Wavebourn, I really enjoyed this video series, you might like it too. I´ll send you right to the choob part:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niZizzHBanA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niZizzHBanA
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Thanks!
It indeed resembles my microphones that I designed back in 2006, except he added some stupid symmetric emitter followers and a CCS load of pnp bjt.
I am building now a stereo microphone prototype with only 0 dB (+4 max) output, limited by peak compressor.
All tubes, except power supply, side chain and indicator.
I am a fan of stereo microphones and blumlein pair technique. Makes more sense than spacing/spreading the two mikes and I think the reproduction sounds more natural. I sometimes come across youtube videos that sound good and spacious even though they were shot with a consumer camera.
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I readily agree that a phono stage can make or break a cartridge, many of them seem like afterthoughts to me, throw in a cheap op amp and keep your fingers crossed. A man needs to find a really well made one to understand how much more there is to be had.
we don't have permissions for the Urls. Do you have distortion measurements you can share with us as I know a couple of people who would be interested in analysing those.
Edit: Sims that Hans did have a -80dBA noise floor WITH the cartridge connected for MM with the boards I'm building. As the lowest vinyl noise floor for DMMs is IIRO -75 then there should not be an electrical noise penalty. But stylus profiles could cause a db or so difference. the distortion difference does interest me though (not least that there might be real data to look at )
Edit: Sims that Hans did have a -80dBA noise floor WITH the cartridge connected for MM with the boards I'm building. As the lowest vinyl noise floor for DMMs is IIRO -75 then there should not be an electrical noise penalty. But stylus profiles could cause a db or so difference. the distortion difference does interest me though (not least that there might be real data to look at
)
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Love the discussion around 12 -14 min. on designing the mic as effects box without shame.
I think I mentioned this before, there is no benefit in using JFET's with 30pF Cgs like 2SK170 in microphones. He uses the wrong symbol for the JFET which loses the fact that there is already a diode at the input (G to S). BTW I think the CIA story needs to be taken with a grain of salt IIRC Siliconix was long out of the FET business before SMT. FET's with the extra diode for mics are quite common.
Wavebourn - What tube would you see with 5G grid leak and lowish noise. I don't know the sensitivity of the mic but 12dBA pushes towards 4-6nV maybe. Of course the 5G helps too.
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You must not have done too much work with musicians... They don't have the slightest belief in the idea of "pure"; if they like how something sounds, they like it. IME it is nearly impossible to get a musician to understand what a power conditioner does... most have absolute fear about one changing their "sound" and the concept of the quality of that sound they like improving makes zero sense to them; and they assume it could be done with an EQ. You can imagine the uphill battle. But for the few I ever did get to plug into one with guitar amps, they loved it! Guitars sound awesome without dirty power, and especially PFC.
Another thing about pure... over the years at small live shows I typically find that it is impossible to understand WTF the lyrics are.. The cause is not the best microphones, that cannot pick up voices worth a damn on a stage setting specifically (no matter their "specs" for orientation) when they are pointed at the top of the singers mouth. I would go around and help adjust mic's sometimes when I really wanted to hear the lyrics, pre-show. But the people would typicaly work the microphone back down to the shitty position after a track or two. Sadly it would go from understandable to Peanuts teacher by the time they were happy. They would say that it just felt weird to have a mic in their face but the reality I am fairly certain about is that they basically wanted to run away the minute they could actually hear their own voice instead of some garble... Now in some cases that was almost fair, because some where terrible singers. They could have added some effects but kept the mic position... that never happened.
Lessons learned, no musician feels any shame with effects being used anywhere, any time. If they like it, so be it. And also they cannot comprehend anything electrically speaking.
That's fine (I have BTW) but here it is carried into all audio design with the same lack of shame.
Electric guitars sound dull without shaping sound by amps. You can listen for one song, then get bored. However, acoustic guitars are a different story, and from high end gear they benefit. The same with microphones. Some voices benefit from certain microphone distortions, like some ribbon mikes make voices special, while to record vocal ensembles clean microphones are preferable. All depends on the genre.
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