Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[J.J. Blair]

Dawn Birr was supposed to send me one, but then she left Sennheiser before it happened.  They haven't received any at Coast yet, and I'm going to get one to demo as soon as they do.  I don't want to have to deal with Guitarget to demo the mic.

[thephatboi]

Hey JJ, please post any comment you have on the mic once you try it, all the talk is kinda moot: I don't really care what it has inside it: WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE? Yes it is an "emulation." Still could be very useful for certain recording etc. Thanks! Sean I

ps. I'll bet the "bad" noise specs have to do with the "tube emulation" circuit.

[J.J. Blair]

JUST GOT IT!  I was very lucky, too.  They are on serious back order and they only have two of them reserved for reviews.  I'll give you guys some general impressions, but for the full scoop, I have to save it for my article.  Hope you understand.

[rphilbeck]

How about a bunch of us go in and propose an offer to Sennheiser to buy the Neumann name?  We'll appoint some of the more experianced "ears", who invest, as the board of directors.  Klaus?  Oliver?

First thing to do is discontinue the current "inferior products", which pretty much leaves us with the U87 and U89 to sell.  Then we'll sack about 90% of the staff.  

Low volume, high quality.  Let's see if we don't go bankrupt...


Put your money where your mouth is.

[The Resonater]

Well, we'd first have to agree on what to bag and what not to.  I have never liked the U87 or U89, and I used to own lots of each.  Now, I much prefer TLM103's, for which I can find many good uses.  I know it's cool to diss on the TLM's, but I like the 103 a lot.

[MI]

J.J. Blair wrote on Fri, 28 July 2006 14:23

...  I'll give you guys some general impressions, but for the full scoop, I have to save it for my article.  Hope you understand.

Sure J.J.

Will that be in EQ?

Any guestimate when?

Mario

[J.J. Blair]

Mario, it will be EQ but I don;t have an answer for you as to when.  I'll probably write the article and turn it in within five or so days, then it's up to Craig Anderton.

Here's some initial findings that I thought I'd share:



If you look at that response graph, there's a steady descent in frequency resonse from 5kHz all the way down.  They really seem to have optimizied this thing for vocals, with that low end taper.  You can hear it too, when it's up against the M49 or the U87.

Some other observations are that this preamp of the mic is completely surface mount ICs, like the RODE NT2A or the new AKG C414s.  And unlike one of the other Neumann surface mount mics, the TLM193, the capacitors are also surface mounted, so forget about ever doing maintenance yourself, or even modifying the thing.

Another strange difference between the TLM49 and the M49 is that the capsule sits almost an inch lower in the basket on the TLM49.  I've asked Neumann to find out if this was done for any particular acoustic reason.

So far though, it sounds like a pretty good $1,300 fixed cardioid FET mic.  Nothing ground breaking, but a really genius marketing idea.  Take a classic look, a great capsule, an inexpensive but very respectable sounding pre amp circuit, and a price that you won't choke on.  The thing is goingto sell like hot cakes.

Today we try it on instruments, though.  We'll see if it's good for anything beyond vocals.  

[MI]

J.J. Blair wrote on Wed, 02 August 2006 15:13

I'll probably write the article and turn it in within five or so days, then it's up to Craig Anderton.

We'll put the pressure on Craig!  

Quote:

And unlike one of the other Neumann surface mount mics, the TLM193, the capacitors are also surface mounted, so forget about ever doing maintenance yourself, or even modifying the thing.

Mods, the only mod I can think of is gutting it, get a new transformer from Oliver, and finding a good AC701k tube, then rebuilding it to be as close to a M49 as possible!! Hehehehe.... now we're talking modding!!!

It would cost a lot, but probably well worth doing in the end if you can get the real M49 sound!

Let me go check my bank account...

Seriously, you say $1300 for the mic, that gets you a shell, capsule and P.S. (not bad), drop another $250 for a BV12 (IIRC), $300-500 for a AC701k, and about another $50 for various caps etc. Plus time & effort, and you get yourself a NICE mic. And if the capsule is dual sided, you can get multipattern option in there.

I'm still thinking about it.


Mario

[J.J. Blair]

My bad, it's $1,500.  Sorry.

Don't forget the $250 - $400 of a Telefunken N52a PSU, Mario.

[MI]

J.J. Blair wrote on Thu, 03 August 2006 00:22

My bad, it's $1,500.  Sorry. Don't forget the $250 - $400 of a Telefunken N52a PSU, Mario.

Ahh...you'll find them for $1000 soon enough after the hype just like the M147 and TLM103 droped in price.

