[quote author="zebra50"] It is a lot thinner than kitchen foil, though.[/quote]
Ha! :green: :green: :green:
No kidding here!!! I would say 'bout 50-100 times difference. :shock:
The kitchen foil is basically unusable, unless you want to check how bad a ribbon mic can be. I cannot stress enough the idea that theory for ribbon mics works only in a "linear area". Whenever some parameters are changed drastically theory fails.
Same with ribbon thikness. The theory says that thikness does not influence frequency response of the ribbon--its ouptut only. Although it is true, there is however another 'indirect' effect--the thicker ribbons are much more prone to resonances, and subjectively sound like the top is smashed. With kitchen foil, beside extremely low output, there is no top whatsoever--dont ask me what happens with resonanses there. Also, compliance is completely screwed up and the ribbon works rather as a marimba bar, than a nicely suspended flexible transducer.
Couldn't agree more! I am not sure how Larry does it. Probably he will chime in and give some insights on his method. I tried this leaf a few times--no luck. It will whether fall apart when I pick it up, or when I corrugate it, or when I install it, or.... when I finally succeed.... it would not keep its tension over a week. Interesting thing (back to theory failure)--I did not notice any sensitivity improvements using it. Got the hint?
There is another very important consideration, which is ribbon's impedance. With foil
that thin, the ribbon resistance would be about 0.5-1 Ohm, which with 1:40 output transformer translates into 800-1600 Ohm (!) output impedance of the mic. Without special precautions (as a SS impedance converter) it is basically unusable with "normal" pres, or ribbon will be loaded by input impedance of the pre, resulting in severe bass response 'damage', as well as loss of 'naturality' of the sound.