Bgw amp plus eq for free!

[RMC]

Btw first rogue retailer has the ATP-N2 stylus on his web site as "available" (not "in stock" this time!), but I know and have an e-mail from Canadian AT distributor its not available and they have none left in stock, I checked that before buying mine from Amazon. So looks like another bait & switch thing? Paid mine $98.CAD+ tx from Amazon, then stylus disappeared from the "sold and shipped by Amazon", possibly bought the or one of the last ones. Pic # 539

More to come regarding the cables solution.

[RMC]

The E-V PL80C is the newer version of the older PL80 mic shown here recently (Post # 72). Its a little lighter than PL80 since it has a neo magnet, and the mic's color has also changed from sort of beige to satin grey, but same general look is kept.

The mic's response has been modified, its flatter than it use to be, though not flat, with the typical vocal bump in response being less pronounced than in the past. Therefore expecting a little different sound.

Bottom end is about the same as before. The vocal response bump that formerly started at 1khz now starts at 2 khz and the top end now extends to about 12 khz. The combination of internal design changes opens the door to some other uses, in addition to vocals. Like micing some instruments in cases where a dynamic microphone may be preferred by the user.

Some instrument mics have mid/high frequency response shape similar to vocal ones. I think E-V tried to hit two birds with one stone in the new version. Primary use remains vocals, but now has wider use scope.

Compared to the standard SM-58 vocal and SM-57 instrument mics, the Shure mics have a more pronounced MF bump, folowed by a drop and then a HF bump at about 10 khz with ensuing fall. This is what gives the Shures their distinct clarity and popular sound, but sometimes too much presence or overly bright.

The E-V is smoother than the two in this regard and I generally tend to prefer somewhat flatter sound than too emphasized one. May sound less "impressive". Although either way some EQ can improve deficiencies.

I usually tend to prefer cardio polar pattern due to their much lower sensitivity to sounds coming from the back caused by the "null" in the polar response at 180°, which is easy to benefit from. The PL80C is a supercardio with two "nulls" at around 120° and 240°, making things a little more complex to manage considering there's still some mic sensitivity to sounds coming from the back of the mic at 180° or so. However, to get the rest, polar pattern is basically where I chose to compromise a little.

TV shows with a band and singer(s) often illustrate the issue: one stage monitor cab directed at the cardio 180° null behind the singer's mic, or two stage monitor cabs angled towards the 120° and 240° supercardio nulls behind the singer's mic. Purpose is the same: performer hearing him/herself on the monitor(s) with least impact on sounds picked-up by the mic, while minimizing feedback possibilities. That's when they don't use in-ear monitoring...

Richard

[RMC]

With regards to nearfield monitor types I mentioned recently on "Back in the 70's" thread, the following contains some info for the Peerless "evergreen" tweeter as pictured from an old catalogue I have.

The 1978 purchased Polk Audio Monitor 5 with pretty low serial numbers, are among the first models they released, I still own them and they're somewhat larger than typical small nearfields. At that time a trade magazine test compared the Polk's sound to the Spendor BC-? sound but the latter was said to be short on highs (13-14 khz max). I may add that in a Stereophile review seen the Spendor's tweeter limit was assessed to be extending to about 12 khz. Both reviews indicated the Spendor was missing some very high frequencies, but for the rest concluded they sounded good.

The Polk doesn't suffer from such lower top end having that widely used Peerless model # 810665 hi-fi "Evergreen" tweeter (frequency response graph below shows its relatively smooth). Its still there up to 18 khz then rolls off. Near the top end, it sounds a little incisive since the tweeter has a small but noticeable peak at about 15 khz which is easily cured with -1 to -2 db EQ, if need be. Depending on program material sometimes I don't mind the peak and other times I do. Also, note from the same graph the tweeter's impedance curve is pretty flat at 8 ohms on a wide range of usable frequencies.

In addition to the 1" dome, it has a 6.5" bass/mid and 8" passive radiator (both rubber surrounds, they last!). Inputs are on standard binding posts and each driver is fused. A pic shows the banana plug type used to feed the speakers. Fusing drivers, as well as use of passive radiators, were more popular in the old days. I guess Polk didn't want its customers to be overly ambitious power wise on the speakers and blow drivers, hence fuses. They're not very high output speakers, will do 105 db with program material, but nice sounding ones.

The HF driver was discontinued long ago. A number of known hi-fi speaker manufacturers used this tweeter in their boxes, saw a list of these on the Net. The made in Denmark manufacturing was quality but higher manufacturing costs too. Companies like Polk Audio and others made or found lower cost replacement tweeters for subsequent versions of monitor 5 and others. Binding posts and fusing were also changed later, possibly to reduce cost...

Tymphany purchased Peerless and Vifa some time ago and moved production to Asia. Though NLA, Parts-Express still has it listed with specs. Mid West Speaker Repair has a copy made of this tweeter they sell and Simply Speakers also sells a replacement copy for $50. Cannot comment on the copies, since the drivers in my pair have never been replaced, the speakers are fully original and in good shape after 41 years.

The 30-20 khz bandwidth mentioned in the Monitor 5 sheet appears overly optimistic at each end, in practice. Moreover, the "nearly perfect hemispherical dispersion" touted by Polk seems more marketing than real life in view of off-axis data indicated on the Peerless 810665 data sheet here. Also the clean usable response down to the 36 hz resonance of the passive radiator referred to leaves me wondering. I suppose the key is one's definition of "usable". In my view, with reasonable output, its probably 10 hz higher. Giving a real life stand alone bandwidth of about 45-18 khz. Biamping the Polks with the 2214H cabs further improves the low end and makes a nice complement...

Richard

[Mr. Widget]

I know that tweeter well... I used them in several designs back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. It had a pleasant if slightly rolled off sound. If I recall correctly it was available in the $10-$15 a piece range while the Dynaudio D21AFs that I moved up to next were in the $40-$50 range back then.

Both Peerless and Audax made really excellent drivers that were extremely reasonably priced.


Widget