DPA MPS vs MMA6000 size pictures

[madman]

I don't know if anyone has posted a comparison of the two before, but I figured it'd be helpful. 

EDIT: Less sucky front view picture added.

[dunebug81]

Assuming that youre using the MMA6000 w/ 0 db of gain do they sound the same? 

[KingReptile]

Assuming that youre using the MMA6000 w/ 0 db of gain do they sound the same? 

They sound different

The MMA is a preamp its much cleaner then the MPS 6030 which is a battery box ...

[CHURCH-AUDIO]

Does anyone know where i can get the microdot panel mount connectors? I want to make a DPA battery box / preamp that will not cost $500 let me know if anyone has any clues thanks.

Assuming that youre using the MMA6000 w/ 0 db of gain do they sound the same? 

They sound different

The MMA is a preamp its much cleaner then the MPS 6030 which is a battery box ...

[dunebug81]

I'm sure that Bruce has those custom made...he might even hold a patent on them.  You might want to check into that before you start to make your own. 

How often should I have to change the battery in this thing?  I've taped about 10 shows (30 hours of being on) with it and the light starts to flash green but will start flashing orange after about 10 min.  I thought it was supposed to last for 150 hours...

Does anyone know where i can get the microdot panel mount connectors? I want to make a DPA battery box / preamp that will not cost $500 let me know if anyone has any clues thanks.

Assuming that youre using the MMA6000 w/ 0 db of gain do they sound the same? 

They sound different

The MMA is a preamp its much cleaner then the MPS 6030 which is a battery box ...

[pjdavep]

Does anyone know where i can get the microdot panel mount connectors? I want to make a DPA battery box / preamp that will not cost $500 let me know if anyone has any clues thanks.

I have the part numbers of what I am pretty sure they are at work, so I'll PM you Monday with those.  They are Tyco Microdots.  You can get them straight from DPA for $20 each    You may balk at how expensive they are, but I don't think that they are a whole lot cheaper than what you can buy them from Tyco for...though I'm not sure on that.

Later,
  pjdavep

[Javier Cinakowski]

They sound different

The MMA is a preamp its much cleaner then the MPS 6030 which is a battery box ...

In find this interesting and wrong.  A battery box is not adding any additional noise or gain, thus it should be a cleaner and less noisy signal.  Even the best preamp in the world will add some color, noise and distortion.  my $.02

[CHURCH-AUDIO]

I agree, I don't think a battery box would color the sound at all, I mean we are talking about a few resistors and some caps. It's not like you are building a preamp, that will as you say color the sound. The battery box should sonically be better. I would think, I mean with a preamp you do get increased headroom and more sensitivity and with the Fletcher Munson curve, you might think that you're getting more top end with the preamp but that's just a mater of gain/human perception. Not of actual facts. The signal is the same or close to the same if the preamp in question is as good as I assume it is. Its just that your getting more gain and hearing more sound IE the perception that the sound is in fact better I would do a test with the bat box and the preamp. I would set the preamp to unity gain and confirm that it is at unity. Then I would set up the batt box with the same signal and fixed mic position, so that you remove the fudge factor and listen again. I am sure you will notice the sound of the batt box to have more depth. Unless you have a bad design in the batt box where the value of the blocking caps is not high enough, I like 10uf my self for a batt box. Sound is so freaking subjective sometimes you fool your self into thinking that X is happing when Y is.
Welcome to the wacky fun world of psychoacoustics. I use my ears to listen to the stuff I make but I also use test gear just to see if my ears are not lying to me. But hey I am off in a tangent I will shut up now

They sound different

The MMA is a preamp its much cleaner then the MPS 6030 which is a battery box ...

In find this interesting and wrong.  A battery box is not adding any additional noise or gain, thus it should be a cleaner and less noisy signal.  Even the best preamp in the world will add some color, noise and distortion.  my $.02

[Javier Cinakowski]

yep, just what I was thinking.

[madman]

Does anyone know where i can get the microdot panel mount connectors? I want to make a DPA battery box / preamp that will not cost $500 let me know if anyone has any clues thanks.

I think there is a big market for this, I thought about making my own battery box considering the inflated cost of the DPA model, but could never find the proper female connectors anywhere so I gave in to DPA.  Also if you were able to make a smaller pre w/microdots, I think you could sell a lot of those.  I'd happily drop the MMA if there was a smaller option available. 

[CHURCH-AUDIO]

What voltage do the DPA mics work at I have heard 5 volts is this true or will they do the 1.0 to 10 volt bias that most electrets do?
Does anyone know? if so let me know I would also love to take a clost look at the DPA battery box so I can see what they are doing inside. Anyone got one to float to me for a week let me know.

Chris Church

Does anyone know where i can get the microdot panel mount connectors? I want to make a DPA battery box / preamp that will not cost $500 let me know if anyone has any clues thanks.

I think there is a big market for this, I thought about making my own battery box considering the inflated cost of the DPA model, but could never find the proper female connectors anywhere so I gave in to DPA.  Also if you were able to make a smaller pre w/microdots, I think you could sell a lot of those.  I'd happily drop the MMA if there was a smaller option available. 

[goose]

How often should I have to change the battery in this thing?  I've taped about 10 shows (30 hours of being on) with it and the light starts to flash green but will start flashing orange after about 10 min.  I thought it was supposed to last for 150 hours...

I'm not sure about the DPA battery box, but the DPA preamp (mma6000) should last a bit over 24 hours on one 9v battery, per the owners manual.

[madman]

Chris, here's a pic of the inside of a DPA battery box.  The caps on the back are 10uF.  Voltage at the microdots is the same as that of the 9v battery being used to power it.  If you want to borrow this box for awhile, PM me.

Steve

[CHURCH-AUDIO]

Even though this is just a battery box it is amazing that there is no sheilding!. And that they are using Electrolytic caps! wow how much does this sucker cost? I have seen battery boxes they sell for $50 with better componets in them they also are not using Metal film resistors just cheap surface mount. Hey show me the inside of the premap I wonder where they got the deisign from. Or if it is there own.

Chris, here's a pic of the inside of a DPA battery box.  The caps on the back are 10uF.  Voltage at the microdots is the same as that of the 9v battery being used to power it.  If you want to borrow this box for awhile, PM me.

Steve

[madman]

I think it's around $90 new, I can't remember...it's obviously a very high margin product for them.  Unfortunately most of us at the mercy of the DPA gods since the microdots cannot be easily sourced.  I was going to replace the caps, but ended up just purcashing the MMA instead since I needed a pre.  Someone else around here took apart their MMA a couple weeks ago and posted pics of the innards, try doing a search as I don't recall where the thread is.