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Gear / Technical Help => Microphones & Setup => Topic started by: jagraham on July 30, 2016, 04:04:05 PM

Title: AT831s vs CA-14s - how do they compare?
Post by: jagraham on July 30, 2016, 04:04:05 PM

I'm a long time CA-14 user and I love the sound of those mics. I've been considering the AT mics for a while now and I'm wondering how they AT831s compare? In particular, I'm wondering about sound and durability of the mic (which can be an issue with the CAs, very thin cables). Also wondering if they are maybe a little less obtrusive, the CA-14s are pretty small on their own but the ATs look tiny from pictures.

Title: Re: AT831s vs CA-14s - how do they compare?
Post by: Humbug on July 31, 2016, 05:31:11 AM

I personally love the AT831s - I've been using a set since I started taping (as SP-CMC2, 2-wire), and picked up a set of 831's, which I run three wire, a couple of years back.

They are an incredibly flexible mic, and they shine where the acoustics or recording location is not ideal - eg off to one side.

I can't compare them to CA mics as I've never run them.

However compared to AT853s (which are my preferred mic where sound is good), they lack a little bass. Vocals are generally clearer.

Here's a pretty typical tape made with them:

https://archive.org/details/nmas2013-10-23.cmc2

Hope this helps.

Title: Re: AT831s vs CA-14s - how do they compare?
Post by: Humbug on July 31, 2016, 05:42:13 AM

You've got me listening to some of the older tapes.

Here are much-missed heavy rock trio Rose Hill Drive, covering most of Hendrix's Band Of Gypsies, on their final UK tour, this time a stealth recording using SP-CMC2 mics:

https://archive.org/details/rhd2008-09-08.spcmc2.flac16