R
Track Rat
Just Your Average Sized Member
I never heard of them. Are those things for real?
R
Recording Engineer
Moderator
Yep! You got it! Just chulk it up along side the lowest costing side-address large diaphragm condenser models of ADK, Joe Meek, Carvin, Yorkville, MXL, Audix, and Pacific Pro Audio (anyone I'm forgeting?).
Check 'em all out and you might find a common denominator.
But like I've posted here in the past, no one really seems knows EXACTLY WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!! I wouldn't mind it so much if companies were just up-front about it all and tell us all exactly where what came from.
[This message has been edited by Recording Engineer (edited 06-24-2000).]
Check 'em all out and you might find a common denominator.
But like I've posted here in the past, no one really seems knows EXACTLY WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!! I wouldn't mind it so much if companies were just up-front about it all and tell us all exactly where what came from.
[This message has been edited by Recording Engineer (edited 06-24-2000).]
Ears
ADA
There is a sad assumption now that Record Plant can't produce anything better than Billy Bob Basement, thanks to all this new inexpensive competitive equipment. That's why this place is riddled with people armed with 4 zillion digital tracks, when they have trouble setting their clock radios.
How's that for venting....LOL
How's that for venting....LOL
E
Emeric
New member
Looks like that APEX mic yorkville sound is selling. These things must be all the same, just a different name.
Track Rat
Just Your Average Sized Member
Shit, alls you have to do is make a side address mic and suddenly it's a studio mic.
V
virtual.ray
New member
If in your mentioning Audix in your post you are referring to the Audix CX-101 and CX111 large diaphragm condensers,I object to the idea of lumping them together with some of the other mics mentioned,because a)they sound really good and b) they are made in the US by Audix,not China or wherever(not that this is necessarily a problem either)I've been happily using my CX-101 for 6 months now,and I like it a lot on voice.It is IMHO one mic to really make one think long and hard about the cash outlay required to own some of the big name German mics.
R
Recording Engineer
Moderator
Wait a minute...
Who said anything about "big name German mics"?
Anyway, check-out all these sites below and look at their mics and specs., and frequency resposes... Hmmm. You're right. Not everything I mentioned is from the same place, but even the ones that aren't still have a lot of the same physical and audiable characteristics.
www.audixusa.com www.adk.cc/main.html www.joemeek.com www.mars-cam.com www.carvin.com www.yorkville.com www.pacpro.com www.smashmix.com
Direct from the horses mouth (797 Audio), Ma Jiulong/chief engineer of 797 Audio says the following are 797 Audio OEMs from the Beijing factory:
ADK(www.adk.cc):A51TT,A51TC.
Marshall(www.mars-cam.com):MXL2003, MXL600, V77.
PMI(www.pmiaudio.com): BPM microphones:CR-10, CR95, TB-95etc.
RODE(www.event1.com):NT2.
I have probably the most reliable source other than diertly from from the horses mouth (797 Audio) that at least the "newer" Rode NT-1 Cap is made by 797 Audio in Beijing. For some reason, it seems the "older" ones are from the Shanghai factory in China.
I know the MXL 2001 is from the Shanghai factory in China.
I'm pretty positive at least in caps in the ADK A-51/A-51s and maybe the A-51st, Audix CX-101/CX-111, Joe Meek JM-47, Pacific Pro Audio (Model ?), and Smashmix (Model ?) is from the Shanghai factory in China.
I'm suspecting at least the caps in the Carvin CM-87S' and Apex/Yorkville APEX420/430 are also made in the Shanghai factory in China, but I don't really know for a fact.
I know that the Soundelux U95, U97, and U195 caps are made at the Shanghai factory in China. The U95S and U99 has cap made by B.L.U.E. for them. I don't know about the R-1 cap, though.
David Bock from Soundelux Microphones said on r.a.p.:
"We don't make the U95 anymore. AND the U95 was never a complete OEM. They did the capsule & metalwork, we did the rest. And there was alot to that "rest" part."
Robert Spencer from r.a.p said:
"around here - australia - it's well known that the rode's diaphrams are made in china, & also, btw, quite inconsistent in quality [ kinda like our roads - excuse the pun ]. the other bits are local. they are assembled by freedman electronics.
r."
