Sujet Reparer un 160 : pas cher!

Citation : concerning yor request - old micros like the M160N one have to replace the complete transducer if the quality becames bad.
The experience has shown, after a lot of years using and bad sound one should replace the complete system including the ribbon

Citation : However, your mic may be ok. If you listen to the mic in headphones, then tip and rock the mic back and forth you should not hear any metallic scraping or "clanging". If the mic does not make these sounds the ribbons are most likely OK and do not have to be replaced.

Citation : Don't bother to change ribbons unless they sound bad. We've seen 40 year old ribbons that were just fine.

Citation : We can replace the ribbons and keep the original specifications. The price per microphone is US$250.
I look forward to helping you get your ribbon mics back up and running.

Citation : Your information is largely correct, but only about Beyer mics with stock ribbons. The stock Beyer ribbons are rigid, with just two shallow corrugations(folds) at each end to allow movement. This results in two unpleasant effects- 1)a high level of overshoot distortion, that rises with frequency, due to the high moving mass(relative to an RCA-style, all-corrugated ribbon), and 2)inevitable tendency to fatigue(i.e., sag & wear out) with even moderate use, since the two shallow angles at each end can permanently flatten out with relatively little ribbon movement. For these two reasons, even if I had Beyer's custom 'press' to make stock type ribbons, I would not do it, since the RCA ribbons vastly improve sound & eliminate the ribbon fatigue(unless abused badly).

The following excerpt from a previous email gives all the remaining details about getting your M160's re-ribboned with RCA 77DX ribbons:

I am still doing the "DX mods" on Beyer mics, yes. On the M130 & M160, which are double ribbon mics, this means creating, installing & tuning two RCA 77DX ribbons, one straight on top of the other, with 0.5mm space in between(i.e., the clamping bars for the first ribbon are 0.5mm thick). Not very easy mics to do. The result is vastly lower(to virtually zero) distortion, especially at the top end, smoother overall response, and total freedom from ribbon fatigue, assuming no abusive sound levels. It's not a huge sonic transformation, unless you do a lot of acoustic stringed instrument recording, where the virtual disappearance of distortion/coarseness in the upper harmonics will quite nicely reveal the improvements, but a definitely undeniable improvement overall. The only negative is that output level is reduced a few dB, since the fully-corrugated RCA ribbons move naturally with the wavefront, rather than as a single pistonic mass.

Citation : J'ai vu que tu avais des M160N ... tu as fait quelquechose dessus depuis que tu les as ?