New CAD M179 still a good mike?

[Bluzzi]

A little QC would have avoided the problem. You would have been satisfied with at least a humless mike and CAD reputation's would be less tarnished.

This also not the only report of this kind so that worries me.

Cheers

Jim

[tINY]

Wow, I have 2 m179, and m177 and three of the black Astatic versions...

They all sound and work great, but I believe they were all manufactured prior to 2008.

They are power hogs, so if your p48 is not up to snuff, there could be issues....



-tINY

[Sinner]

Originally Posted by Ton Meister

I agree, especially with oversees customers. On the other hand, they took care of a replacement without any fuss or discussion. Unfortunately, that one, sent to me directly by CAD, was also a 'bad' one.

One more thing. Some time ago, there was an interesting mic shootout by Fran Guidry involving Schoeps CMC6 MK4, and CAD M179, amongst others. I heard the samples, and the CAD at the very least held its own against the Schoeps.

Now that I have tested the CAD myself, albeit a humming one, I can hardly imagine that it's the same mic as the one from the shootout. Maybe they changed something in the manufacturing?

I dont know but just for sake of evidence gathering, my 179s are from 2005ish Bought in the u.s.

Sent from my MB525 using Tapatalk

[Ton Meister]

Originally Posted by tINY

They are power hogs, so if your p48 is not up to snuff, there could be issues....

Thanks, yeah, I know. They need 8mA. My preamps do provide this, so that's not the problem.

[fastlanestoner]

I use mine on almost every session. Love it on drums, vox, and acoustic guitars

[Ton Meister]

A little late, but some useful information I think, not in the least for the folks from CAD...

... as mentioned, I got two bad mics from CAD (huge humming problem) and I kinda gave up on them. Since it would be too much fuss to get them replaced, and since I lost confidence in CAD, I kept them in a drawer with vague plans to get rid of them.

This morning, I got curious and unscrewed one of them. I immediately noticed a small copper piece that's attached to the inner side, bent outwards to make contact with the metal housing, no doubt for grounding purposes. But... it wasn't bent to the outside enough, probably didn't make good contact... and: the inner side of the body was manually 'scratched', obviously to increase the contact with the copper piece, since there is some kind of finishing layer at the inner side of the housing that would be in the way. But the scratching was done in the wrong place, way above where the copper piece is located!

Well, needless to say I did some scratching myself, with an ordinary screwdriver, and bent the copper piece a little more in the outward direction. I then put the mic together again. I know, I'm a genius ;-)

Result: NO more hum WHATSOEVER.

I think it's kinda incredible that I got two mics from CAD that were assembled so poorly. I know, they're cheap. But still. A small thing like this renders a mic totally useless.

In the end, I'm quite happy that the problem is solved.

Anyone from CAD reading this post: hire a new scratcher.

Cheers!

[ramonovski]

Originally Posted by Ton Meister

A little late, but some useful information I think, not in the least for the folks from CAD...

... as mentioned, I got two bad mics from CAD (huge humming problem) and I kinda gave up on them. Since it would be too much fuss to get them replaced, and since I lost confidence in CAD, I kept them in a drawer with vague plans to get rid of them.

This morning, I got curious and unscrewed one of them. I immediately noticed a small copper piece that's attached to the inner side, bent outwards to make contact with the metal housing, no doubt for grounding purposes. But... it wasn't bent to the outside enough, probably didn't make good contact... and: the inner side of the body was manually 'scratched', obviously to increase the contact with the copper piece, since there is some kind of finishing layer at the inner side of the housing that would be in the way. But the scratching was done in the wrong place, way above where the copper piece is located!

Well, needless to say I did some scratching myself, with an ordinary screwdriver, and bent the copper piece a little more in the outward direction. I then put the mic together again. I know, I'm a genius ;-)

Result: NO more hum WHATSOEVER.

I think it's kinda incredible that I got two mics from CAD that were assembled so poorly. I know, they're cheap. But still. A small thing like this renders a mic totally useless.

