Phoenix MT-301 Quattro Conferencing Speakerphone with USB Interface

High quality equipment. Good value for the money. Would deal with this vendor again.

Microphones for conference rooms present several challenges. Table top mics sometimes have trouble picking up all participants around a conference table and also are susceptible to noise from people opening laptops, tapping fingers, putting down coffee cups or similar activities. Any rigid large plane - the table top itself -will act as a a sound board - just like the sound board on a guitar or piano, or, if you like, a drumhead - and transmit any vibrations imparted to it to the mic itself. Table top mics also present problems with cord placement. Unless the room has been configured so the microphone cable can run through a floor chase (a tunnel - unlikely) - people will have to try to step over or around it, successfully sometimes, sometimes not. Gaffers tape may help or maybe just stick to people's shoes. A ceiling mounted mic avoids some of the problems of imparted noise, as well - usually - as the problems of people stepping on the mic cable. They present other issues, however. Mount them near noisy air ducts and you may simply replace table top noise with HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) sounds. And while ceiling cord runs may avoid the problem of acting as tripwires, they will usually be longer than a table top run with potentially greater signal degradation. Ceiling mounts, because they are sited on a room boundary, also are more prone to picking up room echoes. The Phoenix Quattro overcomes these issues successfully, at least in the installation in our 15' x 19' seminar room, with the help of an extra long (10 meter/32 foot) active USB cable and the built-in Phoenix echo cancelling software. The active USB cable, which as the name suggests, actively boosts the cable signal to compensate for the longer cable run, lets us mount our Quattro on our 9 foot ceiling, about 6 feet above the table itself, thus avoiding any problems with cable placement. And the echo cancelling software, plus the omnidirectional nature of the mic elements themselves, let our Skype sessions with people around the world be clearly audible for our listeners without worrying about where our participants sit or forcing us to shout to be heard. Our Skype correspondents, who have been in Turkey, Russia, Mongolia, Iran, and the U.S., tell us sounds are clear. Ceiling mounts require some skill, as well as Phoenix's dedicated ceiling mount, to be safe and easily placed and dismounted- you don't want the mic falling and hitting the board chair on the head or dropping into the water pitcher. But the Phoenix mount is reasonably manageable - about as difficult as mounting outdoor Christmas lights - at least if you're not an official hardcore Christmas lighting elf. On drop tile ceilings the USB cable is easy to run above the tiles to a computer, and the software is easy to program if you've played very much at all with the audio functions of Windows. Recognition of the mic by the operating system is truly plug and play. I had some reservations when first ordering this product - I wasn't sure it would perform as well that far above the table as we needed it too. But it has been trouble free and, from all reports, perfectly capable. And if you don't want to try the Quattro as a ceiling mount it can be mounted on a table surface too. Just watch out for the coffee mugs and trip wires.

We use a lot of these for PC mediated VCs and WebEx/Adobe Connect webinars. After teaching the mike to be more sensitive (it took a while before I discovered this option is available in their software), it works great in our small conference rooms. The big problem is that users move the mike around and disconnect the USB cable. As brilliant as Phoenix's audio engineers are, their mechanical people must be disconnected from the realities of end-user behavior. They provided no method to lock the USB cable in place, and it slides out VERY easily. So, if you use this on a table-top, expect lots of calls from users complaining that the "audio isn't working". If all your meetings include a technically skilled member, or you use a ceiling or fixed table mount, this won't be an issue.