Topic: AT 831's vs. CA Cards

[Cheesecadet]

Anyone know how the AT's compare to the Church Audio cards?  I am curious about clarity of vocals & music, bass differences...overall which ones are better and why?  I have made very good recordings with the AT's but keep hearing good things about the CA cards too.

Just curious because I really love the 831's but might want to pick up a pair of the church audios as well.

Thanks in advance!

[jcrab66]

i did a comp between at853's and ca cards and found the at853's to be more to my liking however your ears may be different

[rokpunk]

A few years ago I made a pair of stealthy mics out of some AT831's....and I think they sound as good, if not better, than recordings I have heard with Church products.
They cost close to nothing to build, and took about an hour to complete.

[Church-Audio]

Anyone know how the AT's compare to the Church Audio cards?  I am curious about clarity of vocals & music, bass differences...overall which ones are better and why?  I have made very good recordings with the AT's but keep hearing good things about the CA cards too.

Just curious because I really love the 831's but might want to pick up a pair of the church audios as well.

Thanks in advance!

The 831 is a great mic. They need my 4.7k mod then they can really handle high sound pressure. And then you will end up with some great mics.

[Humbug]

The 831 is a great mic. They need my 4.7k mod then they can really handle high sound pressure. And then you will end up with some great mics.

Are you sure about that?

I've been taping for five years with the AT831s into a 2-wire battery box, and have never experienced any audible distortion.

I am not a stack taper, but I have recorded rock bands at some of the loudest venues in London (eg Borderline) without any probs.

They are a slightly thinner sounding mic than the AT853s (which do need the mod or 3 wire battery box), which is why I only use them occasionally.

Cheers,

Humbug

[Semayat]

Hi,

The AT831's are great!! Even if i have bad experiences with my battery box since few weeks ( ) you have clean and powerful sound, low crowd noises. They are easy to hide at entrance, they are are small. Pratical mics when you install them. Very nice investment 

The CA card are nice too. I've listened a couple of good recordings. I do not have a pair tho.

Semayat

[Church-Audio]

The 831 is a great mic. They need my 4.7k mod then they can really handle high sound pressure. And then you will end up with some great mics.

Are you sure about that?

I've been taping for five years with the AT831s into a 2-wire battery box, and have never experienced any audible distortion.

I am not a stack taper, but I have recorded rock bands at some of the loudest venues in London (eg Borderline) without any probs.

They are a slightly thinner sounding mic than the AT853s (which do need the mod or 3 wire battery box), which is why I only use them occasionally.

Cheers,

Humbug

Although they dont seem to overload as easlly as the 853 they do overload pretty early when used in a two wire config. So my mod would help with that.. But your right for most things your going to be ok. Its just hard to know when your not..
Chris

[Humbug]

they do overload pretty early when used in a two wire config

Chris, I'm interested..how do you measure distortion?

I've made maybe 300 recordings with these little mics, and never heard any distortion (that wasn't already coming through the PA).

When I tried taping Velvet Revolver AT853>2 wire bb, I definitely heard distortion..the AT831 recording was fine (well as fine as VR's crappy sound guy would allow).

Sorry if I'm flogging a dead horse, I'm just interested!

[Church-Audio]

they do overload pretty early when used in a two wire config

Chris, I'm interested..how do you measure distortion?

I've made maybe 300 recordings with these little mics, and never heard any distortion (that wasn't already coming through the PA).

Sorry if I'm flogging a dead horse, I'm just interested!

I use WinaudioMLSpro + a Delta 192 sound card + a Burrbrown 1k ultra low distortion signal generator + a transducer that has very little distortion measured with my B&K 4007 measurement mic its less then 0.002% I have a coupler that has been machined for microphones to couple directly to the speaker and I introduce the 1k tone at 114db and measure the distortion I get. All measurements are made at 192khz sampling rate.

Here is a sample of what my test rig outputs.

[corsair]

they do overload pretty early when used in a two wire config

Chris, I'm interested..how do you measure distortion?

I've made maybe 300 recordings with these little mics, and never heard any distortion (that wasn't already coming through the PA).

Sorry if I'm flogging a dead horse, I'm just interested!

I use WinaudioMLSpro + a Delta 192 sound card + a Burrbrown 1k ultra low distortion signal generator + a transducer that has very little distortion measured with my B&K 4007 measurement mic its less then 0.002% I have a coupler that has been machined for microphones to couple directly to the speaker and I introduce the 1k tone at 114db and measure the distortion I get. All measurements are made at 192khz sampling rate.

Here is a sample of what my test rig outputs.

After all this while, you have not changed. Kudos to your thick skin.

[Alchemy]

The 831 is a great mic. They need my 4.7k mod then they can really handle high sound pressure. And then you will end up with some great mics.

Are you sure about that?

I've been taping for five years with the AT831s into a 2-wire battery box, and have never experienced any audible distortion.

I am not a stack taper, but I have recorded rock bands at some of the loudest venues in London (eg Borderline) without any probs.

They are a slightly thinner sounding mic than the AT853s (which do need the mod or 3 wire battery box), which is why I only use them occasionally.

Cheers,

Humbug

Put me in line as another very satisfied AT831 taper. I purchased the AT831's partly because of Humbug's writing's about them here on the forum, and am very happy I did. From all of the shows I taped with them, I have never had any audible issues with distortion. I taped Bob Dylan 10 feet away from the stacks at one show and it came very clear- no distortion at all (with no mods). I guess if you really pushed them, they would eventually distort. I can't say it has ever happened to me though.

To my ears, the mics have a very clear high end, but do lack some bass....
my two cents