Topic: One of my 4061s died.. thinking about options...

[acidjack]

After six years of use, one of the mics in my 4061 pair has a short that cannot be fixed. Thinking about things, I guess my options are:

1. Buy a new stereo set from DPA
2. Buy a single new mic and have it re-cabled with the old one
3. Buy a used stereo set
4. Buy a single used mic and have it re-cabled
5. Buy a new set of B3s and have them cabled.

Obviously the "best" option is 1, but also the most costly. Buying one mic and having it re-cabled costs less, but that presents the issue of (a) non-matching and/or (b) if it's used, the used mic dying. Also, of course, the mic that still works could be on its last legs, for all I know.

If a used set came up for $450 or less, I'd probably do that, though that's pretty low for these mics. I paid $650 for this set.

Ultimately I realize I just have to decide what I want to spend, but I'd be curious to hear from anyone else who has had this happen what you did and whether you were satisfied with the results. A brand-new set of B3s costs about the same as a single new 4061. I prefer the DPA sound, but I don't know if I prefer it by a difference of $500.

[2manyrocks]

Seems like these are the same issues I struggled with in buying DPA 4061s to start with.

I haven't had it to happen yet, but sort of live in fear of it happening after reading posts about the thinness of the internal wires and something about the capsule itself just not being repairable when it goes bad. 

Seems like Gutbucket bought several used DPA's and found the ones that matched the best.  I don't know if they didn't match because they were used and had makeup in them or if there is that much tolerance between factory fresh DPA mics. 

I bid on an ex-theater 4061 over the weekend and plan to grab another to make a pair.  I figure they are worth experimenting with instead of just forking over the $900 for a new stereo mic kit to be sure they actually match and haven't been abused.  On the other hand, it wouldn't be as painful to see a used one go bad as one I paid full price for. 

I would think you could find one good capsule for about $200 and see what happens.

But I understand where you're coming from.   

 

[ilduclo]

I had great luck with the "broadway sellers" on EBay for my pair. 7 years of fairly rough use. ZERO problems.  Minor imbalance. You can easily see if in a stereo view, but it's not that easy to hear. I think your worries about the thiness of the wires is misplaced, unless they've started to use "overdrawn" wire from China. (Pull hard on the copper, you can get a lot more miles per ingot, but those molecules are stretched pretty far apart)

[dabbler]

I just got 4063s but am already preparing myself for their imminent death since I find myself mostly going to rough shows.

I'd probably go with 2) and not worry about matching too much since I'm usually
standing off-center (to avoid standing waves) and need to recenter in post anyways.  There are heavy-duty versions of the 4061 and 4060, now, and even the
new, non-heavy-duty version of all the 406x comes with extra reinforcement.

[Gutbucket]

Seems like Gutbucket bought several used DPA's and found the ones that matched the best.  I don't know if they didn't match because they were used and had makeup in them or if there is that much tolerance between factory fresh DPA mics.

I'd previously always bought new 4060s, the first pair DPA matched for me, before the stereo kits were available.

I then purchased a quite old used pair (low serial #'s, thicker cables) from a member here years ago.  Those and my original 4060s went bad over the years, and when they did I sent them to DPA to check and they typically offered me a slightly reduced replacement price on new ones. 

Maybe 4 years ago I bought a lot of six 'as is' Broadway 4061s off ebay for $500.  Two were a perfect match, two were totally shot, and two were serviceable but the sensitivity match were far off. Chucked the duds, kept the off-pair as backups, have used the well matched pair in my multichannel outdoor open rig ever since and felt satisfied to at least get a good $500 pair which have worked fine since then. 

Also bought a single with the extra mounting stuff and the XLR adapter when B&H had a sub $400 deal going on them a few years back.

Tough call on which way to go, except this- I tried Countryman B3s hoping they would be 'similar and almost as good for less' but they just didn't do it for me.  Others seem to love them though so YMMV.

[adrianf74]

I'm with Lee on the B3 experiment.  The 406x mics, if you like their sound, are the better option.

As mentioned, DPA will do a out of warranty replacement for less than the cost of a new one so that's also an option.

[jbosco]

have used the well matched pair in my multichannel outdoor open rig ever since and felt satisfied to at least get a good $500 pair which have worked fine since then. 

Just curious, how do you mount them when you use them in an open taping situation?

[Gutbucket]

Usually mounted to telescopic TV antennas, sometimes flexible welding rod "stalks"

More than you'll want to know can be found here:
Oddball Microphone Techniques- http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=96009.0

[jbosco]

Usually mounted to telescopic TV antennas, sometimes flexible welding rod "stalks"

More than you'll want to know can be found here:
Oddball Microphone Techniques- http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=96009.0

So not anything like these:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/554993-REG/Rycote_041101_INV_1_InVision_Indoor_Microphone.html

Just wondering if those inserts would hold the small mics in place.

[Gutbucket]

They're really too small and light for that, about the size of a pea.  Although you could make it work by mounting them in something that would ack as a larger mic-body and fit into the clip, and have enough mass that the  suspension would actually isolate it, I think that's overkill.  They have less handling noise and reduced susceptibility to wind noise compared to most microphones.