Cheap Ribbons?

[drBill]

Originally Posted by redddog

I just got the Fathead IIs and they are extremely well built. I'll hear them tonight.

reddog - quit fooling around. Get home and put those bad boys up! We'll expect clips by tomorrow morning.

[Audiopool]

Originally Posted by Michael_Joly

Here's a picture of the ribbon sag problem below:

You can see the ribbon sagging out of the magnetic gap like a little footbridge. I'm stumped why I've seen a number of these mics - new, never out of the box, with this sagging ribbon problem. It is just as easy to get the ribbon tension right at the factory as it is to install a ribbon with sag. So I don't think this is a factory assembly problem.

This ribbon motor is from a mic that was returned to me for repair. The ribbon was perfect when it left my shop after modification but developed a sag sometime between leaving my shop and being put to use by the client ( who rightly complained of low output).

My latest theory is that the shipping parcel may have been dropped - even though the mass of the ribbon is small, the inertia aquired from the fall may have caused the center portion of the ribbon to continue to travel once it hit the floor. Any other ideas?

By the way, this problem can not be seen with the stock, three-layer headbasket in place. The headbasket has to be removed to inspect the ribbon tension.

The slacking ribbon would be a bigger problem with the long capsules. If I were to buy chinese, I'd go for one with the dual ribbon capsule with shorter ribbons. It's probably less sensitive to shocks.
Today I saw some ribbon mic on ebay that looked like an oversized Oktava ML52. I suspect chinese capsules. The design looks really identical to the ML52 but bigger. Since the chinese capsule are ok, I'd think that these would be very interesting. I saw them selling on e-bay Germany at 130EUR start bid. Do a search on "Birdcage II". Due to the size I guess they use the long single ribbon capsule (if they are made in China that is, otherwise I have no clue)

[GuitarRuss]

If anyone has access to a ribbon mic with Lundahl transformers and one without. Could you post sound files for comparison, or give opinions on the difference?

Thanks, just wondering how much better it is.

[Lynn Fuston]

Originally Posted by GuitarRuss

If anyone has access to a ribbon mic with Lundahl transformers and one without. Could you post sound files for comparison, or give opinions on the difference?

Thanks, just wondering how much better it is.

Check out this thread, which includes sound clips and graphs if I recall.

http://www.3daudioinc.com/3db/showthread.php?t=8009

[GuitarRuss]

Originally Posted by Lynn Fuston

Check out this thread, which includes sound clips and graphs if I recall.

Is it too much $$ to hotrod a mic? - 3dB

Wow, how cool! I was just reading about your sample CD's and then here you are... Thanks for the info! Oh how I love this site.

Keep up the great work, these unbiased comparison CDs of preamps and microphones are a boon to everyone who doesn't have an unlimited budget. Any chance of a comparison cd with only budget microphones/preamps (say under $1000?

[firby]

Originally Posted by GuitarRuss

If anyone has access to a ribbon mic with Lundahl transformers and one without. Could you post sound files for comparison, or give opinions on the difference?

Thanks, just wondering how much better it is.

I dont have the soundfiles but I have heard a buddys apex 205 with mods including rippingout the internal mesh and sticking a Lundahl in there and I love it. Nice mic. I just recieved my 205 and it will recieve the same treatment.

[GuitarRuss]

Originally Posted by firby

I dont have the soundfiles but I have heard a buddys apex 205 with mods including rippingout the internal mesh and sticking a Lundahl in there and I love it. Nice mic. I just recieved my 205 and it will recieve the same treatment.

Yeah I've heard great things about that too. The only problem is people do both mods at the same time. The first being free. The second expensive. Would love to hear the difference between a meshless 205 with stock and a meshless 205 with Lundahl. From what I've heard taking the mesh out makes the bigger difference of the two. I also heard it's good to put a bit of sound absorbing material to dampen the microphone case as there are concerns about it ringing once you take out all the mesh.

Here's an interesting thread:
Ribbon Mic Audio Samples: before/after transformer upgrade

The problem is the source on that test isn't dynamic, so I'm waiting for a test on a vocal or acoustic guitar. It might reveal a lot more.

[MichaelJoly]

Acoustical and mechanical mods to the Apex 205 make a more obvious difference than the Lundahl transformer upgrade when auditioned via mp3 files.

I had a golden-eared client tell me his Cascade Fathead had less top end once I swapped in a Lundahl to replace the stock transformer. A day later he got back to me and said "now I get it, I was hearing mid-range ringing and distortion with the stock transformer. This gave the impression of more top. The Lundahl is more accurate".

Chinese manfucturers are making great quality strides in many mass-produced products. In a specialty (low-volume) area like tranformers for professional audio Cinemag, Jensen, Lundahl and Tab-Funkenwork have the materials and winding technique knowledge to produce the best transformers available.

But pop music was conceived in bed of distortion so maybe the stock transformer is just the right sound for some applications.