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Author Topic: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series  (Read 13523 times)

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Offline DSatz

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #30 on: October 21, 2019, 02:50:20 PM »
People who favor the CMC 5 seem to do so on the basis that it is built with all-discrete components, and they have an ideological position which tells them that the integrated circuits in the CMC 6 (and CMC 1) can't possibly sound as good. Even people who should know better seem to be baffled by the small size of the components used in modern audio circuitry. In this case it is obvious that they are betraying their own notion of letting their ears decide, because they are instead pre-deciding what they hear on the basis of what they see. In actual listening comparisons, the size of the components doesn't matter (we're not talking about transformers, for example, where a certain amount of physical bulk may actually be required).

Of course such people will deny up and down that they are biased, but they are precisely the people who never submit to double-blind A/B testing, which can be such a great teacher of humility.

--The CMC 1 has one specification (besides the current requirement and the SPL limit) that is different from previous CMC amplifiers, and that is that its very low output impedance is strictly maintained throughout the audio frequency band. This could matter sonically if the input of the preamp or recorder has distinctly lower impedance than the specified 1 kOhm minimum. There are a couple of preamps out there that have switchable input impedance, and others that dip below 1 kOhm at one or both ends of the spectrum while being up to spec in the middle. Such preamps can interact audibly with any microphone whose output impedance rises at one end or the other (Ohm's Law).

As an example, ribbon microphones generally have higher output impedance at and around their primary resonance frequency; that impedance can even exceed 1 kOhm. This is why the best preamps for ribbon microphones, such as AEA's, have high input impedance (20 kOhms or even higher) across the frequency spectrum. Otherwise, the microphone will sound rather different depending on which preamp it is connected to. You aren't hearing the mike's own response, but its response as filtered through frequency-specific losses (possibly of several dB) in the input impedance of the preamp. In an extreme case--say, a preamp set for only 200 Ohms input impedance--the frequency response of the CMC 1 would be flatter than that of any previous CMC amplifier to a potentially audible degree, because its interface losses would be uniform across the spectrum, while those of the older amplifiers would be greater at the frequency extremes.

(It's still Really Bad Engineering to design or use such a preamp in my opinion--but to some people everything is a "tone control", and they want more "tone controls" no matter how they're obtained.)

--best regards
« Last Edit: November 26, 2019, 04:15:18 PM by DSatz »
music > microphones > a recorder of some sort

Offline voltronic

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #31 on: October 21, 2019, 06:15:10 PM »
People who favor the CMC 5 seem to do so on the basis that it is built with all-discrete components, and they have an ideological position which tells them that the integrated circuits in the CMC 6 (and CMC 1) can't possibly sound as good. Even people who should know better seem to be baffled by the small size of the components used in modern audio circuitry. In this case it is obvious that they are betraying their own notion of letting their ears decide, because they are instead pre-deciding what they hear on the basis of what they see. In actual listening comparisons, the size of the components doesn't matter (we're not talking about transformers, for example, where a certain amount of physical bulk may actually be required).

Of course such people will deny up and down that they are biased, but they are precisely the people who never submit to double-blind A/B testing, which can be such a great teacher of humility.

Perhaps you are familiar with Mr. Rens Heijinis, who as I understand makes some excellent microphones and other related equipment, but he also makes all sorts of outlandish claims about modern SMD circuits vs. discrete, as well as the evils of 48V phantom power.  Devotees of his Schoeps modifications are quite enthusiastic, and I am sure he does great work, but some of the things stated on this page are snake-oil lunacy:

http://www.sonodore.com/microphones.htm
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Offline DSatz

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #32 on: November 09, 2019, 04:42:16 PM »
I bought a pair of these little amplifiers from Posthorn, and plan on using them to record a concert on the 21st.

--best regards
music > microphones > a recorder of some sort

Offline voltronic

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #33 on: November 09, 2019, 06:37:24 PM »
I bought a pair of these little amplifiers from Posthorn, and plan on using them to record a concert on the 21st.

--best regards

I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that we're all interested to hear what you think of them compared to the CMC 6 or 5.

It just struck me that the CMC 1 gives Schoeps a direct alternative to the Sennheiser MKH 80xx series.  I'm sure that fact was not lost on them.
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Offline jerryfreak

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #34 on: November 09, 2019, 10:00:46 PM »
I bought a pair of these little amplifiers from Posthorn, and plan on using them to record a concert on the 21st.

--best regards

I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that we're all interested to hear what you think of them compared to the CMC 6 or 5.

It just struck me that the CMC 1 gives Schoeps a direct alternative to the Sennheiser MKH 80xx series.  I'm sure that fact was not lost on them.

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Offline morst

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #35 on: November 10, 2019, 12:50:35 AM »
Of course such people will deny up and down that they are biased, but they are precisely the people who never submit to double-blind A/B testing, which can be such a great teacher of humility.
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Offline DSatz

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #36 on: November 26, 2019, 04:12:11 PM »
This past Thursday night I used my new pair of CMC 1 amplifiers (and some other equipment, of course) to record a concert of opera arias in a church on Manhattan's upper West side. I didn't expect them to sound or act differently from other Colette-series amplifiers, but I expected them to work, and to be much smaller than my CMC 6 amplifiers.

