Topic: neumann km184's ????

[mmmatt]

Hey All,
I may have a chance to steal a pair of 184's... Any insight on what a fair price would be for a pair?  Not sure if they are matched and I don't think the seller will know either.  consec serial #'s mean matched?

$ range matched?
$ range unmatched?

Also... so I don't look like a dork (yet again) they are pronounced Noi-min... right?

Also... not to many 184 fluffers here.  From what I understand, the 184's are very bright and the lows are a bit on the sloppy side, but otherwise a very detailed mic.  Anything else?  My intention would be to get them, play around a little with them, and possibly sell them to make a couple of bucks.  Although with the multitrack and matrix stuff I do, these may end up working out pretty well as an addition to my rig.

Thanks for and help!

Matt

[eric.B]

yeah matt..

noy-mahn

and the 184's are pretty decent.. as long as the s/n or production date is close (not talking years and years apart) I wouldnt think that matching will be an issue.. they will be verrrry close.

good price?  dunno.. maybe unmatched good condition = 800?  someone else might know better.

[TNJazz]

Consecutive serials do not mean matched.  Neumann tolerances are supposed to be so close that matching isn't a big deal though.

I liked my 184s for the brief time I had them, but everything you say above is true.  Bright and sloppy!

They go in the real world for 900-1000 a pair.  Here, maybe a little less.

"Noy-mahn" is the correct pronunciation.  Make the Seinfeld face when you say it though, for added hilarity.

Dirk

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

I ran 184s for about 5 years and made many excellent tapes.   The bass can be plenty tight with the right preamp.  When I upgraded to the V2 from the MV100, the bass was very different - very much more controlled. 

There are some pairs for $800 but $900-$1K is more common for a well preserved pair. 

[mmmatt]

Thanks guys!  T's
More comments aare still welcome.

Matt

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

A few more comments:

 I don't think the 184s are "bright".  They do have the characteristic neumann HF boost.  They have about the same response curve of the KM140s.  The main reason I went to 140s was for the actives and capsule options.  But you can still get a very nice low profile configuration using the 184s, the stock clips and a schoeps A20S mount.  There is a thread in the rigpics section that shows this. 

Regarding the comments on bass, I don't really understand why but I've heard many people say that they like the 184 to mic a drum kit.  So the bass must be decent.  I did a close miced accoustic guitar and voal and got a stellar tape with the 184s. 

Really, the only thing I didn't like about the 184s was the lack of swappable capsules and no actives.

[Ed.]

Really, the only thing I didn't like about the 184s was the lack of swappable capsules and no actives.

that was my biggest complaint too.  also, i'd highly suggest some silver cables.  i was running starquads and i wasn't all that happy with the sound at first, even into the v3, but once i got some sivers, the change was night and day.  i really liked them after that, great sound and much warmer than the audix mics that i ran prior to them, which was what i was looking for.

[Evil Taper]

Regarding the comments on bass, I don't really understand why but I've heard many people say that they like the 184 to mic a drum kit.

What kind of drum would someone mic with these?  That'd make a damn expensive set of drum mics if you're talking about toms, but for a kick drum you should get a kick mic.  Thread hi-jack, but I was curious what you meant.  Continue discussion now...

[mmmatt]

Regarding the comments on bass, I don't really understand why but I've heard many people say that they like the 184 to mic a drum kit.

What kind of drum would someone mic with these?  That'd make a damn expensive set of drum mics if you're talking about toms, but for a kick drum you should get a kick mic.  Thread hi-jack, but I was curious what you meant.  Continue discussion now...

I've seen them used for overheads... lots of high end mics get used for overheads.  Def not a kick mic though.

Matt

[TNJazz]

Regarding the comments on bass, I don't really understand why but I've heard many people say that they like the 184 to mic a drum kit.

What kind of drum would someone mic with these?  That'd make a damn expensive set of drum mics if you're talking about toms, but for a kick drum you should get a kick mic.  Thread hi-jack, but I was curious what you meant.  Continue discussion now...

KM184, KM84 and AKG451 (in no particular order) pretty much reign supreme as the standard in studio drum overheads.  Dirt cheap mics when you consider these are places that carry U47s for vocals and Coles/Royers for just miking a guitar cabinet...