And if only every company was as up-front as EveAnna Manley, I'd be happy. On r.a.p., she said:
"True. We have been importing one of these for over ten years now known as Langevin CR-3A in our version. The capsule, honestly, we have not had any significant problems with. It sounds pretty good and they are decently consistant. We use this same capsule in our Reference Cardioid Mic and coupled with basically the same tube circuit as our
Reference Gold (which uses a CK-12 style capsule built by David Josephson) the Reference Cardioid is a nice mic. The chinese center-fixed capsule is a much easier thing to make. Our Josephson capsule is very difficult to make.
We had past problems with the CR-3A when they were building/soldering the electronics. Those guys soldered for sh*t where you'd open the mic and a capacitor or two would fall out on the floor. So we solved that one by pulling in the PCB manufacture in-house 'cause our girls solder much better than the chinese. Of course, the chinese kept raising our cost on the mic even though they were performing less and less labour wouldn't ya know....
So now, we pay for the capsule, metalwork, output tranny, and the cheapo case and shock mount and swivel and we load in our PCB/electronics in ChinO not ChinA........
One thing you do get with the Langevin CR-3A is our very attentive Manley Labs after-sales service and the assurance that if you did buy the Langevin Mic and you had a problem with it, that there would actually be someone right here in California who would take care of you and stand behind the product.
All this said, with the flood of chinese mics in the last few years, we'll probably stop bringing in the Langevin CR-3A after awhile. As the public seem to keep demanding cheap cheap cheap and our cost always goes up up up in efforts to make that mic the best it can be, we'll probably bow out of this race as gracefully as possible.........
--
Cheers, EveAnna Manley, President
Manley Laboratories, Inc. 13880 Magnolia Ave. Chino, CA. 91710
Tel: (909) 627-4256 Fax: (909) 628-2482 http://www.manleylabs.com "
However, Udo Bekemeier from BPM said on r.a.p.:
"We have been dealing with 797 quite a while and I can say that the build quality is more than poor. First of all, like mentioned below, there is no chance to get even two mikes sounding the same - if you need a stereo pair for example. Second, there is no service at all and third you may experience that the capsule used in this mikes are lasting even not 6 month - if used constantly. So you may spare a few $$ in the beginning, but you may pay heavily if you need any service for your mike.
By the way the shape of the grill of any microphone ( Neumann, AKG etc.) is in no way protected. There are no patents possible for a microphones grill.
--
Udo Bekemeier
BPM Customer Service
Wattstr. 11-13
D-13355 Berlin
Germany www.bpm-studiotechnik.com "
But just for the record, I highly regard EveAnna Manley's opinions.
Overall, the main questions are:
1. What in what is what and from who and where?
2. Was anything modified? If so, what? And who did the modification(s) and where?
3. Who and where was it assembled?
Who said anything about "big name German mics"?
Anyway, check-out all these sites below and look at their mics and specs., and frequency resposes... Hmmm. You're right. Not everything I mentioned is from the same place, but even the ones that aren't still have a lot of the same physical and audiable characteristics.
www.audixusa.com www.adk.cc/main.html www.joemeek.com www.mars-cam.com www.carvin.com www.yorkville.com www.pacpro.com www.smashmix.com
Direct from the horses mouth (797 Audio), Ma Jiulong/chief engineer of 797 Audio says the following are 797 Audio OEMs from the Beijing factory:
ADK(www.adk.cc):A51TT,A51TC.
Marshall(www.mars-cam.com):MXL2003, MXL600, V77.
PMI(www.pmiaudio.com): BPM microphones:CR-10, CR95, TB-95etc.
RODE(www.event1.com):NT2.
I have probably the most reliable source other than diertly from from the horses mouth (797 Audio) that at least the "newer" Rode NT-1 Cap is made by 797 Audio in Beijing. For some reason, it seems the "older" ones are from the Shanghai factory in China.
I know the MXL 2001 is from the Shanghai factory in China.
I'm pretty positive at least in caps in the ADK A-51/A-51s and maybe the A-51st, Audix CX-101/CX-111, Joe Meek JM-47, Pacific Pro Audio (Model ?), and Smashmix (Model ?) is from the Shanghai factory in China.
I'm suspecting at least the caps in the Carvin CM-87S' and Apex/Yorkville APEX420/430 are also made in the Shanghai factory in China, but I don't really know for a fact.
I know that the Soundelux U95, U97, and U195 caps are made at the Shanghai factory in China. The U95S and U99 has cap made by B.L.U.E. for them. I don't know about the R-1 cap, though.
David Bock from Soundelux Microphones said on r.a.p.:
"We don't make the U95 anymore. AND the U95 was never a complete OEM. They did the capsule & metalwork, we did the rest. And there was alot to that "rest" part."
