Turtlerock Forum

Peter (tunetown) called me to say should he or shouldn't he!! I just said DO IT!! ;-}

I can now safely say he is now the proud owner of some MINT original Neumann KM84's with sequential serial numbers that he just snaffled off US Ebay. Ohh, how sweet it is..

He asked me to post some pics for you guys to gawk at..

Aren't they pretty. It's the first NOS pair of KM84's I have ever seen.

Lucky me.

Someone in Oz has 14 x KM84's???

Holy Shit!!
14!!
Angus, has he got a website..

Actualy it is easier to get mint km84 than most realise. The capsules are still avaiable and there are any number of mint km83/85 bodies to fit them to. Gunter is currently doing 5 for me, though only 2 are absolute mint. Regards Norm

Nice buy.

Thanks Norm - handy to know, but not always easy to find, I guess..
I got 4 KM 85's that had been in a drawer for over 20yrs. They were in very good shape apart from 2 missing badges.
Gunter gave them his magic touch and matched the 4 as a quad set.. :-)

I think Coda has st least 50 km84's (maybe nearer to 90 from my vague recollection)
Apparantly all the high courts in Australia used Km84's -
And some (extremely) smart guy told them they need to use a more reliable system with no phantom power - replace them with Shures, and of course we can get rid of those old mics that dont work real well - hence they now reside with the coda boys for orchestral sessions

Heard a story about someone getting a pair for $50 from a local junk/tip recycling place. Someone threw a pair out when they cleaned out the garage... Bastards.

Kurt wrote:Heard a story about someone getting a pair for $50 from a local junk/tip recycling place. Someone threw a pair out when they cleaned out the garage... Bastards.

Yeah, how come I am never one of those lucky bastards?

The Tasmanian wrote:I think Coda has st least 50 km84's (maybe nearer to 90 from my vague recollection)
Apparantly all the high courts in Australia used Km84's -
And some (extremely) smart guy told them they need to use a more reliable system with no phantom power - replace them with Shures, and of course we can get rid of those old mics that dont work real well - hence they now reside with the coda boys for orchestral sessions

Chris, I'm pretty sure they were actually KM85's (with the built in rolloff of 12dB at 50Hz) to reduce the low end rumble - my quad set came out from the old Sydney High Courthouses over 20yrs ago. They sat in a drawer until I got them last year..
Matched by Gunter.. Sweet..

Amazing about these huge km84 collections.
When I lived in London you saw them as often as you saw MacGyver tucking into an iced Vovo.
In other words, becoming an expensive luxury item..

TimS wrote:

The Tasmanian wrote:I think Coda has st least 50 km84's (maybe nearer to 90 from my vague recollection)
Apparantly all the high courts in Australia used Km84's -
And some (extremely) smart guy told them they need to use a more reliable system with no phantom power - replace them with Shures, and of course we can get rid of those old mics that dont work real well - hence they now reside with the coda boys for orchestral sessions

Chris, I'm pretty sure they were actually KM85's (with the built in rolloff of 12dB at 50Hz) to reduce the low end rumble - my quad set came out from the old Sydney High Courthouses over 20yrs ago. They sat in a drawer until I got them last year..
Matched by Gunter.. Sweet..

I got 2 KM 85's that are sequential numbers and came from the Courts. They even have the goose neck extension. I love em to bits but one has gone a bit flakey with a 10Db drop in output, though i think the 10Db pad might be engaged even though the pad switch isn't in that position. One also needs a new blue badge.

Just out of interest, how common are the KM56's?

KM56's are most certainly less common than KM84's.

They are exquisite microphones when operating at spec.They suck on your wallet if you run into trouble.Tube,capsule..etc

Ps: There is always the exception.In Norm's stable, there are probably more common than KM84's ;-)

anguswoodhead wrote:Murray Kedge (CPC Audio in Ipswich, Qld) has the largest Neumann collection in the southern hemisphere.
He does the Lord Mayor's carols live to air Ch 7 etc.
And the cool thing is that they are nearly all old vintage ones that he has had for years. :)

ermm what ever the number is , i think you will find the australian broadcasting commission will beat that number by x 10 :)

at least ....

btw . if you count up phils and mine here at gibbens street , you get a fair bit past 50 !

including the coda count (140?)

oh i forgot everything in queensland is bigger
can you imagine stopping of at the big neumann to get your petrol :)

oh yeah i should mention of all the neumanns here in gibbens street
only about 8-10 take phantom power :)

Well I've now got 2 brand new ones. So there.

;-)

Only two KM56 here, although I do have six KM54 all of them came in bits from some middle east area and seem to be engraved with Bin Larden or something like that in arabic. Took Gunter nearly a year to scrape up the missing bits to get them all up to spec. The looming major problem is once again the AC701/k tubes. They are out there in quantity but are being hoarded. A good tube is approx a $1000 aud now. Top of the line VF14 are between $2500 qnd $3000 aud if you can find them amoungst he many fakes or bad tubes doing the rounds. Reminds me I am still after a junker U67 if anyone spots or has one. Regards Norm

[quote="norm"] The looming major problem is once again the AC701/k tubes. They are out there in quantity but are being hoarded. A good tube is approx a $1000 aud now. Top of the line VF14 are between $2500 qnd $3000 aud if you can find them amoungst he many fakes or bad tubes doing the rounds. Reminds me I am still after a junker U67 if anyone spots or has one. Regards Norm[/quote]


people are hoarding them....?
kettle calling the pot black me thinks :)

Not really, I have nine spare but have eighteen mics that use them.I do have a couple of extra VF14 but I am looking at a U48 and you can bet the tube though original will be noisey. The Studio will be Jarrah,s and I am making sure the equipment will be serviceable for at least the next 50 years.

Hey Norm, you're not looking to adopt another son by any chance are ya?

Hey Norm,do you have any M50's or 251's in your treasure chest?

Norm, i think think you should let me drive down and take some of your microphones on a play date :P.

No M50 , but a nice original M49.My mics a very fussy who they play with, they know not to go home with strangers. there are people here who would want to play with their tubes or diaphrams and we dont want that to happen do we?

Not unless you could spawn some more M49's Norm ;-}

an slightly broken orphan m 49 turned up here at gibbens street during the week , been alone in a non studio cupboard for twenty years
phil grabbed it from the owner who had a moment of weakness .
i fixed it like new in 3 mins
phil is a all smiles this week .

plenty of tube neumanns floating around at the right price at the moment if your on your toes

rick wrote:an slightly broken orphan m 49 turned up here at gibbens street during the week , been alone in a non studio cupboard for twenty years
phil grabbed it from the owner who had a moment of weakness .
i fixed it like new in 3 mins
phil is a all smiles this week .

plenty of tube neumanns floating around at the right price at the moment if your on your toes

damn, some get all the luck!!
I bet the guy is kicking himself now he knows you fixed it in 3 mins!!

i dont think the original owner of the m49 will ever know or frankly care , as i said there are plenty of things floating around at the moment because people just need money more then something they dont use .
hell that happens to me all the time !

but i think outside of the crazy u67 and km 84 prices (what is with that ?) i am seeing things that are very strange in tubemic town

did you see the original elam 251 on ebay the other day , it didnt make 7 k us and is now living in japan and a sale price a little over 10 k !

i know for a fact -15 years ago Neil finn paid 20 k for his !


perhaps this is the year where things drop back to what they are actually worth ..? - but i doubt it