Yesterday at my open house (which went well) I had two identical
Sharp MD recorders set up with identical headphones. One was fed by a
pair of Shure 183s, and the other by my new Telinga EM23s. They were
mounted close together on the artficial shoulder board I use for long
field takes, with my Sennheiser dummy head providing the barrier. I
made a sign inviting people to compare the mics.
To my ears the EM23s were strongly colored. The frequency response
chart of the Primo capsule shows a broad treble rise of about +5dB
centered at about 6.5KHz. This is in the most sensitive part of the
hearing range, so it makes perfect sense that it would be very
audible. The Shures have a peak of similar height, but narrower and
centered higher at around 11K.
I surmise that the intention of the Shure designers is to maintain
brightness under windscreens and layers of clothing, and the
intention of the Primo design is to increase speech intelligibility.
I'm taking them to the field next weekend for a trial. I expect that
the EM23 treble rise might be easily equalized down, which would
improve the noise floor even more. Given the good noise performance,
it might even be possible to equalize up the very high end of the
EM23s to get back the "air" above 10K that they roll off. We'll see
when I get back from the desert next week.
An interesting critical comparison, which I can't make on this trip,
would be to A/B the 3032s with the EM23s with the same source, the
latter equalized for flat. Of course the EM23s are shoulder-mountable
and the 3032s are not.
-Dan Dugan
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