that show was very very very loud. same with the 2/13 show i recorded from near the same spot
in both cases on the 4061 rig I had the gain on the d:vice set to its minimum (not uncommon when
at loud shows, better safe than sorry), and it was constantly hitting -6dB with a few transients over -3dB. not far from overloading the input with the lo-sens 4061s
with the rig at exact same settings, my 114dB calibrator with a 1K sine wave produces -20.1 dB and -20.5dB signals with the two 4061s respectively. I know a 1khz sine wave may not translate to actual wideband program material, but that show would have had to have been in excess of 125 dB with peaks close to, if not over, 130dB, right?
OSHA allows 15 minutes of exposure at 115 dB... per usual id guess 80+% of people had no hearing protection whatsoever. heck my 15dB etys prob werent adequate.
the good news is i dont hear any overloading of the mics, so its fair to say the d:vice powers them to their limit in high SPL situations
if 114dB is -20dB with 4061s, FSD would be 134dB. which is right about the 1% distortion spec of a CORE 4061 so the input level is definitely well matched
assuming the 4061s are actually 6mV/Pa sensitivity (based on what ive seen from DPA this is probably nominal and is actually +/- a few mV, but lets say 6mV/Pa for lack of a better number), roughly: 134dB = 100 Pa = 600 mV = -4 dBV = -2 dBU
4060s at 20 mV/Pa would have overloaded the d:vice at 2.0V/+8 dBU/+6 dBV
so working backwards a practical limit of the 4060s with a d:vice would be 600mV / 20 mV/Pa = 30 Pa = 123dB (again must be a good match. 4060 core spec must be in error as the webpage cites 1% distortion at 134 dB RMS, then a max SPL (10% distortion) at... 134 dB. Both of those cant be right, i would bet the 1% distortion level is right in the 120s for a mic that sensitive
notably the MMP-G lists its spec as maximum output voltage of 1.3V RMS/1.8V peak. but that would definitely depend on the capsule used. my 4018V caps are ~5 mV/PA and are probably 10 dB lower than the 4061s in the same environment. i used some gain with those
maybe those max voltages are at very high SPL with a super sensitive cap like the 40 mV/Pa 4006 and 2006 omnis
as an aside, according to DPA support, the only difference between their various mic preamps is max SPL, although they list different dynamic ranges, they say that with all of their preamps the noise of the capsule itself is greater than the preamp
their published specs of max SPL with 4011:
MMP-A 159 dB
MMP-C 152 dB
MMP-E 144 dB
when asked, they said MMP-G is 140 dB max at its usual 5V supply (and 142dB if you were to build a 9V bat box)
there were times i thought the d:vice setup wasnt up to super loud music, my faith is restored. after this show, i fully believe that quoted 140 dB max, which is more than adequate for our purposes. youd need to be close mic'ing instruments to *need* the full bodies (not that they cant offer lower distortion in the 130s, but diminishing returns is a thing)
the obsolete 4022s were spec'd at 145 dB which is pretty much identical to the MMP-E, as expected. For the d:vice to get within a few dB of those without phantom power is impressive indeed
