Question on threshold on the SE

[John S]

If your in all metal ( iron mask) will the threshold make any difference in the depth?? The book setting is 16 and I run mine on 10. I can jist here it , if I put up to 12 will I get more depth??

 

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[Ant]

I did not notice that.
But I did notice that it affected the sound of deep small targets. So if you want to hear the smaller deep targets, like coins, I would suggest that you keep the threshold at the stock setting of 16.

If 16 is too loud for you, use headphones that have a volume adjustment so you can turn it down without affecting the threshold sensitivity.

HH

 

[Brett]

From what the manual says, it does not seem you should turn up the threshold any higher than necessary to hear it. The lowest volume produced by the detector rides on the threshold level... so you want to set it to the lowest setting you are able to clearly hear.

From the manual:

Threshold is the constant background
‘hum’ produced by the detector.
This control sets the Threshold Volume.
By setting the Threshold Volume to the
correct level for your hearing, Threshold
can highlight the variations in signal
response which often indicate detection
of a target.

The volume of the Threshold is a
personal preference. The correct level
will depend on your hearing and
associated noise such as wind and
machinery.
If the Threshold Volume is high,
accepted targets will be harder to
distinguish above the Threshold ‘hum’.
Small target responses will become
difficult to discern as Threshold nears a
maximum setting of 40 when there will
be a persistently loud Threshold ‘hum’.

Threshold
Range: 0 to 40
Factory Preset: 16

If the Threshold Volume is too low, the
slight variation caused by a small or
deep target may not be sufficient to
hear. Adjusting the level to below an
audible level will ensure silent operation
but could mask the audio response to
small targets.

The factory preset Threshold of 16
will usually emit a constant Threshold
hum and is programmed to enable an
audible response to most target signals.
Since everyone’s hearing is different, so
Minelab suggests that you set a level
of Threshold that is a very low, but still
audible level for hearing.

The level you set this to will depend on the type of headphones you have, the environment you are in and how well your hearing is. Don't set this to a number someone else recommends because it won't be the right number for you.

HH!

 

[Ant]

Threshold is the constant background
‘hum’ produced by the detector.
This control sets the Threshold Volume.
By setting the Threshold Volume to the
correct level for your hearing, Threshold
can highlight the variations in signal
response which often indicate detection
of a target.

The volume of the Threshold is a
personal preference. The correct level
will depend on your hearing and
associated noise such as wind and
machinery.
If the Threshold Volume is high,
accepted targets will be harder to
distinguish above the Threshold ‘hum’.
Small target responses will become
difficult to discern as Threshold nears a
maximum setting of 40 when there will
be a persistently loud Threshold ‘hum’.

Threshold
Range: 0 to 40
Factory Preset: 16

If the Threshold Volume is too low, the
slight variation caused by a small or
deep target may not be sufficient to
hear. Adjusting the level to below an
audible level will ensure silent operation
but could mask the audio response to
small targets.

The factory preset Threshold of 16
will usually emit a constant Threshold
hum and is programmed to enable an
audible response to most target signals.
Since everyone’s hearing is different, so
Minelab suggests that you set a level
of Threshold that is a very low, but still
audible level for hearing.

ML seems to be talking both ways. I pointed it out in bold lettering.

I hunted with my threshold at the lowest point of audible hearing and I was missing small deep targets. When I went back to the factor setting of 16 I got better results.

 

[Brett]

Minelab is not double speaking... you just have to know what they mean by what happens when you turn up the threshold too high. I thought this might be confusing but I was too lazy before to take a screenshot of the manual. A picture is worth a thousand words... so check this out... and then I'll explain a bit further.



Notice how the size of the two targets in both graphs are the same extending from the threshold level? That is because the threshold level sets the lowest audio volume level that the detector produces. The highest volume is adjusted by the Volume Max Limit setting. All sounds in between are compressed to fit the scale, i.e. there is no clipping of sounds.

If you set the threshold below your audible hearing level, you cannot hear the threshold hum and won't be able to hear some of the really soft sounds. This is really only true when you don't have your gain maxed out, and faint signals come through as faint sounds.

But if you adjust the threshold too high, i.e. north to 40! which is what Minelab says... then basically you are going to hear a threshold hum just about as loud as your detector can make sounds... and all of the signal sounds will be compressed within the range between that really loud threshold level and the volume Max Limit level. Basically, you'll just hear BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!! constantly... lol

So if you set your threshold to just above your audible hearing level for the headphones you have and the environment you are in... you will get the maximum dynamic range of audio volume possible for the range of target sounds produced by your detector.

I hunted with my threshold at the lowest point of audible hearing and I was missing small deep targets. When I went back to the factor setting of 16 I got better results.

When you say you had adjusted it at the lowest point of audible hearing... could you barely hear the threshold then? Because you want it just above your audible hearing level so that you can clearing distinguish when it nulls out and when those faint signals bump it up a touch.

When you went back to the factory setting of 16, what do the deep faint signals sound like to you now vs. when the threshold was lower?

Also, what Gain setting are you running?

 

[Ant]

I'll try setting it back to it's lowest point again to see what happens again.

Thanks

 

[Ant]

I tuned it like this:

I turned the volume all the way up on the SE, and on my headphones too. Then I adjusted the threshold down to the point I could not hear it and then I adjusted it back up to the point of just hearing it.

Deep faint signals sound like a crackly low pitch threshold interruption, with a hint of a high pitch. I hunt in ferrous tones and AM mode. I run my gains at the stock level of 8, but as a last result I’ll quite the machine down by lowering the gains down, never lower than 4.

The sounds are the same but I get deeper targets. What I found was that I got much more depth on small targets, as well as finding more small targets overall.

 

[Brett]

That is quite interesting Ant... I'll have to give that a try on my E-Trac and see what happens. I have a nice 8" dime buried that would be a decent test... although it's like BEEP BEEP on my E-Trac. Maybe I'll have to bury one at 10".

 

[Born2Dtect]

Ant , you do know a lot about your machine, but I think you may be surprised (pleasantly) if you read Andy Sabisches(?) new book on Explorers and the E-trac.

I would think setting the gain first would be better, then adjusting the threshold as you suggested.

Ed D.

 

[Iron Patch]

Easy answer... Leave the threshold and crank your gain.

 

[NGE]

Mr. bad ears here, I crank my gain, heck I crank everything but the thresh hold..........NGE EXPLORER XS

 

[Iron Patch]

Mr. bad ears here, I crank my gain, heck I crank everything but the thresh hold..........NGE EXPLORER XS

Then turning up your threshhold a little is no big deal. I have do it once in a while on the very windy days.

 

[Brett]

Easy answer... Leave the threshold and crank your gain.

Are you answering the first post? What do you mean by "leave the threshold" ?

 

[Ant]

He must have meant, leave the threshold at the stock setting of 16 and crank the gains from the stock setting of 8, to 10.

 

[Iron Patch]

Easy answer... Leave the threshold and crank your gain.

Are you answering the first post? What do you mean by "leave the threshold" ?

First post says he can just hear it, so leave it there and crank the gain.