life span of a microphone?

[pikingrin]

If you take good care of your mics (condensers), what is a reasonable life span to expect? Just curious cause I recently tossed out a behringer (don't say anything! ) b2pro or something like that bacause the diaphragm sounded like it was tore in two. I got some new mics a while back so it's not a big deal, I am just curious.

 

[northsiderap]

Mics

Don't throw mics away, give them to me so I can do my mad scientist-type experiments on them!!!

I have heard that the Chinese capsules will deteriorate faster because of cost-cutting during the sputtering process...

 

[pikingrin]

Don't throw mics away, give them to me so I can do my mad scientist-type experiments on them!!!

Well, I guess I should've posted this before I read that everything behringer was crap... Sorry man, next time a mic goes out, I'll let you know before I trash it.

At least you brought some other questions to mind though... Maybe technical, I should probably read Harvey Gerst's whole thread, but I don't have any printer paper at hand to print out the info right now...

A)When you read a mic spec about the thickness of the diaphragm, how does the difference in microns affect the overall sound of the mic? Is it important?

B)I only see a couple of mic ads in MF/AMS that mention "gold sputtered" diaphragms... Are they all this way? Does this affect the sound at all?

 

[sdelsolray]

A)When you read a mic spec about the thickness of the diaphragm, how does the difference in microns affect the overall sound of the mic? Is it important?

I guess it's important, at least to the mic designer. Thinner substrates tend to have certain charateristics. Thicker ones tend to have other characteristics. The substrate material has an effect (e.g., PVC vs. Mylar v. pure metal). Take Microtech Gefell for example. The currently make mics with 0.8 micron thick metal diaphragms (e.g., M294 w/ Mylar) and they make some with 10 microns thickness (any MG mic using the M7 capsule w/ PVC - UM900, UMT800, etc.). Thinner isn't necessarily better and vice versa.

\B)I only see a couple of mic ads in MF/AMS that mention "gold sputtered" diaphragms... Are they all this way? Does this affect the sound at all?

Gold sputtering is one way to deposit the conductive material on the substrate. It's the inexpensive way and often results in an uneven deposit. Most manufacturers use this method. Evaporative depositing is more expensive and accurate. Guess who uses the evaporative process? - Microtech Gefell (and those other shunned European mic makers).

 

[bgavin]

I have a pair of Radio Shack SDC electret that I bought new in 1980. They still get a workout today as overheads. They say electrets fade over time, but mine still sound good.

 

[Lambo]

From a manufacturing standpoint it only stands to reason that it is easier to achieve and maintain something that is 0.8 (~.003") thick than it is to produce something that's .10 (~.0004") thick. That's the main reason why there is so much variation within the same product family from any given manufacturer. Tighter tolerances equates to higher costs to produce/maintain them.