choosing appropriate replacement mic capsules?

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chconnor
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choosing appropriate replacement mic capsules?

Post by chconnor » Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:42 pm

Let's say I wanted to experimentally swap the capsule on a modern dual-diaphragm LDC mic.

How unreasonable would it be to source a third-party capsule that could act as a drop-in replacement for the original capsule? (assuming no proper replacement is available from the manufacturer, etc.)

I'm not worried about the body or other physical fit characteristics -- let's assume that's not an issue.

In other words, what, electrically-speaking, needs to be matched for a mic to basically function? Is it as simple as finding the impedance of the original capsule and it's output voltage range, or is it more technical than that? Could a person order up some chinese capsule of X ohms and slap it in there and see how it sounded?

I assume that mic circuitry is "voiced" for the characteristics of the original capsule and that there might be some mismatch with a replacement, but I'm just curious about getting 90% of the way to a mic that would be similar to the original (and/or not burn anything up.)

Thanks for any ideas!

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chconnor
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Re: choosing appropriate replacement mic capsules?

Post by chconnor » Sat Mar 15, 2014 11:04 pm

Ok, so it looks like capacitance is the thing to match? Anything else?

How close does capacitance need to match? And what ramifications on sound quality and likelihood of burning something out if it deviates?

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Post by mrc » Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:05 pm

if it's just a capsule swap, no sweat. Just remove and replace withone you want. If the original was too bright try a U47 clone. There are several various choices. C12's, 67, 87, and some co.,s' like Blue sell capsules too. look around a bit.

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Post by chconnor » Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:07 pm

mrc wrote:if it's just a capsule swap, no sweat. Just remove and replace withone you want. If the original was too bright try a U47 clone. There are several various choices. C12's, 67, 87, and some co.,s' like Blue sell capsules too. look around a bit.
Thanks! What about capacitance -- how much of a mismatch matters?

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Post by Jim Williams » Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:27 am

Not a bit. Loading is very light at 1 gig ohms.
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Post by chconnor » Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:43 am

Jim Williams wrote:Not a bit. Loading is very light at 1 gig ohms.
I wonder why they always specify the capacitance when listing mic capsules? Electrical reasons unrelated to audio quality?

Anyway: wow, so I can just use virtually any capacitance-mic capsule with any capacitance-mic circuit, as long as it has the expected number of diaphragms? Things are so rarely so simple. :-)

Thanks,
-c

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Post by Jim Williams » Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:27 am

Everything has a spec. No different that sticking a different pickup in your guitar. It all works.
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Post by frans_13 » Sat Apr 19, 2014 12:08 pm

http://groupdiy.com/index.php#c7
Everything you ever need to know, and then some.

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Post by chconnor » Sat Apr 19, 2014 4:35 pm

frans_13 wrote:http://groupdiy.com/index.php#c7
Everything you ever need to know, and then some.
Indeed. Thanks for the tip.

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