Microphones Behringer B-5 vs C-2

[techietim]

Hello!

Other than price, what other differences are there in the two mics? I know the C-2s are sold as a stereophonic pair and the B-5s are a little longer. I appreciate there are a few differences in use too, from the descriptions.

Does anyone have any experience with these mics?

Thank you!

 

[jkowtko]

I have four pairs of C-2s that I use for the middle school orchestra and choir concerts, for both live and recording. They're not audiophile mics but they seem to do a pretty good job. And for the price they can't be beat. I've had them for about five years now with absolutely no problems.

No experience with the Behringer B-5 ... however I purchased two pairs of Samson C02 which seem to be a similar mic, and a notch above the C-2's. These are also inexpensive mics -- I got two for $80 used. I use them in the percussion section and they do just fine there.

Fyi I also have some CAD e100s -- great percussion mic, they pick up everything. But they're in a different price point.

 

[FMEng]

The C-2 is a cardiod pattern mic sold in pairs. The B-5 is a single mic with a caridoid capsule and an omnidirectional capsule. The B-5 omni capsule doesn't have one of the attributes that would normally be why you'd choose an omni, that being smooth, extended response. Another attribute is lack of proximity effect, which is why I don't understand why they gave the B-5 omni a significant low end roll off. Given the choice between the two, I'd buy the C-2. I don't find an omni mic useful very often, and you might as well get two mics for the price of one.

Look at the downloads for the products and take a look at the manual (or spec sheet) for each of them. You can learn a lot about how the mic might sound and what it might be suited for from response graphs and polar pattern charts. Compare mics you know to ones you don't. Also, see if you can learn about proximity effect and why some mics have a boost in the high end, and some don't.

 

[techietim]

Thanks both for your comments. Very helpful - I think I would go for the C-2s over the B-5s as they do seem better value and equally okay mics.

 

[MarshallPope]

I thought I would continue this thread rather than start a new one - Does anyone have experience with the C-2s vs the C-4s? Looking at the specs, they match up fairly closely, with the only obvious difference I am seeing being the color, though there are enough differences that they seem to have different insides as well. I have a bit of money to throw at some better-than-what-we-have choir mics for a church, to hold us over until I can swing the budget to hang a couple of Countryman Isomaxes, and I figure that a pair of one of these will do just fine.

 

[FMEng]

Behringer chooses not to publish any meaningful specs for the C-4, yet they publish response and polar pattern graphs for the C-2. If they can't bother with that, then I can't be bothered to buy any. Without that , there is only guesses as to why they make the two models.

I have a hard time thinking what mics these might be a step up from. You generally get what you pay for with mics, and it doesn't get much cheaper than two for $60. Add in the box, stereo bar, etc. and not much money is left going into the mic itself. What are you using now for choir mics?

 

[MarshallPope]

I am leaning towards the C-2s because of that fact, though I would prefer a black mic assuming all else was comparable.

The person who last "redesigned" our system took away our PG81s (Not ideal, but better than what we have now - I have no idea where they ended up) and replaced them with four no-name podium gooseneck condensers, which just do not work well at all, especially considering that they must be way too close to the choir because of the stage and modesty rail layout. I have since gotten rid of two of them and raised the remaining ones as high as I can get them to somewhat remedy that (I have the stands sitting on overturned trash cans), but I'm still not happy with the results. I feel that the person who picked these out was trying to copy the Audix Microboom/Shure CSM idea without knowing why something like that would be desirable.

(This isn't the least of the questionable choices that was made that I am still trying to fix or live with.)

If there are any other similarly-priced suggestions, I'd be happy to consider them. I'm hoping not to spend more than $100 on this particular project, since it is more of a stopgap than anything. I'm trying to save enough of my yearly budget for a handful of e835s and still have enough left over for Christmas.

 

[techietim]

My friend just showed me this link, not sure how credible the sources are.

http://www.jonathangazeley.com/2013/05/behringer-c-2-vs-c-4/

Quite liking the C-4s for myself now...

 

[rbalewski]

I just got a pair of C-2's for the choir and am quite happy with them. I figured that for the price, even if they didn't work out for the choir, I'd easily find other uses for them. But so far they're doing a fine job.

 

[MarshallPope]

Thanks for the input, and thanks for the link, Tim. Somehow I missed that one in my Googling.
Based on what I've read thus far, I think I will go ahead and go with the C-2s, since they seem to have more devotees than the 4s. While the extra few dBs would be nice, the fact that the 4s are 2/3 the weight of the 2s has worried me from the beginning, as an indicator of just how much more cheaply they may be built.

 

[StradivariusBone]

I've bought C-2's a few times, always for applications where it was not a question of if they'd be dropped, but when. For the price, the quality is remarkable. I like them because I can mic areas of instruments/vocals and not be too upset for when a stand gets bumped. Also decent for recording.