Topic: KE 4 wiring help needed

[weroflu]

got a pair of KE 4 capsules on the way.

these are 3 wire capsules that i just want to connect to a stereo miniplug and go straight into a pcm m10

need advice on wiring

[John Willett]

got a pair of KE 4 capsules on the way.

these are 3 wire capsules that i just want to connect to a stereo miniplug and go straight into a pcm m10

need advice on wiring

Which version of the KE4?  I think there are almost 10, and more than one way of connecting.

You *will* need external components (capacitor and resistor) to the OEM microphone capsule you have bought.

If it's a KE 4-211-2 the PDF data sheet (showing the wiring and extra components required) is HERE.

[weroflu]

yes it's the ke4-211-2

are you sure they can't be used as is?

the mm hlso mics use these capsules and it doesn't look like they have anything else in them besides the capsule and housing.

[John Willett]

yes it's the ke4-211-2

Good

are you sure they can't be used as is?

Yes - they need a resistor and capacitor as shown n the diagram.

There are in fact two different ways of wiring them, which was shown on earlier literature.  With modern surface-mount components, these can be very small and moulded into the mic. head by an OEM manufacturer.  But you WILL need these components.

the mm hlso mics use these capsules and it doesn't look like they have anything else in them besides the capsule and housing.

As I mentioned above, they probably use SMD components inside the housing.

[weroflu]

i talked to a friend of mine who is good with electronics, not so much audio though

he said

"D" on each mic (pin 2 )are the inputs LEFT and RIGHT. all the rest should be grounded
you need the cap to protect the unit from the voltage of an EXTERNAL battery. and the schematic shows a source follower. you're not using eihter

so i'll give it whirl like this just as a test run.

if it gets more complicated then i may just send them out to a resident guru and be done with it.

also another idea was to make a regular cable for use only with the m10 and then inside a trs junction adaptor put in the cap and resistor in case i want to use it with 9v pip in the future

also waiting to hear back from sennheiser tech

[John Willett]

i talked to a friend of mine who is good with electronics, not so much audio though

he said

"D" on each mic (pin 2 )are the inputs LEFT and RIGHT. all the rest should be grounded
you need the cap to protect the unit from the voltage of an EXTERNAL battery. and the schematic shows a source follower. you're not using eihter

This worries me - there is no "left" and "right" at all.  It's a single microphone capsule.

Please keep in mind that if you wire it any other way than Sennheiser suggest, then there would be no guarantee!

[weroflu]

i meant two mics, he was just referring to each individual mic. anyway it turns out he was correct. you just tie AF to ground and use V0 as your signal lead. if i was using an external battery i would wire them as indicated in the schematic. but they claim 130db max spl with a minimum voltage of .9 so i can't see any reason to do that right now.

 just wired them up like he said to a chopped set of old delta airlines earbuds. they sound really really great. almost astoundingly great. the only problem is about a 5db difference in level on certain peaks, at low volume material without transient peaks they are nearly matched. i can level match in post so not  a problem for me, especially in light of having such a kick ass portable setup now.

surprised more people here don't use this type of setup.

EDIT: sennheiser got back to me. they said 4.7k in the sony m10 should be sufficient without the added resistor in the schematic.

[John Willett]

i meant two mics, he was just referring to each individual mic. anyway it turns out he was correct. you just tie AF to ground and use V0 as your signal lead. if i was using an external battery i would wire them as indicated in the schematic. but they claim 130db max spl with a minimum voltage of .9 so i can't see any reason to do that right now.

 just wired them up like he said to a chopped set of old delta airlines earbuds. they sound really really great. almost astoundingly great. the only problem is about a 5db difference in level on certain peaks, at low volume material without transient peaks they are nearly matched. i can level match in post so not  a problem for me, especially in light of having such a kick ass portable setup now.

surprised more people here don't use this type of setup.

EDIT: sennheiser got back to me. they said 4.7k in the sony m10 should be sufficient without the added resistor in the schematic.

Good - I'm glad you got it sorted.

The KE 4-211-2 is the capsule Sennheiser use for the MKE 2 microphone (that sells for around £2-300).

[Hypnocracy]

Where can one acquire a set of these Sennheiser Caps?

[bryonsos]

Where can one acquire a set of these Sennheiser Caps?

Found this:

http://www.distrelec.com/ishopWebFront/catalog/product.do?language=en&shop==YY&series=1&id=01&node=169099&artView=true&productNr=155336

For that price it's tempting, but I'm über happy with my B3s. A bit more bass roll off than the B3, but for practical purposes they seem equivalent in terms of response.

Can the OP please post a pic of the finished product? I'm curious to see the ear bud housing solution. Thanks!

[weroflu]

i'll post a pic next week after i get some heat shrink on them.

basically you just rip off the speaker end of any set of buds, leaving you with ground and signal wires. or if you're gentle just desolder the drivers and you may have your ends already tinned. connect as mentioned in previous post, a little silicone and some heat shrink and they're good to go. i'm not sure of the impedances on other decks aside from the sony m10.


i like the b3's a lot from all the clips i heard. the advantage to this setup is that you can use very low voltage plug-in power as they are specced from .9-15v.   no battery box or extra preamp  box needed. they will probably be a little bit noisier than the b3's. i do relatively close micing so it isn't an issue.

it's about $140 for the capsules including delivery. if you have an iron and a junk pair of buds the rest is free.

[weroflu]

as requested

[bryonsos]

They look nice. I'll look forward to hearing what they can do.

[weroflu]

one more caution. i'm not sure if i got lucky, or how much tolerance the capsules have to heat. but during the soldering butchery i got a fairly large glob on one of the capsule leads which heated the whole capsule up pretty good -- which easily could have burned out the capsule.

so if you're really not good with soldering i would farm that out to the experts.

[Chuck]

Where can one acquire a set of these Sennheiser Caps?

Found this:

http://www.distrelec.com/ishopWebFront/catalog/product.do?language=en&shop==YY&series=1&id=01&node=169099&artView=true&productNr=155336

For that price it's tempting, but I'm über happy with my B3s. A bit more bass roll off than the B3, but for practical purposes they seem equivalent in terms of response.

Maybe we could do a group buy