size doesn't matter?

[drossfile]

Well, in general, smaller diaphragms and voice coils will be higher pitched than larger diaphragms with bigger voice coils, so bigger dynamic diaphragms (with their lower resonances) should pick up low frequencies better than small dynamics.

wow, i certainly wasn't expecting THAT answer when i started the thread!!!
(j/k, i realize it's obviously more complicated than that)

seriously, guys--this has been an education and i really appreciate it. i'm gonna have to read this thread several times and keep re-reading the stickies until i wrap my head around this whole thing.

of course i experiment and ultimately trust my ears anyway, but i'm really fascinated by the physics behind my passion.

 

[snow lizard]

Here's something I've been very confused about for many years.

I have within arm's reach at the moment a Shure SM 58 (probably by most accounts not considered to be a "large diaphragm dynamic") and a Shure Beta 52 (one of these so called "kick drum mics") and an extremely cheap Mastercraft digital vernier.

Granted the wind screen has very different dimensions for each of these mics (the 58 grill easily fits inside the 52) the capsule's outside diameter for each mic is within around 0.003" of being 1 3/16". What makes the 52 "Large Diaphragm" over the 58? Does anyone know the comparative actual diaphragm size of these dynamic mics or any others?