| Bravo, Oliver! [message #264449] |
Tue, 07 August 2007 23:09  |
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Klaus Heyne
Messages: 2942
Registered: April 2004 |
Platinum Member |
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For those who faithfully participate in this forum, and had assumed all along a close, working relationship between Oliver Archut and me, it may come as a surprise to hear this:
I had until yesterday not used any of Oliver's transformers in any of my microphone work.
This will change, starting today.
I have for a long time complained about one of the bottle necks in my work of improving the U87 microphone. I had gotten quite far over the years with improving the mic, so I thought, considering where I started and where I am now; but somehow, I maybe naively thought, that it ought to be possible to get a U87 to also have the low-mid robustness and attraction of some of the better U67.
I had a hunch that the obstacle may be the anemic transformer in the U87, but knew that the space in the mic was extremely limited to beef up to anything resembling a full-size (BV12-type) transformer. So I contacted Oliver, told him my woes and asked him to make me prototypes as replacements for the Haufe-made stock transformers in U87/U87A.
I gave Oliver the performance parameters that needed to be covered and let him experiment. Samples were sent back and forth, with ever more refinement towards the ultimate goal. Yesterday several new samples arrived, and, fearing the worst as to size and fit, I tore out the stock transformer, once again, and installed, with not a millimeter to spare, the first of these new maximum-size samples.
I happened to have 2 beautiful, identical sounding, U87Ai specimens from a respected classical engineer at hand, so, I thought, I ought to be able to hear the kind of differences for the most demanding application of all-classical orchestra.
There was no need for me to fret about imperceptible differences or overshooting the goal: this was a breakthrough in improving one single component, if there ever was one; that low-mid robustness I never quite could get out of this mic, despite refining the processor to the best of my abilities for years, was finally there. The mid and low-mid smear of the original transformer was replaced by a clear improvement in third-dimensional imaging in that range, and a noticeable reduction of squishy compression when the mic is hit hard.
The rest of the frequency band remained balanced (an earlier result of the many back-and forths of prototypes between Oliver and me.) Phase shift was less irritating, and, while the U87 still has some shortcomings over the U67 (lower headroom being the biggest) I felt that after settling on the best of these prototypes, I could never go back to the status quo ante and offer any future custom work on U87s without Oliver's transformer.
Bravo! Now all the man needs is some competition, so I don't end up in the poor house with my orders!
Klaus Heyne
German Masterworks
www.GermanMasterworks.com
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| Re: Bravo, Oliver! [message #264484 is a reply to message #264472 ] |
Wed, 08 August 2007 01:21  |
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Klaus Heyne
Messages: 2942
Registered: April 2004 |
Platinum Member |
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| Mike Cleaver wrote on Tue, 07 August 2007 22:30 |
Klaus: Is Oliver going to start producing these transformers so we u87 users can have our mics upgraded?
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I was debating how deep into details I should go on this, anticipating such question. This particular transformer is "customized" as you Americanos like to say, for my work, and will not be available for general purchase.
The ultimate purpose of my post was not to make you salivate over a new product or service, but to take my hat off to one of the true purveyors of "obsolete" technology (and the guy is not even 40 years old!) Oliver has had an incredible impact, mostly behind the scenes, on the revival and manufacture of tube mics in the last half-decade.
If we had a half dozen more people like him, a whole new generation of state-of-the art microphones would be all but unavoidable.
Klaus Heyne
German Masterworks
www.GermanMasterworks.com
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| Re: Bravo, Oliver! [message #264528 is a reply to message #264449 ] |
Wed, 08 August 2007 07:38 |
maxdimario
Messages: 3811
Registered: December 2004 |
Platinum Member |
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Oliver is probably the only manufacturer who has the background knowledge of the german IRT designers AND is making a niche product for people who can appreciate it by keeping the QUALITY high as well as not comprimising.
as long as he keeps doing the great work he will always be in business, I say..
I for one am very excited that oliver is thinking about transformers for replacement purposes, this way we can enjoy better audio!
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| Re: Bravo, Oliver! [message #265484 is a reply to message #264449 ] |
Sun, 12 August 2007 07:55 |
 RMoore
Messages: 4377
Registered: May 2004
Location: Spaceship Earth |
Platinum Member |
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I had one of Oliver's stock replacement xformers put in my CMV563 mic and it made (along with new resistors, caps) a major noticeable difference for the better..
People's Republic of Ryan
http://www.myspace.com/twilightcircus
http://www.youtube.com/user/Ryonik
By the end of today, another day is gone forever. You will never get it back.
We must never let up for a second. Work harder at every single thing - Terry Manning
You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take - Wayne Gretzky
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