Jump to content

"Iron Audio" Question


Recommended Posts

Some detectors have an "Iron Audio" feature. With "iron audio- on" it lets the operator hear the iron targets. So, does this feature just basically turn iron discrimination off so that you get an "all metal mode"? I ask because I am interested in the AT-Pro which has this feature but am wondering exactly what it does. I notice some guys in videos using the iron audio on setting yet they still turn up the iron disc. When I hunt with the FoRes CoRe I turn the I.D. Mask all the way down to 5 or less so that I can hear everything and let my ears do the discriminating. Am I basically doing the same thing as "Iron Audio-On" ? Thanks!

 

Dean

Link to comment
Share on other sites


I found a good video by Garrett on this topic and it more or less answered my question. What confused me is that there are guys making videos and not using the feature properly- go figure.

 

Pretty cool feature though. Thanks!

 

Dean

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Dean,

Well, no, not what you are doing on the CoRe and you seem to have found your answer while I typed this up, but here goes anyway. Technically "Iron Audio" is a trademarked term by Garrett describing a specific function on the AT Pro metal detector.

Once upon a time we had the single knob discrimination control. As it was turned up, everything below the setting was silenced, and everything above the setting went beep. Since iron was the first thing on the range of the control, turning the control up a small amount caused iron to be silenced, and everything else to go beep. In theory!

This suppression of signals has a few issues we can set aside for now, other than to say that some detectors rather than cause the rejected item to go silent, instead split the tones into two tones. The rejected items give a low tone, and the accepted items a high tone. The control would normally be set to cause iron to be a low tone, or this setting could be preset at the factory. The White's MXT Relic Mode is a very popular use of the adjustable version of this setting and the Boost setting on the FORS CoRe is a good example of a factory preset version.

Now, if the tones are factory preset so that iron gives a low tone, and everything else a high tone, you can go back to using the knob to silence items. The very simplest discrimination range looks like this:

-2 BIG FERROUS * * * -1 SMALL FERROUS * * * ZERO * * * +1 SMALL NON-FERROUS * * * +2 LARGE NON-FERROUS

So the ferrous gives a factory preset low tone, and non-ferrous a high tone. You can use the disc (id filter) control to eliminate just the -2 big ferrous sounds. Or both the -2 and -1 ferrous sounds. Or go even higher and eliminate the small non-ferrous. That is what turning up the ID Filter up or down would do for you except that by going under a setting of 10 on the CoRe you are actually getting down into the ground mineralization range, and may start getting ground noise.

What Garrett does with the Iron Audio feature is allow the zero point break between ferrous and non-ferrous to be shifted, or in other words turn off the factory preset and allow the "break point" to be adjustable. Just like the MXT Relic Mode has done for a long time with two tones, but it is a "new" Garrett feature on the AT Pro and with three tones.

Here is the Garrett sales pitch:

Iron Audio™

Scattered iron objects in the ground can mask good targets and even create “ghost signals” that appear to be a good target. Garrett’s selectable Iron Audio feature allows the user to hear discriminated iron (normally silenced) in order to know the whole picture and avoid being tricked into digging an undesired target.

Iron Audio also allows the user to adjust the mid-tone’s range to include all targets above the point of discrimination. The user is effectively adjusting the cut-off between Low-tone discriminated trash targets and mid-tone targets. This Garrett feature works in both Standard and Pro Modes on the AT Pro. (See illustration below)

garrett-metal-detector-iron-audio-explained.jpg
Graphic illustration of Garrett "Iron Audio"

Other detectors can do this so no big deal but they can't call it "Iron Audio" since Garrett trademarked the term. The V3i for instance lets you set unlimited tones in any range and in any order you choose and the Garret system looks simplistic by comparison. Sometimes simple can be better however.

What I think is more interesting and available on only a few detectors is adjustable iron volume. When set to have ferrous tones if you get into a lot of ferrous trash the sounds can get overwhelming. Being able to set the ferrous volume allows you to set the volume of the ferrous sounds independent of the main volume setting. Nice and what I assumed you were asking about actually until I started looking into it.

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Steve,

Thank you for your awesome answer! Very thorough as usual. I was initially thinking that it was a ferrous volume control which would be totally cool. I like running as little Disc. as possible but sometimes the iron grunts become overwhelming so it would be nice to turn that down some.

 

Now, I understand that the "Iron Audio" is not like what I'm doing with the Nokta - well, kind of....

The Nokta, as you are aware, has the iron grunt if you don't disc the iron out. Then, if you hunt in DI2 or DI3 you essentially get the same thing as the AT-Pro with "Iron Audio" on. You can even run a little iron disc too. I know I'm stretching that comparison a bit but basically with the Nokta the "Iron Audio" is always on. O.K., I stretched it a lot  :D. Have you ever run the AT-Pro? If so, what are your thoughts? 

 

Thanks again, Steve.

 

Dean

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have used the AT Pro and AT Gold. Excellent bang for buck detectors. I would say that the FORS DI3 is pretty much what you have in the example in the middle above with Iron Audio off. Three preset tone ranges, with the disc or id filter control determining the stuff that gets eliminated on the bottom end. Boost or DI2 eliminates that third high tone area and instead uses a two tone scheme. The target id ranges are almost the same for the AT units, FORS units, Fisher Gold Bug Pro, Teknetics G2 and T2, and others. 0-99 with break between ferrous and non-ferrous at 39-40.

The AT Pro I thought the display area small and recessed waterproof connectors to be a bit of a pain. The new Garrett AT 400 looks to be a dry land version of the AT Pro eliminating the waterproof coil and headphone connectors plus adding a larger target id number to the display. That should be a great little detector for under $400

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...