in areas with small amounts of iron or an abundance of "modern" trash. I know the book says that "experienced users" could benefit from Long tones. If that makes me a "beep and dig" kind of guy, so be it. But I like hearing each target signals start and stop, with a break or short burst of Threshold in between. And if I control the coil speed for the specific site, Normal tones provide me with all the audio information I need to determine when to dig. I don't view the "break" or "null" to effect my "reset time" any more than when the audio pitch has to change for each target. If it does, then I'm sweeping too fast anyway.

To me, the continuous sound of using Long tones makes me think too hard. If they work well for the "experienced users", good for them. In the places I hunt, I just don't feel Long tones are beneficial if I listen carefully to each target, can hear each one's signal "start and stop, and slow down my sweep accordingly. If the area I am hunting is extremely congested with targets and separation is the issue, a small coil and slow sweep will separate those targets better than any audio response I could select. With that said, there are times when I've had some success using Long tones. But in those instances, I didn't use Long tones to decrease my "reset time". I did it because the I was hunting an old fair ground that is filled with nails, shotgun shell casings and an occassional coin. Hearing the differences between iron, shotgun shell casings and coins in MTC is much different than listening to an abundance of modern trash that produces tones similar in pitch to an old coin. In those sites, I never use Long tones or TTF.

I don't like Smooth tones because the variability of the pitch is "rounded off". I set my Variability to 28 to hear a wide range of pitch, and feel it is "wasted" if I reduce the effectiveness by using Smooth tones.

Pitch Hold does not provide me with the target separation that I believe I can get from Normal. If I want to hear the highest pitch over a target that I think might be good, I'll use Normal to locate it and Pinpoint to isolate it. I don't need a continuously changing tone to confuse the issue.

Audio tones are like many of the other "options" offered on the E-TRAC. My advice to you is to find the one you best interpret, and stick with it until you have it mastered. JMHO HH Randy

 

[digmeahole]

Thank you digger and everyone else that posted here.
This has been a good thread and a great learning experience!
very intense learning process for me!

 

[AL KS]

Amen to that digger. That's my take on it too. Tried all of them and i like normal the best, long and smooth are to much for my ear's to take. pithhold is'nt as bad but i prefer normal. AL

 

[JamesBondaka]

I believe that this audio question only really applies to a deep or weak signal. If you have a strong or normal signal...it wont really matter what setting you set it on and might make it even worse. In other words.....changing a weak signal might have benefits and changing a good(normal) signal just might be overload.