Topic: mics purchase

[charles]

Just won auction on 3 Nak cm100's w/ cp1 caps. Step one of setting up first rig complete. Should recieve them in the mail soon. What process is there for me to test them and making sure they are in good working order.....I mean other than just plugging them in. Can they be properly tested by a professional?

[flipp]

First, do a good visual inspection. Make sure all the screws that hold the off/lo/flat switch are there and tight. The tendency for these screws to work loose and get lost is my main dislike of these mics. Next, unscrew the caps from the attenuators and make sure all are set identically, ie either 0 or 10, You'll have to manually adjust them if they aren't. Next unscrew the attenuators from the mic body. Hopefully the AA battery has not been left in there. Make sure there is no corrosion from a battery that may have leaked in the past. If there is you most likely have a parts unit. If you're lucky the two rubber o-ring/battery "spacers" are with the mics. If not it's not a big deal. The mics will function without them.

Once you've done the good visual inspection, insert a battery, hook up a cable, plug it into a recording device and test the microphone. You can do a quick "testing, testing" to get an idea of the levels. Then try setting them in front of your stereo speakers and record a bit of music, then play it back to make sure there are no problems. The most common will be static, most likely from a bad cable. If no problems, congratulations. If some static in one channel, switch cables to see if it's the mic (static in the same channel) or the cable,(static will be on the ther channel).

Welcome to the world of live recording. Don't expect everything to come out perfectly on the first attempt. It very well might but sometimes the taping gods just don't smile.

[charles]

Thanks for the info. If I do have "parts" mics how screwed am I. Is there anything I can do?

[flipp]

If you do have a parts mics you may not be screwed at all. You'll have spare screws and a spare CP1 capsule. You may even be able to take a pencil eraser and get rid of enough corrosion for the mic to work if there is corrosion in the first place. Hopefully there won't be. Unless you're running a Nak MX-100 three mic mixer or some other multi-channel mixer, you'll just be using two of the mics anyway. If the auction you won is the one I think it is (3/$102.50 shipping from Alaska) even a pair at that price is a pretty good deal.

Just read the "new mics" thread you have going. The Nak CM-300s use the 9.6 volt special battery, the CM-100s use 1.5 volt AA batteries. If the mics check out fine, I highly recommend getting some rechargeables. The initial investment for batterries and charger will pay for itself very quickly.