OK, Bryon + a tax return = more mics. I've been loving my A51-TLs so much that I started looking closely at the 3 Zigma Chi kits from the ADK Custom Shop. I did some looking around, and it appears that nobody on TS has kicked these particular tires, and rather than buy something that others have used, I decided to see if these might be useful for our hobby. This set was purchased through Zen Pro Audio, and is a custom kit put together for me by Larry and his team at ADK. If you haven't read up on these before, here's the link:
http://hybridmic.adkmic.com/The short version about them, is that you can combine any combination of SD and LD capsules with their bodies. I elected to start out with the SDs + transformerless bodies (HA-TL-II). Due to a miscommunication and the fact that Larry is super cool, I also have the transformer coupled bodies (HA-FX) and an extra set of free field omnis to try out vs the diffuse field ones. He's going to let me play with everything for a month before I have to decide what I'm going to keep.
First of all, the craftsmanship, quality and feel of these is outstanding. Larry put my kit together in what is normally the 4x10 box, so that I'll "have space for the lollipops" when I get them. He's probably right, the lollipops do look sweet, but baby steps for now. He also indicated that omni (soon) and figure 8 (much further off) LD caps are on the horizon. For now, just the SDs for me.
The wooden box is very high quality, each item came in its own individual bag with silica, and like most ADK mounts, the shock mounts are tanks, solidly built, probably overkill, but sexy. The mics are uber sexy too, a nice length that should make most stereo patterns easy to accomplish on a standard stereo bar without risers etc. They feel solid, and the extra locking ring on the bodies is a nice feature. Everything just screams excellence IMHO, great attention to detail as expected from ADK.
Pictures 1&2, the wooden and storage box + contents.
Picture 3, the HA-TL-II and HA-FX bodies.
Pictures 4&5, the capsules - diffuse field omni, free field omni, hyper and card caps (top to bottom).
These babies will be in the field tomorrow, check back for some comps if you're interested.