[mmmatt]

Regarding the comments on bass, I don't really understand why but I've heard many people say that they like the 184 to mic a drum kit.

What kind of drum would someone mic with these?  That'd make a damn expensive set of drum mics if you're talking about toms, but for a kick drum you should get a kick mic.  Thread hi-jack, but I was curious what you meant.  Continue discussion now...

KM184, KM84 and AKG451 (in no particular order) pretty much reign supreme as the standard in studio drum overheads.  Dirt cheap mics when you consider these are places that carry U47s for vocals and Coles/Royers for just miking a guitar cabinet...

true... these aren't really "high end" in the studio world.

[JasonSobel]

I had a pair for about 2 years, and made many great tapes.  I mostly sold them to have switchable caps, and just to try something new.
As others have mentioned, the equipment following the mics can make a big difference.  I really didn't think the modSBM-1 worked well at all.  I used the modSBM1 with both the Beyer mv100 and a pair of line transformers.  the V3, however, worked great with the mics, and cleaned things up a good deal.  I didn't find the low end "sloppy" or "loose", not at all, especially with the V3.  if anything about the low end, I sometimes wish that the frequency response didn't slope as much down there. (i.e. at time, I wanted more bass from the mics).

if you'd like to hear good representation of what these mics can do, over at archive.org, check out the Club d'Elf section, and look through some 2004 or early 2005 shows.  you'll find plenty of on-stage tapes that I recorded, and I think you'd be hard pressed to call the low end "sloppy" on any of those recordings (12/9/04 or 2/17/05 are both great shows)

[mmmatt]

I had a pair for about 2 years, and made many great tapes.  I mostly sold them to have switchable caps, and just to try something new.
As others have mentioned, the equipment following the mics can make a big difference.  I really didn't think the modSBM-1 worked well at all.  I used the modSBM1 with both the Beyer mv100 and a pair of line transformers.  the V3, however, worked great with the mics, and cleaned things up a good deal.  I didn't find the low end "sloppy" or "loose", not at all, especially with the V3.  if anything about the low end, I sometimes wish that the frequency response didn't slope as much down there. (i.e. at time, I wanted more bass from the mics).

if you'd like to hear good representation of what these mics can do, over at archive.org, check out the Club d'Elf section, and look through some 2004 or early 2005 shows.  you'll find plenty of on-stage tapes that I recorded, and I think you'd be hard pressed to call the low end "sloppy" on any of those recordings (12/9/04 or 2/17/05 are both great shows)

I'm going to have the oppertunity to record these and 3 or 4 other pairs of mics into my multitrack rig tomorrow night.  I will most likely do a side by side with my mbho cards from the same spot in the same config to the same pre, adc, and recorder.  I think I will go ortf from the console unless I can get a tree into the sweetspot.  I'm doing some room testing in Fareed Haques new club to help him set up a permanantly installed house recording system.  the mics are his and he hates them... not warm enough to his ears, but I think he has only used them on stage or close micing his guitar.  From "the section" I have always thought of these as really nice mics.  I know the ortf will help with the warmth a bit too.

Thanks for all the great input!!!  I'll try to check out some of the club d'elf stuff.

Matt

[kgreener]

rob clarke is a taping madman and seemingly tapes 5 times a week with his 184's in all types of situations...check out his shows on the Archive too

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=rob%20clarke%20AND%20mediatype%3Aetree%20AND%20collection%3Aetree&sort=-%2Fmetadata%2Fpublicdate

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Regarding the comments on bass, I don't really understand why but I've heard many people say that they like the 184 to mic a drum kit.

What kind of drum would someone mic with these?  That'd make a damn expensive set of drum mics if you're talking about toms, but for a kick drum you should get a kick mic.  Thread hi-jack, but I was curious what you meant.  Continue discussion now...

Same as others wrote above, I was thinking of overhead micing in a studio. 

My quoted statement reads poorly. I certainly understand why someone would use the KM184 to mic a drum kit.  What I didn't understand was the comments about the 184 being sloppy.  I admit that I did get some loose bass occasionally but I traced that back to the MV100>SBM I was running behind the 184s.  The V2 made it all go away.