Robert Spencer from r.a.p said:
"around here - australia - it's well known that the rode's diaphrams are made in china, & also, btw, quite inconsistent in quality [ kinda like our roads - excuse the pun ]. the other bits are local. they are assembled by freedman electronics.
r."
And if only every company was as up-front as EveAnna Manley, I'd be happy. On r.a.p., she said:
"True. We have been importing one of these for over ten years now known as Langevin CR-3A in our version. The capsule, honestly, we have not had any significant problems with. It sounds pretty good and they are decently consistant. We use this same capsule in our Reference Cardioid Mic and coupled with basically the same tube circuit as our
Reference Gold (which uses a CK-12 style capsule built by David Josephson) the Reference Cardioid is a nice mic. The chinese center-fixed capsule is a much easier thing to make. Our Josephson capsule is very difficult to make.
We had past problems with the CR-3A when they were building/soldering the electronics. Those guys soldered for sh*t where you'd open the mic and a capacitor or two would fall out on the floor. So we solved that one by pulling in the PCB manufacture in-house 'cause our girls solder much better than the chinese. Of course, the chinese kept raising our cost on the mic even though they were performing less and less labour wouldn't ya know....
So now, we pay for the capsule, metalwork, output tranny, and the cheapo case and shock mount and swivel and we load in our PCB/electronics in ChinO not ChinA........
One thing you do get with the Langevin CR-3A is our very attentive Manley Labs after-sales service and the assurance that if you did buy the Langevin Mic and you had a problem with it, that there would actually be someone right here in California who would take care of you and stand behind the product.
All this said, with the flood of chinese mics in the last few years, we'll probably stop bringing in the Langevin CR-3A after awhile. As the public seem to keep demanding cheap cheap cheap and our cost always goes up up up in efforts to make that mic the best it can be, we'll probably bow out of this race as gracefully as possible.........
--
Cheers, EveAnna Manley, President
Manley Laboratories, Inc. 13880 Magnolia Ave. Chino, CA. 91710
Tel: (909) 627-4256 Fax: (909) 628-2482 http://www.manleylabs.com "
However, Udo Bekemeier from BPM said on r.a.p.:
"We have been dealing with 797 quite a while and I can say that the build quality is more than poor. First of all, like mentioned below, there is no chance to get even two mikes sounding the same - if you need a stereo pair for example. Second, there is no service at all and third you may experience that the capsule used in this mikes are lasting even not 6 month - if used constantly. So you may spare a few $$ in the beginning, but you may pay heavily if you need any service for your mike.
By the way the shape of the grill of any microphone ( Neumann, AKG etc.) is in no way protected. There are no patents possible for a microphones grill.
--
Udo Bekemeier
BPM Customer Service
Wattstr. 11-13
D-13355 Berlin
Germany www.bpm-studiotechnik.com "
But just for the record, I highly regard EveAnna Manley's opinions.
Overall, the main questions are:
1. What in what is what and from who and where?
2. Was anything modified? If so, what? And who did the modification(s) and where?
3. Who and where was it assembled?
O
omnipotent
New member
RE, just asking to make somthing clear.
While the Rode NT2 and NT1 are made at the 797 factory and its dificult to get 2 sounding similar, arn't they still MUCH better mics then the Jomeek, Carvin etc.?
While the Rode NT2 and NT1 are made at the 797 factory and its dificult to get 2 sounding similar, arn't they still MUCH better mics then the Jomeek, Carvin etc.?
C
Cooperman
New member
Where are NT3 capsules coming from? China? If so are we gonna get the same thing happening with small diaphragm condensors?
R
Recording Engineer
Moderator
Good Questions
omnipotent:
You're right that about most people seem to agree that the NT-1 and NT-2 seem to have A LOT better consistency/quality control than the 2001P/JM-47/etc. As I've said before, A LOT, maybe even MOST of it, is due to capsule inconsistencies more than anything else.
Cooperman:
I don't know who makes the NT-3 cap, but don't scare me about small diaphragm condensers, though I already know a little bit if "insight" on those too; such as a few of BPM's for example.
omnipotent:
You're right that about most people seem to agree that the NT-1 and NT-2 seem to have A LOT better consistency/quality control than the 2001P/JM-47/etc. As I've said before, A LOT, maybe even MOST of it, is due to capsule inconsistencies more than anything else.
Cooperman:
I don't know who makes the NT-3 cap, but don't scare me about small diaphragm condensers, though I already know a little bit if "insight" on those too; such as a few of BPM's for example.