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Reviews For: CAD M177 Studio Condenser

Category: Microphones for ham radio

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Review Summary For : CAD M177 Studio Condenser
Reviews: 1MSRP: 249.99
Description:
Externally-biased large-diaphragm transduction cardioid condenser microphone. 100Hz roll off switch and 20 db pad. Microphone includes the shockmount and a hard case. Requires phantom power.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cadmics.com/M177.php
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0015
KC2RGW Rating: 2008-12-12
First impressions Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is indeed a condenser mic. It is the first one I have used in an amateur radio application and it takes a bit of fiddling to gain stage it properly and gate it for a nice clean signal without a lot of background noise.

The payoff for getting everything set up and learning where the sweet spot is for the pickup pattern is that you get a very nice transparent sound.

You have to get pretty close to this mic to induce exaggerated proximity effect and four inches or so away has a nice forgiving 'bubble' to work in without a lot of fading or tonal quality shift.

Sound quality is nice and flat, which is what I was really looking for. No built in curves that I had to fight with. As a result it has a nice articulate quality to it.

It's easy to turn one's head while talking and with the ultra tight pattern dynamic I've been using, that can mean the audio level shifts a bit too dramatically if I'm not being disciplined and staying close on dead center.

I would strongly advise anyone using a condenser to have an audio compressor in line. The high sensitivity of these mics make plosives a problem if you don't control them. They can be like cannon fire compared to the base audio level. Much different than a dynamic mic.

I'm using this one with a Symetrix 528e with excellent results. I also used it with a Joe Meek ThreeQ and it sounded great, but without a noise gate and the high sensitivity, I just didn't like the overall effect. I prefer a gated sound with as little background as possible.

If you have a noisy shack and don't have the compressor/gate to use, skip the idea of a condenser and use a dynamic mic instead.

Overall construction quality is very good, solid materials and has the full shock mount and an added hard mount ring included, as well as a hard plastic carrying box.

I got mine in a one-day blowout sale for about half what the average selling price is right now, so keep your eyes out for specials. For what I paid, it was an incredible bargain.