In the end, I'm quite happy that the problem is solved.

Anyone from CAD reading this post: hire a new scratcher.

Cheers!

I thought the noise issue was related to the Phantom power, or this hum you was experimenting has nothing to do with p48?

[Bluzzi]

Originally Posted by Ton Meister

A little late, but some useful information I think, not in the least for the folks from CAD...

... as mentioned, I got two bad mics from CAD (huge humming problem) and I kinda gave up on them. Since it would be too much fuss to get them replaced, and since I lost confidence in CAD, I kept them in a drawer with vague plans to get rid of them.

This morning, I got curious and unscrewed one of them. I immediately noticed a small copper piece that's attached to the inner side, bent outwards to make contact with the metal housing, no doubt for grounding purposes. But... it wasn't bent to the outside enough, probably didn't make good contact... and: the inner side of the body was manually 'scratched', obviously to increase the contact with the copper piece, since there is some kind of finishing layer at the inner side of the housing that would be in the way. But the scratching was done in the wrong place, way above where the copper piece is located!

Well, needless to say I did some scratching myself, with an ordinary screwdriver, and bent the copper piece a little more in the outward direction. I then put the mic together again. I know, I'm a genius ;-)

Result: NO more hum WHATSOEVER.

I think it's kinda incredible that I got two mics from CAD that were assembled so poorly. I know, they're cheap. But still. A small thing like this renders a mic totally useless.

In the end, I'm quite happy that the problem is solved.

Anyone from CAD reading this post: hire a new scratcher.

Cheers!

OK this is good news. Please let us know how you like them after using them a bit. Thanks.

Cheers

Jim

[GZsound]

I have two M179's and two M177's and they get used all the time on just about everything.

Male and female vocals. Drum overheads in live settings. Choir mics, big band mics, upright bass, acoustic instruments including guitar, mandolin, fiddle, dobro and banjo. They sound like whatever you put in front of them.

I haven't experienced any hum of any kind in any of my CAD mics and I own nine of them that all get used a lot.

[Dpro]

I have the M37 which was basically a M177 sold Through GC. I bought it new never used in the box last year $35 . Sounds great on Female Vocals soft and normal singing. When the singer starts to belt though it seems to collapse on the freq response and sounds muddy.
We love this mic besides this one problem.

[Ton Meister]

Originally Posted by ramonovski

I thought the noise issue was related to the Phantom power, or this hum you was experimenting has nothing to do with p48?

Before I 'repaired' them, I tested them in combination with a wide range of good quality preamps (FMR RNP, Audient Mico, RME quadmic and other stuff). I got the humming every single time (the one mic more extreme than the other one), so I guess the phantom wasn't the problem, as stated in previous posts. The insufficient grounding proved to be the problem, because now they work fine with every preamp I own.

As for the sound quality of the mics themselves. They deliver a very straightforward sound, quite detailed. So far I have only tested them with classical guitar. Didn't particulary like them: a bit on the harsh side. To be honest, I must say that I'm very picky about recording classical guitar. For those purposes I still prefer my beyerdynamics MC930, of course these are in a different price range.

I might try them on male vocals when I need a 'cutting' take. Perhaps on woodwinds or a dull piano. I don't record amplified bands (anymore), but I can imagine they could be useful on toms or snare, overheads, perhaps guitar cabinets. These are no bad mics; just another colour to work with. And with all the patterns, very versatile.

[guitarboy94]

The more I've used my M179, the more I think it's best used as a drum kit mic, or perhaps piano. It's a bit bland for vocals and also seems to pick up too much string sound of acoustic guitars and not enough wood/body.

For acoustic guitars, Oktava MK012 at 12th fret and an Audio Technica 4047 on the body is a killer full-bodied acoustic guitar sound.

However, the M179 is a decent mic on the right applications. Probably just okay on most applications, but killer on drum kits, especially toms.