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Author Topic: Gefell UM70 XLR-Jack Repair  (Read 5148 times)

zakco

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Gefell UM70 XLR-Jack Repair
« on: May 27, 2011, 09:11:23 PM »

Hi,

I have a early 90s Gefell UM70 microphone and the XLR jack has become intermittent. I would like to disassemble the body in order to view/repair the connection, but I'm unsure as to how to do this. There is a small, single screw (below the switches) that when removed, frees the jack assembly to move inside the body tube, but the switches (pad, hpf) prevent the internals from sliding clear of the body tube.

Does this mean that the head and capsule need to be removed as well?

I've noticed that every one of these mics that I've used (4 to be exact) has an XLR jack that sits loosely in its housing and wiggles easily. I've always found that odd, but until now, the connection has been fine. Is this loose XLR jack normal?

Thanks for any info or advice you may be able to offer...

Zak Cohen - The Woodshop Studio


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klaus

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Re: Gefell UM70 xlr jack repair
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2011, 02:29:10 AM »

Zak,
Keeping the XLR males of Gefell and Neumann/Berlin mics somewhat loose in their barrels makes sense, and is actually done on purpose: only the ability of the mic's male XLR to move back and forth makes consistent, perfect mating with the cable's XLR female possible.

If XLR males were mounted rigidly in mics without any play, their female counterparts would not be able to always make smooth, effortless connections with them, and males and females could not line up perfectly.  In addition, if you had a rigidly mounted male, the friction on the plated pin surfaces that mate would wear down the plating faster, and connections would suffer. Premature wear of contact surfaces would happen even faster when XLRs of different brands and manufacturing specs and tolerances were to be mated. (As an example, there can be connectivity issues between Switchcraft and Neutrik XLRs.)

Usually the mounts of female pins in most types of audio connectors provide the necessary play for perfect alignment with their male counterpart, but on XLR females the play is minimal and limited. Especially in applications that see a lot of connections (i.e. mics), that' little bit of play is just not enough to make do without mic manufacturers' additional measures to prevent premature wear through providing some play.
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Klaus Heyne
German Masterworks®
www.GermanMasterworks.com

zakco

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Re: Gefell UM70 XLR-Jack Repair
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2011, 10:41:23 PM »

Klaus,

Thanks for the info. Your explanation of the loose jack makes perfect sense to me now. I have experienced the poor fit between different brands of XLR connectors as you mentioned.

Regarding my mic with the intermittent connection though, I would like to be able to open and examine the connection inside the body tube. Could you offer some advice as to the proper method of disassembling the internals/body tube? As I mentioned, the pad/hpf switches prevent the internals from sliding out after removing the screw.

Thanks!

Z



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Sredna

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Re: Gefell UM70 XLR-Jack Repair
« Reply #3 on: July 14, 2011, 05:42:21 PM »

To open up the MV692 body, you use a small flat screwdriver to carefully lift up the black plastic "tab" on each switch.
Keep the switches facing up while slowly sliding off the body tube so the the silver "tounges" marked doesn´t fall out.
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Anders Grop
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