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Gear / Technical Help => Microphones & Setup => Topic started by: jnorman34 on August 18, 2011, 07:51:44 PM
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looking at one of the threads in the yard sale for a pair of KM140s, there were several comments from folks about how km140s compare to km184s, leading to some advocacy for some head-on mic comparison recordings. i have alwasy felt that it is far more important when making mic purchase decisions to actually listen to the mics side by side and hear them yourself, than to take 317 other people's opinions and try to make sense of what to buy.
i have done several mic comparison tests, most of which have been posted in the remote forum over on gearslutz. the comparisons were done in a studio setting to minimize distraction and other elements which might confuse the testing. i used live acoustic instruments, such as flute and piano duos to provide clean comparative signal sources, and recorded with ORTF setup.
this one is KM184 vs KM140:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/gear-shoot-outs-sound-file-comparisons-audio-tests/499468-km184-vs-km140.html
this one has km184 vs MC930 vs AT4051 vs Avantone CK-1:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/395865-comparative-samples-mc930-km184-at4051-xxx.html
this one compares km140 to DPA 4061 to give an indication both of neumann vs DPA sonic signature and also a comparison of spaced omnis vs ORTF cards:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/485676-km140s-vs-dpa-4061s-flute-duet-samples.html
this one is AT4051 vs AT4022 - again to show the difference between spaced AB omnis vs ORTF cardioids:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/331780-ortf-vs-spaced-pair.html
let's hear your thoughts on these, and please post your own comparative samples for all of us to hear and as an archive for future TS'ers.
thanks.
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..i have alwasy felt that it is far more important when making mic purchase decisions to actually listen to the mics side by side and hear them yourself, than to take 317 other people's opinions and try to make sense of what to buy.
sage advice.
looking forward to listening to those..
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the km184 vs km140 comparative samples have been listened to well over 3000 times now, and as you might expect, opinions, shall we say, differ... some folks are convinced that the 140s sound slightly better/different, many folks decided they sound exactly alike (as claimed by Neumann), and a fair number of people actually thought the 184s sounded better. at any rate, these samples are worth hearing for yourself if you are considering Neumann mics.