Carvin CTM100, Reconmendations?

[JoshO]

I was looking at the carvin CTM100 tube condeser mic. I was shocked at the $300 price, for the 9 plar patterns and tube power. I wanted to know if this mic is a good deal or crap.

 

[ljmaxx]

The Carvin CTM100, Apex 460, and the Nady 1150 are all made in the same factory (Alctron-Audio) and are the same mic. The least expensive is the Nady which can be bought for less than $200 so you may want to try that one. If you don't like it you can sell it for close to what you paid. Here's a link for one on ebay with a BIN for $179. Good luck.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nady-TCM-1150-T...ryZ41466QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[PhilGood]

The Carvin CTM100, Apex 460, and the Nady 1150 are all made in the same factory (Alctron-Audio) and are the same mic. The least expensive is the Nady which can be bought for less than $200 so you may want to try that one. If you don't like it you can sell it for close to what you paid. Here's a link for one on ebay with a BIN for $179. Good luck.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nady-TCM-1150-T...ryZ41466QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Everything said here is confirmed and correct!

My $.02!

 

[kidvybes]

The Carvin CTM100, Apex 460, and the Nady 1150 are all made in the same factory (Alctron-Audio) and are the same mic. The least expensive is the Nady which can be bought for less than $200 so you may want to try that one. If you don't like it you can sell it for close to what you paid. Here's a link for one on ebay with a BIN for $179. Good luck.

...and then there's that guy on Ebay who's selling both ribbon and tube mics that look suspiciously like Nady products but with his own "Stellar" brand (similar also to Shinybox products)...probably buying directly from Alctron-Audio, much like is being proposed in another thread here on HR.com ("Group Buy...") and having his own logo applied...he's offering a tube mic that looks suspiciously similar to Nady's TCM1050 (sells for about $100. more than the TCM1150 under the Nady brand) but he's offering it for $185...also with 9 polar-patterns:
http://cgi.ebay.com/CM-2-Tube-Conde...ryZ41470QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

...probably safer to stay with Nady, but at $185. it's tempting...ADK markets their Generis GT2 (another suspiciously similar mic with 9 polar patterns) for about the same as the Nady 1050...
...now if I had Phil's skills at modding , I'd grab me one of those there "Stella!" mics...paint that sucka a pretty shade of turquoise ...gut that baby and build me a "FrankenTube" special!!! ...but I guy can dream...

...look familiar?:

 

[ljmaxx]

...and then there's that guy on Ebay who's selling both ribbon and tube mics that look suspiciously like Nady products but with his own "Stellar" brand (similar also to Shinybox products)...probably buying directly from Alctron-Audio, much like is being proposed in another thread here on HR.com ("Group Buy...") and having his own logo applied...he's offering a tube mic that looks suspiciously similar to Nady's TCM1050 (sells for about $100. more than the TCM1150 under the Nady brand) but he's offering it for $185...also with 9 polar-patterns:
http://cgi.ebay.com/CM-2-Tube-Conde...ryZ41470QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

...probably safer to stay with Nady, but at $185. it's tempting...ADK markets their Generis GT2 (another suspiciously similar mic with 9 polar patterns) for about the same as the Nady 1050...
...now if I had Phil's skills at modding , I'd grab me one of those there "Stella!" mics...paint that sucka a pretty shade of turquoise ...gut that baby and build me a "FrankenTube" special!!! ...but I guy can dream...

...look familiar?:

You are correct sir! I guess I should have added the Telefunken M16 to that list as well although the M16 does come with that fancy wooden box. ;-)

I contacted that guy ( Peter B ) and he is buying his mics from Alctron-Audio. I bought a few ribbon mics directly from Alctron just to see how consistent they were and the bottom line was there was no detectable difference in any of the mics by ear. I don't have the expertise or equipment to put the mics through the ringer like someone like Ty Ford. The mics were copies of the Royer 121 which Stellar sells as the RM-8. There was a slight difference between the copies of the Royer 121 and the Royer 121 but as I said above the three mics performed the same. The Royer is in the $1200 range while the copies are in the $150 range and the Royer was not a $1000 better mic IMHO. If any of you were to pick up a couple of the Stellar's I would think you'd be satisfied with them and for the money it is not a big risk. Happy Holidays!

 

[JoshO]

Thanks

Thank you everyone for your input I did Buy the Nic microphone on ebay, i will check it out and reply again on quality.