Last year I have been searching for a complementary pair to my DPA 4090 mics and I had both a set of DPA 2012 and a set DPA 2015 home for a few weeks to try. Kindly arranged with the Belgium/Dutch DPA importer (Amptec).
I did some pipe organ recordings with 2x2012 + 2x2015 + 2x4090 all into my F6.
The sound signature of the 2012 and 2015 was very similar, also similar to the 4090. Both 2012 and 2015 are clearly designed for close recording; they work best at a distance where my 4090 still does a good job so for me they were not complementary, rather alternative options.
Compared with some other microphones I tried (KM184, KM140, KM143) they have notable more bass. I found that remarkable for directional microphones.
The DPA 4090 is however still more neutral than both the 2012 and 2015.
Compared with the DPA2015 the KM143 is much brighter and needs to be used quite far from the organ to sound balanced. It has also less bass. For a standalone microphone I would have selected the DPA2015. However, for use together with my DPA4090 (4 mics on one bar), the KM143 is a better addition (for application in huge acoustics or when the organ is too high for my stand).
I had a chance to exchange a pair brand-new pair of KM184 against a pair of KM143. That was what I finally did. I hope this was a good deal.
The KM143's were just used for voice amplification purposes, so they have got a better life now
![Cheesy :D](/Smileys/throwback/cheesy.gif)
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