Topic: The AKG Active Project - 2

[aberg]

hello all, neil in san marcos here. i have inhouse CK8X's as well as CK1X's, CK63's, and CK61's. i have 451's 451E's and 451EB's as well as 460's. i ran the 460/CK8X combo after the dead's europe tour. jeez, was it that long ago??? anyway, the MK46 cable was always somewhat fragile - we were always careful to hold the MK46 and spin the 460 or the cap when attaching the parts. nevertheless, the cables became unreliable. so i rebuilt them with a heavier cable (i _may_ be able to find the spec sheet akg sent me on the original cable - will dig). i do remember searching hard for the same spec cable in terms of impedance as well as other factors. the mk46 cable is triaxial. my mk46 schematics show that the center cable is "hot", the inner cable is "ground" and the outer cable is "screen". if you meter the connections at the 460 body, the screen is common with the body which is common with XLR pin1. so the outer cable acts like the tube in the A15 to prevent inteference - rfi, emi, etc - getting into the signal... i still have original AKG cable as well as the replacement cable not used in the repair. likely i can find the cable info for the stuff i used as replacement. never noticed any degredation of SQ after replacement, btw... so maybe this will assist in providing a quiet link between the cap and body....

to poorlyconditioned... i have not looked at a schematic in many years for the CKxX caps. i assume that it is a fact that there is a FET in the cap? (can't remember from the previous thread and i have been absent from this forum for a few months, so please forgive the dumbness of my question). just thinking, cause there are only 2 connections for the CKx series and 3 for the CKxX series...

i think the idea of the A51 as a basis for investigating the soundness of seperating the cap from the body is a great idea. i really think the potential noise issue needs to be looked into very carefully.

as a side note, sent my 8x caps in as one diaphram is bad. akg did not even have ONE MK46 available to test my capsule with - i had to ship my eq to them. best part? they charged me boo-coo bucks and never even repaired them, then denied the claim when asked to warranty them.

neil in san marcos
glad to help in any way i can...

That cable info would be great for those of us looking to jump into the AKG actives world... thanks for the info dude! +t!

[esteyes]

will work on cable info. might take a day or two.

nick, neil here. long time no talk, eh! hey, send me an addy and i will send you some cable. oem akg as well as the replacement. please use nsturtevantATcox.net  of course AT = @

neil in san marcos

[Nick's Picks]

Yo Neil...
I emailed you..and it bounced.
PM me ?

[esteyes]

oooops

nsturtevant1ATcox.net

forgot the 1

so sorry

neil

[tubems]

hey hey

if you all are still lookin for some funding for the project, i can chip in.  the 460's i have i have a pair of ck1's for and thus use the adapter for the capsules to fit on the body...that can also be a nice little chamber to use for this type of project...it can also be used to encapsulate any active components that will allow for longer cable runs.

i can take pics if people want...

dan

[Nick's Picks]

I now have cable from a hacked MK46 "active" AKG cable from the 451s.  I also have some other cable to try as well.  I'll be getting my rig back from a friend tonight or next week...depending on what he has to record this weekend, if any.
then I'll dismantle my a51 swivel and see whats what.
hopefully, i can make something work...at least a 3' extension.  my hopes are not up though...I must admit.

I believe one of the EE folks here would have a better chance of just making something "work"

[landshark]

Heh, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you (and us) Nick!!

[Chuck]

Did anyone ever ask Jon of JKLabs? I read that he has surfaced recently.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

I now have cable from a hacked MK46 "active" AKG cable from the 451s.  I also have some other cable to try as well.  I'll be getting my rig back from a friend tonight or next week...depending on what he has to record this weekend, if any.

Good to hear someone is making some progress.. any progress.. I was getting ready to suggest the thread name should be changed to the akg inactive project

[OFOTD]

Did anyone ever ask Jon of JKLabs? I read that he has surfaced recently.

Remember though that Jon did not make an active cable for the 480/460 bodies he just make an active cable into his own box.   Big difference.

