sleeping giant awoken

[heathen]

I'm a bit worried if I make a comment, Tim may single me out again, then I'll bite and then we go again. So we will wait and see if all the Chinese- take- away works as expected.


nIC

WHAT?? Singled you out!! I dont think so.
Re-read the thread nIC - I was just replying to your comments where you said Group Buyers were "pretty brave, naive or stupid".
I had no hesitation on outlaying a small amount to 'try' these group buy mics..
Sure, other guys wanted more, but thats was their choice.. Mine was 2 tube mics, thats all.

C'mon Tim, Nic's just jealous he missed out on the GB. :) He'll get over it.

[Aearth]

I'm a bit worried if I make a comment, Tim may single me out again, then I'll bite and then we go again. So we will wait and see if all the Chinese- take- away works as expected.


nIC

WHAT?? Singled you out!! I dont think so.
Re-read the thread nIC - I was just replying to your comments where you said Group Buyers were "pretty brave, naive or stupid".
I had no hesitation on outlaying a small amount to 'try' these group buy mics..
Sure, other guys wanted more, but thats was their choice.. Mine was 2 tube mics, thats all.

C'mon Tim, Nic's just jealous he missed out on the GB. :) He'll get over it.

Why buy GB and wait 9mths when I can B''H%*@*** here, now? Ha Ha!

nIC

[wez]

a lot of these chinese mics aren't actually copies as such... as i'm sure most of you know a lot of 'name' brand gear is produced in the same factory/factories in china... and when no one is looking, a certain number are 'diverted', re-badged and sold locally. you'll never see these mics on the international market, some have faux AKG logos and the like - ie they'd never get away with them overseas but they're everywhere in china. one of our guys spent a few weeks in china recently and toured a factory, he came back with 20 odd mics - things like that royer 'copy'. except it's not a copy at all, just an unauthorised 'run-off'.

factories that make 'genuine' handbags for companies like prada do the same thing... they make their quota of licensed, legit product to ship to europe, then when mr. prada goes home they make a few more for local sale. does that make it a fake or a copy or what? i don't know.

this group buy stuff may or may not be in this category. by the way i'm not making any judgements... i mean i strongly oppose rip-offs and copyright infringement, and have no interest in inferior performing products at any price. but each to their own i guess.

[Thirteen]

a lot of these chinese mics aren't actually copies as such... as i'm sure most of you know a lot of 'name' brand gear is produced in the same factory/factories in china... and when no one is looking, a certain number are 'diverted', re-badged and sold locally. you'll never see these mics on the international market, some have faux AKG logos and the like - ie they'd never get away with them overseas but they're everywhere in china. one of our guys spent a few weeks in china recently and toured a factory, he came back with 20 odd mics - things like that royer 'copy'. except it's not a copy at all, just an unauthorised 'run-off'.

factories that make 'genuine' handbags for companies like prada do the same thing... they make their quota of licensed, legit product to ship to europe, then when mr. prada goes home they make a few more for local sale. does that make it a fake or a copy or what? i don't know.

this group buy stuff may or may not be in this category. by the way i'm not making any judgements... i mean i strongly oppose rip-offs and copyright infringement, and have no interest in inferior performing products at any price. but each to their own i guess.

They are known as "night factories" in China. Extra production out of hours from a legitimate factory without the knowledge of the parent company.

[Chris H]

Here is a pic of the inner workings of the TNC_81 for those interested. Didn't get any pre's myself and there are a few teething problems with some units being the first production run. A few tech savy participants in the GB have tracked down the necessary fixes that some units might need.

[Ausrock]

"A few teething problems"................Gawd, that's an understatement and the "fixes", or at least the ones I've seen mentioned seem to be only just getting the pres to a useable level..........nothing stellar as was originally claimed by the GB organisers.

[TimS]

My items arrived yesterday although I wasnt home..
Pick them up from the PO tomorrow..
However, I still have a red NO in the 'shipped' section in the GB console.. ;-) funny!

[tunetown]

I got the two 310 mics and the two ACMP73 pre's today. Still waiting on the 1200.

Just looking at the 310 mic's, I can't believe they were only $85 each.

P

[Chris H]

I got the two 310 mics and the two ACMP73 pre's today. Still waiting on the 1200.

Just looking at the 310 mic's, I can't believe they were only $85 each.

P

Wait till you hear them. They sound pretty good. Fairly high output as well.

[headman]

Got my cardboard box yesterday with four mic's, it looks like everyone in Australia are getting their stuff all at the same time. Now the next thing is to see how they sound.
headman

[TimS]

Picked them up today..
Sweet!!!

[Chris H]

Did a quick recording yesterday in a small room ( ie thick in the low mid/bass ) using ACM 2 on the accoustic and te ACM-1200 on vox. Initial listening showed both mics picked up the thicker sounding room ambience, so with positioning the ribbon sounded quite good on the acoustic and the 1200 was fine on the vox. Still no critical listening but so far i'm not disapointed.

[Chris H]

Was at my mate Bills studio last night and among doing other work, we managed to get in a listen to the mics and here are a few quick observations....nothing too scientific in this so sorry if it's a bit dumbed down to be of much use for some of you.

First we set up the ACM-1200 with the K2 and the Neuman U87, letting the mics warm up of course and only using the cardoid pattern.

Overall impressions were more air in the 1200 than the K2 and of the two, the 1200 had quite a similar sound profile to the Neumann U 87

K2 did not have the same air, and the K2 had a bit of a wide band peak centered around 5300 and was overall a bit thicker sounding, still in a nice way though.

