Topic: DPA4061 into PCM-M1

[lordbelial]

Hi,

I've loaned a pair of DPA-4061 to a friend of mine. He uses to record through MIC IN into a PCM-M1 and a CSB+CSB battery box.

We've been discussing about if it was better to run line or mic in. I've sent him a custom battery box designed for a minidisc with a line impedance of 47 KOhm, which makes a roll off on 150 Hz more or less, that is going to power the DPA4061.

Will make a great difference to run mic or line in? Is he going to have problems because of different input impedances (Mic and Line) because of my custom bass roll off design?

Thanks for the help!

[cgrooves]

I used to run mics into an m1 without a pre, and I always used line-in.  I had to throw some line transformers in the chain in order to get good levels, however.

[ilduclo]

m1 will distort on mic in without your knowing it, unless the preamps modified by Oade or others.

I have d100 (same same) and go line in exclusively

[hi and lo]

m1 will distort on mic in without your knowing it, unless the preamps modified by Oade or others.

I have d100 (same same) and go line in exclusively

This is somewhat accurate. I've owned both 60s and 61s and used them with a D100 many times.

If you are using the mic input and have to go below 4.5 on the dial to prevent massive clipping, then yes, the signal will overload the mic pre on the M1. When this occurs, the levels no longer 'bounce' with the peaks of the music.

I have never been a fan of the Oade's D100/M1 modifications. A friend had one and he made more than enough brickwalled recordings for us to be confident it was no better than the stock M1. Perhaps it was a tad cleaner if you weren't overloading the preamp, but it did little to solve the overloading problem.

Additionally, it's pretty unclear what the modification actually was and if it changed any of the specifications, particularly input impedance. They never published any specs to justify their claims and measuring input impedance is not something most end users can do.

My recommendation is to try running mic in w/ the -20db pad on at first. If you're close to 4.5 on the knob,  switch to line in. Running line in, you'll be lucky to get past -12db though without some additional gain, which in and of itself, defeats the entire purpose of running line in [because it's cleaner]. Of course, running mic in with a battery box designed for 47k input impedance is not advisable at all as your rolloff will be 10x higher than desired.

Personally, I always preferred to run mic in with a custom batt box with built in -20db attenuator. YMMV, people around here seem overly concerned with the 'cleanness' of the line vs. mic in. I know too many good tapes made with the M1 mic in to care tho.

[Depechemode1993]

I always rock my 4060 -> BB -> Line In.

I have tried to run just the 4060 to mic in but its nasty sounding.

[lordbelial]

Thanks for all the answers, most of them are in line with my own experience and my guessings.

My friend's used to record through mic in and he needs solid arguments to switch into line in recording. Anyway, I told him to test different options at home with loud music. I'm not a friend of mic-in recordings so I'll make my best to convince him to switch to line-in.

Regards,

[hi and lo]

The bottom line is if you want to go to line in, you're gonna need some gain. Even the loudest of rock concerts will peak at -12db, which in the 16bit world is pretty bad.

I like the idea of line transformers or a church audio pre.

[Belexes]

I had the Church pre with the 4061's and worked great line-in with the M1.  The Church pre gave me all the gain I needed.

[cgrooves]

I used the Hosa MIT-176 line transformers, BTW.  I was able to get great levels running line-in with AT853's.