[tubems]

i agree, it is big diff..

the DVC box i have has the heads he made.  when i was origionaly ordering it from him back in 96 or 97 i asked if he makes just an active cable and said no, as noted before.  But the head was made out of brass, which he had made at a mechine shop (used one of my ck61's as the thread reference).  honestly, if anyone knows a mechinist what we need is somone that can make up the head out of what ever material we want, and do the threads...i still think brass will be the best, then get it powdercoated, and we can deal with the innards and what ever components we need to put in the two heads, the one on the mic, and the cap interfacing one. 

A friend is doing the BCT right now, he is in the film industry and has a mechinist that makes custome housings for equipment he designs, ill see if i can get the guys info.  my GF is an architect and there are copies of autocad on basicaly every computer at our house...so if we want i can get a quick CAD made up, and see about gettin this to the mechinist.  BUT, somone has to figure out the innards of the two...

just stuff to think about...

dan

[drewloo]

I meant to mention this site a while back but forgot, but there's a site called http://www.emachineshop.com/ that looks like they might be able to do what is needed.  You download their CAD program (which can also be used for your own projects even if you don't have them make it  ) and they say if you can design it w/ the software they can build it.  Gives you an instant price quote according to what material you choose, too.  Probably a long shot but it might be worth looking into.

BTW, they have a sister site called http://www.pad2pad.com/ that does custom printed circuit boards, too.  I have never used these sites and cannot vouch for their services.

[grider]

Did anyone ever ask Jon of JKLabs? I read that he has surfaced recently.

Remember though that Jon did not make an active cable for the 480/460 bodies he just make an active cable into his own box.   Big difference.

I'm not sure this is correct, I think raoulduke has an active cable system that connects his caps to his 480 bodies, I know he does not have the same dvc preamp and cable system that I do, and that there are at least two different systems for the 480 series engineered by JK Labs

[Todd R]

Did anyone ever ask Jon of JKLabs? I read that he has surfaced recently.

Remember though that Jon did not make an active cable for the 480/460 bodies he just make an active cable into his own box.   Big difference.

I'm not sure this is correct, I think raoulduke has an active cable system that connects his caps to his 480 bodies, I know he does not have the same dvc preamp and cable system that I do, and that there are at least two different systems for the 480 series engineered by JK Labs

I think Tim/Raoulduke had/has the jklabs ECMS system for the Gefell caps, not the AKG caps.  I had the JKLabs ECMS system for the AKG ck6x caps, which I sold to Tommy.  The ECMS system -- Extended Capsule Microphone System -- is what Jon at jklabs built for an active mic system.  Active only that is -- the DVC allowed active/remote caps, but the DVC was also a built in mic preamp.  The ECMS system is only an active mic system, no mic preamp functions.  Mine worked off 9v, but others he built were powered from the 48v phantom coming from your mic preamp.

At any rate, the ECMS had the active cables for the caps, but it used a separate box to work as the mic "bodies".  As far as I know though, Jon never made a system to connect "active" AKG caps to the 480 or 460 bodies -- he just had the ECMS system or the DVC system.

[OFOTD]

At any rate, the ECMS had the active cables for the caps, but it used a separate box to work as the mic "bodies".  As far as I know though, Jon never made a system to connect "active" AKG caps to the 480 or 460 bodies -- he just had the ECMS system or the DVC system.

That is correct.  To my knowledge there has never been a true "active" system that kept the 480 bodies in the equation.  That is the big stumbling block.  Some folks will argue that all they want is an active system for the ck6x capsules regardless if the bodies are in the loop or not. 

For me the best way I can put it is look (or listen) to what a difference the same cap can have with stock 460/JW mod 460/480's.  Noticable difference with each respective body.   I think that alot of us would settle for a JKLabs device but ultimately many of us are really shooting for a true active cap > cable > body setup.

I really do believe that the different parties that have different stages of development done could have this project completed if they shared their information and resources with one another.  But and a BIG but I also believe that most of those parties are looking to make money off of this (rightfully so or not) and because of that this project will not end up coming to completion.  Because of that I picked up a Neumann active setup to compliment my 480's.