Yeah I too just remebered the P.S.! So that brings us up to abt $2200-2500 (with taxes, transport, etc).

J.J., do your M49's have K-47 or M7 capsule?
Just curious, how close are the dimensions to the M49?

Mario

[J.J. Blair]

My M49 has a K47.  The dimensions are almost exact, but the basket weave seems to be a hair different.  Also, you'll notice from where the screws are, they disassemble differently, so you would have a difficult time getting the tube preamp and transformer in and out of the body.

[Klaus Heyne]

Let's stop this fantasy right here and right now: It would be cost prohibitive and financially unwise to modify a TLM49 to work 'kinda like' an M49.

As has already been alluded to, one would need to gut everything in this mic but the capsule and the housing.
Then buy a well-working AC 701 tube (a royal pain to find),  then manufacture a circuit board with all necessary components a nd traces or wiring harnesses that also contains the mechanical structure for a capsule mount / amp hood.
Then find a suitable transformer that not only fits inside the mic, can be mounted solidly, but also performs absolutely identical to the famous one found in the M49. Then one needs to find and wire up a suitable XLR 6-pin connector that can fit and interface with the existing connector opening on the mic. Then one needs to find a high-quality power supply suitable for supply the very fickle AC 701's needs.

Now you have a mic that still will not sound like an M49, because of basket/housing dimensions and different basket weave configuration.

What's the point of this? I've seen so many butcher jobs like it, and every time the owner wanted to sell it, there were no takers:

A bastard like this typically would have very little dollar value beyond the price of the (Neumann-original) capsule and tube.

[IvoQQ]

Hi all,

New member, first post here. I was directed to this forum by a gearslutz member. I'm currently doing a review of the Neumann TLM49 and I'm not sure how to read the claim on the Neumann site that the TLM49 "Uses the capsule of the legendary M 49 and U 47". I'm not particularly at home in the history of capsule design but I have a feeling I've come to the right place to ask...

After I read the sticky posting by Klaus Heyne on the M7 capsule, I surfed to the Gefell website which says:

"The M7 was responsible for the legendary sound of the Berlin manufactured U47, U48 and M49 microphones. Today, under the technical supervision of Mr. Kuehnast's son, the Company still produces the M7 capsule in exactly the same way Mr. Neumann taught the elder Kuehnast in the 1940's."

On the Neumann site, about the TLM49, I found:

"The TLM 49 uses the famous K 47 capsule, which was also used in the M 49 and the U 47.

What I make of this is that there at least two U47 and M49 models: 1) U47 and M49 models with M7 capsules, manufactured in Berlin and 2) M49 and U47 models with a K47 capsule.

Since the legendary sound is attributed to the M7 capsules, wouldn't the statement:"Uses the capsule of the legendary M 49 and U 47" imply that the TLM49 uses an M7 capsule?

How do the K47 and M7 capsules differ? And is the K47 capsule in the TLM49 indeed the exact same capsule as the ones used in (certain versions of the) M49 and U47? Or is it a newer design, based on the original?

Thanks for any help,

Ivo

[Klaus Heyne]

Good questions, Ivo, and welcome to the forum!

U47 and M49 did indeed come with two different capsules ex factory:

From 1949 until ca. 1960, all Neumann large diaphragm mics came with M7 PVC capsules.
Due to the instability of PVC, the capsules were from then on replaced with the K47, which was made with Mylar diaphragms. Mylar (generic name: polyester)  does not, at least up to now, seem to show any sign of aging or deterioration.

There is and always will be a robust debate whether one capsule is better than the other.
Some prefer the "in your face" presence of the M7 (but hate the slow deterioration  and hardening of the material over time and use,which changes the capsule's performance), others prefer the frequency-balanced, fuller sounding K47 (but would not mind a bit more "top end".)

In the end, the quotes you cited by both companies are correct:

The K47 is indeed a "famous" capsule which has been making sweet music in the majority of M(2)49 mics, quite a few U47/48, the fet47, the M149, the M147, and now, the TLM49.

Microtech Gefell is also right: the mics cited that were equipped with the M7 do have a "legendary" sound. This capsule, which is still made by the company today, is mostly responsible for Gefell's success as a mic manufacturer.

It is ironic to note, that neither company would be nearly as competitive in the market place (or may not even exist anymore) if they would not have been smart enough to continue making both of these capsules as the core ingredient in their large diaphragm mic models.

[IvoQQ]

Thank you Klaus, for your well-informed and to-the-point reply. This has cleared things up for me. I'll hang around here some more, seems like a nice place.

Ivo