Did any of it work for Marc?
The schoeps extension tube has a buffer circuit, ala KC5 actives. The AKG extension does not (based on pics).
I'd say that either means the AKG cap does not need the buffer circuit (because the FET can drive that cable) or it means the akg tube is not sonically on-par with the normal cap+body. I think you'll need a buffer circuit to preserve fidelity.
Regardless, the circuit is the easy part. Everyone needs to repeat that a thousand times.. or re-read the previous thread
Packaging all the guts into the machined collette and having it be servicable so the cable can be replaced is the hard part. There will need to be at least one manufactured insert for the collette guts and for cable strain relief and anchoring. I'd expect one base plate for cable retention, a circuit assembly and then another interface component for the capsule.
Schoeps mounts the smd circuit on a small board:
Here is a question...
Why not hack a extension tube apart and connect cables to it and experiment with different lengths and do a comparison with the same cap and body and have listening tests to see if anyone can hear the difference. I am sure one of the only things to happen with increasing distance would be increasing noise floor. But that's pretty easy to hear. So why not try a series of experiments? That way you guys can just by extension tubes and hack them. Hell I could do that very easily if I had a tube.
Chris
Chris - check out my post from page 7. This is the same point I brought up.
Here's the deal:
AKG offers 3 options to separate the capsule from the body:
A61 - an angle adapter that uses no circuit to make the separation. This is the least expensive ($175) and appears easy to disassemble. There are pictures of the disassembled parts on page 7. I would think it would be fairly easy to disassemble this, desolder the 3 solder points and use 3 wires of varying lengths to connect the capsule to the body via the hacked A61. If successful, an active cable could easily be made with a Dremel tool, heat-shrink tubing and wire.
VR61 - this is a 14 inch tube that is fairly pricy unless you get real lucky on Ebay. It is no longer in production AFAIK. Nobody has seen a disassembled one on this board and no technical service document has surfaced so it may contain a buffer/circuit. This is what Marc Nutter hacked and the result was a signal with lots of humming or buzzing that I would guess was a poor ground although this has never been established. This would be slight more ideal IMHO for use to hack into a cable as it already has straight tubing coming out of the connectors that could be cut to run wires through.
VR62 - this is a 3 foot tube that appears identical to the VR61 only longer and is also fairly pricy (>$500) and again nobody has seen the inside of this so we don't know if there is a buffer/circuit.
I wish I had the soldering skills to hack up my A61, but I don't want to run the risk of ruining one and can't afford to replace one now. Again, I could def throw in $20....