I can now definitely report that indeed they worked, they remained very small, and that they are fully opera-aria compatible.

(Science moves forward in very small steps sometimes.)

--best regards
« Last Edit: November 26, 2019, 04:16:05 PM by DSatz »
music > microphones > a recorder of some sort

Offline jerryfreak

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #37 on: November 26, 2019, 05:15:47 PM »
This past Thursday night I used my new pair of CMC 1 amplifiers (and some other equipment, of course) to record a concert of opera arias in a church on Manhattan's upper West side. I didn't expect them to sound or act differently from other Colette-series amplifiers, but I expected them to work, and to be much smaller than my CMC 6 amplifiers.

I can now definitely report that indeed they worked, they remained very small, and that they are fully opera-aria compatible.

(Science moves forward in very small steps sometimes.)

--best regards

what, you can't hear the extra 4dB dynamic range?
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Offline voltronic

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #38 on: November 27, 2019, 11:21:57 AM »
This past Thursday night I used my new pair of CMC 1 amplifiers (and some other equipment, of course) to record a concert of opera arias in a church on Manhattan's upper West side. I didn't expect them to sound or act differently from other Colette-series amplifiers, but I expected them to work, and to be much smaller than my CMC 6 amplifiers.

I can now definitely report that indeed they worked, they remained very small, and that they are fully opera-aria compatible.

(Science moves forward in very small steps sometimes.)

--best regards

Thanks for this report.  It is good to know that they are up to your standards.
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Offline jdwtyl

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #39 on: December 26, 2019, 06:37:38 PM »
Has anyone else tried these yet? I’m seriously considering a pair so I can run 4 channels along with my CMRs and would love to hear a sample of these in action.
Schoeps MK22, MK41 - Matched Pairs
Schoeps CMC6 x4, Schoeps CMR - Pair
Naiant Tinybox, Edirol UA-5 (bm2p+), Naiant PFA
SD MixPre-6ii, Edirol R-44 (OCM), Edirol R-09HR, Tascam DR-2D

Offline DSatz

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #40 on: December 30, 2019, 08:23:50 PM »
I don't own the recording that I made with mine, so I can't post any samples from it. But there's no sonic issue involved, unless you've been using a preamp or recorder with less than the 1 kOhm minimum input impedance which Schoeps has always specified for Colette-series microphones.

--best regards
« Last Edit: December 30, 2019, 08:26:32 PM by DSatz »
music > microphones > a recorder of some sort

Offline morst

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #41 on: March 21, 2021, 01:49:18 PM »
I found a cool old advertisement for the collete series on page 47 of the June 1979 issue of Studio Sound and Broadcast Engineering magazine while looking for something else.
Figured you'd appreciate it.

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-Studio-Sound/70s/Studio-Sound-1979-06.pdf

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Offline DSatz

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #42 on: March 21, 2021, 03:08:26 PM »
Thanks. The microphone that people here might not recognize--the third one, counting from the left--was from the CMH series of hand-held microphones for pop vocalists. It has an internally shock-suspended capsule with higher diaphragm tension than the standard series, plus a surrounding windscreen. It's a good example of how a microphone can be very well designed for one application, but a poor choice for any applications that are very different, such as recording non-close-up live music.

The lack of proofreading is a bit alarming, though. The stereo microphone was the CMTS, not the "MTS", and the word (even in British English) is coincident, not "coincedent".

Studio Sound was a very informative magazine in its day. Their equipment reviews were very thorough and practical. And I used to read Angus MacKenzie's columns quite eagerly. I think the entire series has been scanned and is available on line these days.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2021, 03:12:09 PM by DSatz »
music > microphones > a recorder of some sort

Offline DSatz

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #43 on: March 24, 2021, 12:49:43 PM »
By the way, someone (I can no longer find who) was interested in the "CMC 1 K" version with fixed/attached XLR cable. It has evidently been available for some time already, but on the Web site it isn't listed separately beyond being given a part number on the page for the CMC 1 U. There's also an apparently real photograph on that page (https://schoeps.de/en/products/colette/microphone-amplifiers/cmc-1-u.html) if you wait for it or select its little open "dot".

Edited later to say that I "jumped the gun" a little ... sorry (and does that make me a Mother Superior?)
« Last Edit: March 26, 2021, 03:19:36 PM by DSatz »
music > microphones > a recorder of some sort

Online Sebastian

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Re: new Schoeps CMC 1 amplifier for the Colette series
« Reply #44 on: March 26, 2021, 11:37:18 AM »
That was me! However, I'm still debating whether to get the K or L version.

The K version has been listed on that page (together with the photograph) since the L version was introduced. So I'm not sure if it really is available already. The product page for the U version still says "erhältlich ab ca. Januar 2021" and it's also not on the current price list.

 

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