In article , wrote:
On Sun, 7 May 2006 13:29:36 UTC, "Mike Rivers"
wrote:


Jack wrote:

Used to have an old D104 with the amp inside and this setup easily goes
back to the 70's.

That's at least 15 years newer than the last one I had my hands on.
They were orignally crystal mics, and that's the "real" D104. However,
apparently recent models are just like any other mic as far as
interfacing goes. And as far as sound goes, they do their best to
retain the classic "communication mic" sound, which is in general
completely undesirable for a studio mic. But as we all know well,
there's an application somewhere for almost any crappy sound. But a
D104 would never be my "go to" mic for anything other than recording
taxi dispatcher monologue for a film - and I don't do that.


?? A good crystal element in a D-104 is clear and
distortion-free in a general sense i.e. no kazoo,
no grainy, no tunnel, with the crispness to
override noise.

A bad element can lead to what you are talking
about. The recent Astatic elements are ceramic and
I've yet to try them, my crystal still being good.

Lively does not have to be 'crappy'. BTW, replace
that built-in amp with a home-brew two-FET amp and
you will have eliminated most of that
objectionable sound.

I should have bought that Golden Eagle. I knew it.They are getting
big bucks on Ebay.

How about FET follower with a FET current source. You would have to
attenuate the output since the element has very high output voltage.

greg