Chatting about how various types of microphone packaging foams disintegrate over the years.
I purchased my AKG collection in 1978. As I purchased a modular system, all of the capsules, pads and pre-amps shipped from the factory in individual packages. I elected to keep CK1 capsules threaded on to -10 db pads threaded, in turn, on to C451EB pre-amps. I was able to store the aforementioned assemblies in the C451EB boxes by minimally altering the original factory foam.
So far, so good.
When it came to CK5 capsules (The internally shock-mounted / windscreen enclosed version of a CK1 and the hand held vocal mic of the modular system) I could no longer coerce them into fitting in the C451EB pre-anp boxes. As the local station I was freelancing for had just purchased a pair of brand new RE-16's, and as they were going to be spending their lives in the Master Control and Production studios never to see their custom metal shipping cases again, I was able to 'acquire' two mint EV hinged and latched boxes to store my assembled CK5's.
C414EB's shipped in AKG foam-lined plasticized boxes with their stand mounting clips assembled backwards in order minimize packing / shipping size. It was a time wasting pain in the 'annoyance' to open the box, remove the mic, remove, reverse and reattach the mounting clip to attach it to a stand / boom / stereo bar, et al, only to have to reverse and repeat the process to replace them in their packages. Since the mics were my PERSONAL collection, were handled essentially by myself, (and were my pride and joy) I invested the time and put up with it. It's not as if I was pulling the mics out nightly mixing rock bands playing bars on weekends where I'd have wanted a better, faster, means of storage / packing. When I purchased the C414EB's as a package deal, for a limited time each shipped from the factory with an accommodatingly large, slip-over, windscreen, again fabricated by / for AKG.
Fast forward 39 years from 1978 to 2017.
I spent a few decades recording effects, largely from vinyl, open reel, and CD sources and directly to open reel and MD recorders. Basically my personal mics came out only rarely.
Do you recall the EV411 mic mice?
Have you seen how they die a horrible death over a number of years?
Summarizing; all I can say is AKG's factory supplied foam breaks down into chunks, as opposed to disintegrating into powder.
You neither want to know how the foam in those EV RE16 boxes has devolved into sticky goo nor the havoc it's wreaked upon my assembled CK5 / C451EB systems. The only thing I can say in favor of the EV boxes is at least they contained / retained the goop within themselves.
I'd love to provide educational photos but then again I'd really rather not.
In actuality, as I'm now blind and no longer living at home, I've requested an associate, presently in custody of my mics, to proceed with cleaning the CK5's the best he can and, as he's a quite excellent chemist with decades of interest in recording, I believe he's well into his cleaning processes by now. In retrospect, I wish I'd requested before and after photos for educational purposes. Say la vee.
As an aside: 'Back in the day', as we geezer's phrase it' AKG only offered the CK1's and their pre-amps in the nickle finish with their black capsules and accessories not appearing until some years later.
The oddity was the CK5 capsule which was, to the best of my knowledge, only ever offered in black from the get-go. Hence I have a pair of black CK5's with silver (nickle or whatever) pads and pre-amps 'swimming' in a veritable sea of disintegrated, semi-liquified, goop.
Before anyone asks. None of these have been sitting out in the son, or stored in a hot or cold car. No, these went to rot in totally inhabitable environments.
Woe is me. I'm a sadder but wiser geezer and still never too old to learn. (Silly dumb phuque that I am)
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
I purchased my AKG collection in 1978. As I purchased a modular system, all of the capsules, pads and pre-amps shipped from the factory in individual packages. I elected to keep CK1 capsules threaded on to -10 db pads threaded, in turn, on to C451EB pre-amps. I was able to store the aforementioned assemblies in the C451EB boxes by minimally altering the original factory foam.
So far, so good.
When it came to CK5 capsules (The internally shock-mounted / windscreen enclosed version of a CK1 and the hand held vocal mic of the modular system) I could no longer coerce them into fitting in the C451EB pre-anp boxes. As the local station I was freelancing for had just purchased a pair of brand new RE-16's, and as they were going to be spending their lives in the Master Control and Production studios never to see their custom metal shipping cases again, I was able to 'acquire' two mint EV hinged and latched boxes to store my assembled CK5's.
C414EB's shipped in AKG foam-lined plasticized boxes with their stand mounting clips assembled backwards in order minimize packing / shipping size. It was a time wasting pain in the 'annoyance' to open the box, remove the mic, remove, reverse and reattach the mounting clip to attach it to a stand / boom / stereo bar, et al, only to have to reverse and repeat the process to replace them in their packages. Since the mics were my PERSONAL collection, were handled essentially by myself, (and were my pride and joy) I invested the time and put up with it. It's not as if I was pulling the mics out nightly mixing rock bands playing bars on weekends where I'd have wanted a better, faster, means of storage / packing. When I purchased the C414EB's as a package deal, for a limited time each shipped from the factory with an accommodatingly large, slip-over, windscreen, again fabricated by / for AKG.
Fast forward 39 years from 1978 to 2017.
I spent a few decades recording effects, largely from vinyl, open reel, and CD sources and directly to open reel and MD recorders. Basically my personal mics came out only rarely.
Do you recall the EV411 mic mice?
Have you seen how they die a horrible death over a number of years?
Summarizing; all I can say is AKG's factory supplied foam breaks down into chunks, as opposed to disintegrating into powder.
You neither want to know how the foam in those EV RE16 boxes has devolved into sticky goo nor the havoc it's wreaked upon my assembled CK5 / C451EB systems. The only thing I can say in favor of the EV boxes is at least they contained / retained the goop within themselves.
I'd love to provide educational photos but then again I'd really rather not.
In actuality, as I'm now blind and no longer living at home, I've requested an associate, presently in custody of my mics, to proceed with cleaning the CK5's the best he can and, as he's a quite excellent chemist with decades of interest in recording, I believe he's well into his cleaning processes by now. In retrospect, I wish I'd requested before and after photos for educational purposes. Say la vee.
As an aside: 'Back in the day', as we geezer's phrase it' AKG only offered the CK1's and their pre-amps in the nickle finish with their black capsules and accessories not appearing until some years later.
The oddity was the CK5 capsule which was, to the best of my knowledge, only ever offered in black from the get-go. Hence I have a pair of black CK5's with silver (nickle or whatever) pads and pre-amps 'swimming' in a veritable sea of disintegrated, semi-liquified, goop.
Before anyone asks. None of these have been sitting out in the son, or stored in a hot or cold car. No, these went to rot in totally inhabitable environments.
Woe is me. I'm a sadder but wiser geezer and still never too old to learn. (Silly dumb phuque that I am)
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
