Chris Davidson:
> Posting the sad news that Audio Technica has discontinued the 30
> Series. B&H still has stock of 3032's so I presume there are many
> out there. Chris
Me:
> It looks like AudioTechnica moved the AT3031 and AT3032 into their 40
> Series, renamed them AT4021 and AT4022, and doubled the price. Specs
> and photos look very similar...
>
> http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/2008/Audio-Technica-AT4021-
> AT4022.html
>
> http://tinyurl.com/5ltjw8
Rob Danielson:
> Thanks for the tip, Curt. The 4023 _could_ be a repackaging at double
> the cost. They've lowered the specified "16 dB(A)" self-noise on the
> AT3032 to "13 dB(A)" on the AT4032 (we'd hate to see the noise
> performance meet 13 dB(A) opposed to the 8 dB(A) we're accustomed to).
> The 4021 is also an electret capsule and the other specs look similar
> except the polar patterns have some differences:
> http://ad2004.hku.nl/naturesound/RobD/AT4022_AT3032_PolarPatterns.jpg
> I'm not sure how reliable these charts really are, but the 4022 shows
> better off-axis response at 5K Hz and weaker at a few angles at 8K Hz.
That's right, not exactly the same as the 3031/3032, but fairly close.
If I was currently looking for a pair of cardioids in this
high-performance electret category, I'd seriously consider the
AudioTechnica AE5100. $250.00 street price; 11 db self-noise; very
rugged; and they sound absolutely fantastic. I've been using them in a
sound reinforcement application for the last three years. I recently
tried a pair in a modified ORTF array for ambient recordings of these
gigs, and find that they vastly outperform any other arrays I've tried
in that setting -- including my head-spaced barrier rigs using AT3032s
and AT3031s. I need to borrow them soon for some outdoor tests.
Dan Dugan:
> Maybe they realized it was underpriced for the performance!
I agree. Possibly the best bang for the buck we might ever see again.
As of this morning, Sweetwater still has them in stock.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AT3032/
Curt Olson
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