Building your own binaural mics ~ $20

[ycoop]

Right on.

I've got an electrical engineer friend who is open to teaching me about basic soldering. Should be fun

[Hypnocracy]

What is a good replacement/substitute for the  WM61-A capsules? Or are the Chinese Panasonic WM-61A102A versions equivalent in sound reproduction?

[ycoop]

What is a good replacement/substitute for the  WM61-A capsules? Or are the Chinese Panasonic WM-61A102A versions equivalent in sound reproduction?

Doing some research has led me to the JLI-61A with specs identical to the WM-61A. Haven't been able to find any first hand reports of using them though.

I've also found a design for a battery box to amplify the signal to line level.

http://forums.sonyinsider.com/topic/14343-how-to-build-a-stereo-microphone-and-battery-box/

Edit 5/17:

Decided to go ahead and buy 8 of the JLI-61A capsules on eBay for around $23 total including shipping. FWIW, they claim the design perfectly replicates the WM-61A. I'd imagine at a normal volume show these show too much distortion if used at mic level?

[ycoop]

Built these mics using the JLI 61a capsules

(forum tools don't seem to be working properly, so here's a direct link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Panasonic-WM-61A-Replacement-Microphones/352220785310?hash=item5201feaa9e:g:W2cAAOxybi9ReW5o:sc:USPSPriority!94703!US!-1)

Here's the recordings I made walking around my neighborhood.

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/15m5O0c5U3bqpPo_I5qxw6eZsOj8ZSLaj

Sound pretty good to me. Looks like I misjudged the matched-ness of the capsules, with the left one being a few dB higher than the right judging by visual levels alone, nothing that I could notice when I was relistening.

What do you all think?