Unknown mic

timtimtim

Member
I have a mic bought fairly cheaply years ago. It is an omni sdc electret type EM-103L made by Altai. I can't find any data on it anywhere, possibly because it is so cheap it is beneath the notice of serious mic enthusiasts. However I have measured its high frequency response as best I can by placing it at various distances from three different high quality speakers, and taking an average of all the response figures obtained, and surprisingly the response from 500Hz to 15kHz is +/- 2.5dB. Does anyone know anything about this mic? How does its signal/hiss compare with newer mics?
 
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/hartig_mikrofon_em103l.html

Not sure if that's the same one or not. Given the thin cable and unbalanced connection it probably doesn't compare favorably. 50Hz - 18kHz circa 1993. Or something like that.

http://www.okaphone.com/artikel.asp?id=429770

Seems german whatever it is. Not sure of the english translation, but a S/N ratio of 65dB would place it in the same ball park as most cheap camcorder mics. At a minimum the unbalanced cable in todays digitally noisy world would not do favorably.
 
That's definitely my mic. It says the manufacturer is Hartig and Helling, but they are not listed in microphone-data.com. Do Hartig and Helling still exist? Would a good sdc mic be a lot better than 65dB?
 
Die Firma Hartig+Heling wurde im Jahre 1931 als Werksvertretung gegründet.Seit Mitte der 70er Jahre importiert und fertigt H+H eigene Produkte, welche unter verschiedenen Markennahmen weltweit vertrieben werden.
Im Laufe der Jahre konzentriert sich H+H mehr auf seine eigenen Produkte, sodass der Bereich der Werksvertretung im Jahre 2000 komplett ausgeliefert wurde.
Mit dem 10.04.2006 agiert Hartig + Helling am neuen Standort Bochum, am Wilhelm-Leithe-Weg 81 und setzt mit vergrößerten Lagerkapazitäten und neuester Technik den Wachstumstrend des Unternehmens fort.

Hartig+Heling was founded in 1931. They manufacture their own gear since the 70's. In 2006 they moved to Bochum. So, it seems they still might be around.

They mostly manufactured low end mixers, mics, speakers, headphones...
 
That's definitely my mic. It says the manufacturer is Hartig and Helling, but they are not listed in microphone-data.com. Do Hartig and Helling still exist? Would a good sdc mic be a lot better than 65dB?

At lot of the high end mics are 80dB - 90dB Signal to Noise ratio. 15dB (A weighted) or less self noise. It's generally hard to find such specs on low end / cheap mics. The mid grade mics are generally better than 70dB S/N. And include FULL specs, or close to it anyway. And specs that look measured, not drawn.
 
At lot of the high end mics are 80dB - 90dB Signal to Noise ratio. 15dB (A weighted) or less self noise. It's generally hard to find such specs on low end / cheap mics. The mid grade mics are generally better than 70dB S/N. And include FULL specs, or close to it anyway. And specs that look measured, not drawn.

Would these 80-90dB mics be 1/2" electrets, or are they 1" condensers?
Are the 70dB mics 1/2" omnis? I want a small condenser because Harvey Gerst says they have a flatter response than large condensers, but I also want the good signal to noise ratio.
 
They can be any and everything.

AT4022 - S/N 81dB - OMNI - SDC (21mm body width, probably 1/2")

KSM44A - S/N 90dB - OMNI/Cardioid/Fig-8 - LDC (dual 1")

Schoeps CMC6/MK2 - S/N 83dB - OMNI - SDC (20mm body?)

Senn. MKH8020 - 10dB (A weighted) - OMNI - (19mm body?)
 
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