M7 Comparison

Not especially scientific, obviously, but I thought this was pretty interesting. Dale's capsule holds its own very well, I thought. Click a link at the bottom to see which capsule is used in each sample.
http://www.panphonic.com/M7

Wow. All I can say is Mr. Thiersch knows what he's doing. Holy cow. Georgeous. I picked all his, blind, as way above the others.

Dale's is definitely holding its own there in that esteemed company. It's a bit thinner (still I picked his way above the Neumann and the Wagner, blind on the guitar, and I think his is about tops for vocals), and I wonder how much of that is just tensioning? I know Dale prefers to tension his own capsules darker than what he normally sells because people like the bright clarity. It's always a question of how the overall circuit is tuned to work with the particular capsule, too. Can you tell us what the circuit is? Don't tell me you've got six U-47s there...?

Anyway, cheers to you and Dale, and I definitely hear the magic in the PVC. Wow.

http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=29225

oops, don't venture to the brewery often.

Yes, I'm impressed with Dales Ulan's work on his capsule. much more than I expected, In fact its very good coming out of that laboratory he built and shared with us.

I used the gtrsoft demo for my own listening test because this passage
was the easiest to listen to on a repeated basis.

The capsule that captures the high frequncies for me is the Gefell PVC
I clearly hear the highs punch through with a brighter midrange clarity.
and second the Neumann PVC, third Thiersch PVC. The others are not far behind in fact they sound like mylar membranes should which is characterized by a softer or more tame midrange. The Thiersch PE and Wagner PE and Ulan PE sound alike softer mid clarity. Not bad , just a different response in the way the frequencies are transferred. There is'nt a bad capsule in the lot.

Would like to know a little more about the base or body containing the electronics that these heads were installed on. I'm assuming all stock U47 components and power supply.

But since all of us have different ears , we are all looking for what pleases them, so the beauty is in the ears of the beholder.

[quote author="maxwall"]Would like to know a little more about the base or body containing the electronics that these heads were installed on. I'm assuming all stock U47 components and power supply.[/quote]

Sorry for the late reaction, been away for a few days and never saw the topic. Yep, that's my trusty old U47 circa 1953, with six different Neumann heads for easy and quick swapping.

Thought you guys want to see these graphs I did, comparing the other capsules with the Neumann using the loudspeaker files:





Martin

Interesting. Where Dale's goes up, the Thiersh goes down.

Also, it shows how graphs tell only part of the story. The difference in character was way more than just an EQ graph.

I can't read the scale on the left. What is it?

Thanks so much for the test.

Wow again. Really amazing.

Thanks for the M7 comparisons.

From 1st listen to grt picking row It's really hard to tell since they all sound pretty darn good. And to get to the nitty gritty one would need to compare the same take.

The frequency response tells us nothing about how well a mic produces dynamics which is just as important especially when musicianship is top notch.

I found that I enjoyed the dynamics of Dale's Capsule though. Maybe this is a trade off for less linear frequency response.

-I really do like the guitar strum for Dale's. The others we a tad brittle in the highs and the lower mids are flattering to the instrument... and the track was meaty without being too boomy.

[quote author="tommypiper"]Also, it shows how graphs tell only part of the story. The difference in character was way more than just an EQ graph.[/quote]

Indeed, also forgot to mention that the Gefell has a different capsule holder which probably messes up the measurement a bit, since it might not be exactly in the same spot inside the grille.

[quote author="tommypiper"]I can't read the scale on the left. What is it?[/quote]

We're looking at +/-10 dB. Glad you found the little test interesting, thought it's probably not so easy for everybody to try at home.

Martin

Thanks for this
I found that the
Thiersch rebuilt PVC and Neumann PVC sounded the most lovely to me!