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Giganova · 25th March 2007

Hi ribbon mic fans --

Up for a challenge? Below are audio files (in AIFF and WAV format) of a dual-ribbon microphone (Avant Electronics CR-14, also known as the Alcron HRM-14B, picture below) before and after I swapped the Chinese stock output transformer for a Lundahl LL2912 transformer. Keep in mind that the mic only costs about $175.- (Ebay). The Lundahl transformer costs $60.-.

Can you hear a difference?
If so, which sound do you prefer?
Which one is the stock and the Lundahl output transfomer ribbon mic?

Transformer a: AIFF | WAV
Transformer b: AIFF | WAV

Here are some technical details: to make sure that I have reproducible results, I recorded a song from CD (Seal "Get it Together") through my audio speakers. The ribbon mic was at the exact same position directly between the woofer and tweeters. Signal path: ribbon mic -> M-Audio Tampa -> M-Audio MobilePre -> Ableton Live 6 on a MacBook Pro. No eq, no compression. The only difference is the normalization as one output transfomer has 4dB less output (wanna guess which one?).

25th March 2007	#1
Giganova Gear nut Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 129 Thread Starter	Ribbon Mic Audio Samples: before/after transformer upgrade Hi ribbon mic fans -- Up for a challenge? Below are audio files (in AIFF and WAV format) of a dual-ribbon microphone (Avant Electronics CR-14, also known as the Alcron HRM-14B, picture below) before and after I swapped the Chinese stock output transformer for a Lundahl LL2912 transformer. Keep in mind that the mic only costs about $175.- (Ebay). The Lundahl transformer costs $60.-. Can you hear a difference? If so, which sound do you prefer? Which one is the stock and the Lundahl output transfomer ribbon mic? Transformer a: AIFF \| WAV Transformer b: AIFF \| WAV Here are some technical details: to make sure that I have reproducible results, I recorded a song from CD (Seal "Get it Together") through my audio speakers. The ribbon mic was at the exact same position directly between the woofer and tweeters. Signal path: ribbon mic -> M-Audio Tampa -> M-Audio MobilePre -> Ableton Live 6 on a MacBook Pro. No eq, no compression. The only difference is the normalization as one output transfomer has 4dB less output (wanna guess which one?).