As for the ribbons we had up the ACM_3 and 4 and the STC.
The ACM 3 has a bit more air and lows compared with the ACM 4 which has a bit more low mid and and mid than the 3 and less of the lows around 100 and below

Overall less lows in the STC and this mic was sounding the most open
Next came the ACM 3 in sounding most open but with more lows than the STC which seemed to roll off almost like a high pass filter around 100 Hz.

The ACM 4 was the thickest sounding of the ribbons so consequently sounded more present in the midrange in a way that was less transparent than the other two. Combined with the proximity effect Bill really liked this for that Bing Crosby crooning vox sound.
We didn't get to give the ACM 310 a good listen to.
We tested each mic with Bill's and my voice first an A4 page length from the mics then 3 inches away to hear the proximity kicking in. It was interesting to hear the different way each mic responded to proximity effect but as yet i have not drawn any conclusions re this.

We also used each mic on my Guild Jumbo acoustic.
All the ACM mics sounded great and very useable so i'm looking forward to finding out how they stand up and where they find their niche in the sessions i have coming up over the next few months.

[TimS]

Oooh, nice preliminary review Chris - I'm yet to burn in my 1200 and 6802T..

[Chris H]

Oooh, nice preliminary review Chris - I'm yet to burn in my 1200 and 6802T..

Thanks Tim. Frankly i'm getting quite a buzz messing around with these GB mics and the rusultant feeding of the G.A.S. monster whithin...... thankfully no buzz in any of the mics!

[TimS]

AWESOME!!
A worthy choice of mic by the sounds of it!! ;-)

[SteveL]

Anyone else still waiting to have their gear shipped? still the red 'no's' for me on the user console for my mic and pre.......

[TimS]

Steve,
Mine arrived last week and it still says a red NO..

[SteveL]

Thanks Tim - but I haven't even had a shipping invoice generated yet for me to pay....

[NYMo]

Hi there,

My inv was avail this morning....still in two minds about whether I want to pay the freight to get them in !

Cheers

N
Y
M
O

[TimS]

I just did a quick recording with the TNC 1200 and the 6802 as well as my SP C1 and CAD M179..
All I can say is wow - these are very nice mics (stock).
I'll definately get the Oliver Archut transformer upgrade for these mics.. should make them quite special... and maybe some NOS GE or Mullard tubes..

;-}

[Chris H]

Put my pair of ACM 1200's up as an M/S for a 14 pce jazz band for the FOH pa and recording. In this set up i find mics that don't cut it can sound ugly in focusing in on some tones and neglecting others, so this aplication can go someway towards sorting the good from the bad. I'm happy to say that in this regard these mics behaved very well resulting in a balanced and full sound for the recording, and a healthy level of gain before feedback, giving plenty of level for the FOH. Later today I'll but up an Mp3 of the recording.

[TimS]

nice one Chris..
seems that these mics are pretty damn good considering the price.
look forward tot he mp3 at some stage..

[Chris H]

Here's the link. The band is called Rusty Gate...for obvious reasons which will become apparent when listening to the track... they are a great bunch and fun to work with, being made up from past students of the college i work at.
The recording though gives a good indication of how the mics capture M/S. I had pair of Neumann KM 85's up each side of the band, but didn't need to use them in the mixdown.

http://www.recordingproject.com/bbs/vie ... 618#513618

[TimS]

sounds good - would have loved to have heard the KM85 mix as well (I own a matched pair as well)..
sounded good Chris..

[Chris H]

sounds good - would have loved to have heard the KM85 mix as well (I own a matched pair as well)..
sounded good Chris..

I can upload a mix with the KM 85's on their own and another with them added to the M/S pair but i don't know what good as a comparison it would be as they were spaced in such a different place, at the extreme right and left of the band.You can just see them in the 2nd pic.When i was listening tho the mix with the KM85's added mix of , they just blurred the stereo image a bit without adding any thing that was not already there. .

[Chris H]

As there is a bit of discussion on mods to the 1200 type mic in the "for sale" section, i thought i would put up the list of mods being made available to those involved in this GB.

http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index. ... msg_385360

*Model T14-1200 ($75) Exact drop in replacement for stock ACM-1200. No electronics modifications necessary.

*Model T14-C12 ($75) Replacement transformer for ACM-1200, but can only be coupled with the custom C12-based electronics PC board upgrade (now in design by Lucas techs, but based on Oliver's original design parameters for the C12VR upgrade electronics).

(The T14-1200 transformers are based on the Hiller T14-C12 transformer (ratio 12 to 1), as used in early C12 mics, but have the ratio of 9 to 1 as used in the stock ACM-1200.)

*Model T47 ($85) Replacement transformer for ACM-1200 with U47-like transformer characteristics (BV8), but can only be coupled with the custom "47" electronics PC board upgrade (now in design by Lucas techs, and based on a simplified 47-inspired electronics circuit).

*Model T49 ($85) Replacement transformer for ACM-1200 with UM49-like transformer characteristics, but can only be coupled with the custom "49" electronics PC board upgrade (now in design by Lucas techs, based on a simplified 49-inspired electronics circuit).

*Model T67 ($90) Replacement transformer for ACM-1200 with U67-like transformer characteristics, but can only be coupled with the custom "67" electronics PC board upgrade (now in design by Lucas techs, based on a simplified 67-inspired electronics circuit).

(The 47-49-67 transformers are based on a Neumann-inspired transformer. They come in the three different ratios of 6:1 for 47-styled electronics, 10:1 for 49-styled electronics, and 7:1 / with feedback winding for 67-styled electronics.)