CAD Microphones

[Morris]

I have a matched pair of E350s. They were the updated version of the e300 10 years ago. They are great on just about everything. USA made in Ohio. Vocals and bass cabs is where they see most of there use. The way they trickle charge with 48v to there internal batteries give you lots of dynamics. Great as a room mic and on acoustic guitar as well. I dont know what they go for these days, I sure I paid too much for them new but I got tons of use out of them. I like better than the lower priced BLUE mics. We just can seem to see eye to eye. Always wish I would of had gotten a e100 as well. Good luck.

The internal batteries do go bad every 4-5 years. No big deal you can replace them with any good rechargable.

[Luke]

I have a matched pair of E350s. They were the updated version of the e300 10 years ago. They are great on just about everything. USA made in Ohio. Vocals and bass cabs is where they see most of there use. The way they trickle charge with 48v to there internal batteries give you lots of dynamics. Great as a room mic and on acoustic guitar as well. I dont know what they go for these days, I sure I paid too much for them new but I got tons of use out of them. I like better than the lower priced BLUE mics. We just can seem to see eye to eye. Always wish I would of had gotten a e100 as well. Good luck.

The internal batteries do go bad every 4-5 years. No big deal you can replace them with any good rechargable.

I have a matched pair of e350s also. Very nice mic. At least one get used on every session.

[thunderboy]

I have five of the e100-SE. Great for brass, guit/bass amp, kick drum in particular (I once mic'd a kit with all e100's - awesome). OK for the right vocalist, though not where it shines at all.

The way they trickle charge with 48v to there internal batteries give you lots of dynamics.

How does that follow, exactly?

jt

[Morris]

The way understand it from talking with the CAD people when I bought the mics is that the 48v charges the batteries and the batteries power the mic. If the mic needs more power than usual then it can also have that constant 48v to pull from. The Mic does not work with the batteries taken out. I havent tries this. Although when then batteries go bad the mic stops working, sometimes even sounds like it shorting out. You will think you've blown your mic up but really its just batteries gone south. There is a reason for the batteries in the design. Not just for use with out 48v. It been ten years so my memory is weak. Im going to get my manual out and look into it. Anyway great mics. I have a 58ish cad mic 25a or something. I think it sounds better than my 58. Granted my 58 has been around the block.

[thunderboy]

I understand the basic design. It is an 18vDC circuit, supplied by the batteries. Phantom power is for recharging purposes only.

My question was more along the lines of: what does the manner by which the batteries are recharged have to do with the dynamic range of the mic?

jt

[KennyLusk]

I have a M37 that's actually useful for acoustic guitar at distances of 10 inches or more when powered at 48v. CAD recommends powering it at 24v for some reason. It's got a very "excited" quality to it when coupled with old tube tape machines.

The M37 actually has the guts of an M179, just without the multi-pattern options.

The KBM412 is also a decent LD dynamic for mic'ing the bottom of Djembe and hand drums to capture that "DOOM" really well.

[Scodiddly]

The deal with the batteries is that they really couldn't get enough current out of phantom power to run their circuitry. It's an interesting design using op-amps, and the output is really hot. More recent mics like the CAD M-179 are similar but without batteries, and the tradeoff is that you definitely need the full 48v and 14ma to run the mic properly.

I've got a pair of the E-100s, and they're nice. Very flat response, and they handle high SPL. I use them for ensemble recording on the rare occasions that I do any recording, but for live use I really like them for kick drum.