ProAudio Review - March 2009 - (Page 26)

studio review by Simon Tillbrook sE Electronics RNR1 Active Ribbon Microphone Rupert Neve joins forces with sE’s Siwei Zou to create a most buzzed-about active ribbon microphone, the RNR1. Siwei Zou of sE and Rupert Neve Whenever the name Rupert Neve is brought up in conversation with regard to any piece of new equipment, expectations and interest both increase to an understandably high degree. This has always been in familiar areas such as console and dynamic processor design, but now this has shifted to a new arena: microphones. In conjunction with Siwei Zou and sE Electronics, Mr. Neve has applied his design skills to a new series of microphones, the sE Rupert Neve Signature Series. These are completely new designs from the ground up; Siwei Zou and sE focuses on the series’ transductions and enclosures, while Rupert supplies the circuits and transformer designs to take the transducers’ outputs and deliver them to your studio system. The first offering in this new range is the SE RNR1 active ribbon microphone. Features The RNR1 is a solid-state active ribbon microphone with a tight bi-directional polar pattern. The transducer is a 2.5-micron aluminum ribbon that can be user-tightened. SE does not recommend this, however, and I was not going to go against that advice and try it. The ribbon has a very low 200-ohm impedance, and it is at this point that Rupert Neve’s contribution comes into play. A custom hand-wound input transformer steps up the level and delivers it to an amp stage of discrete single-sided circuits. From here, the signal passes through another custom hand-wound output transformer very similar to those that Rupert Neve was working with some 40 years ago — they have just gotten quite a bit smaller. The specs for the RNR1 show a frequency response of 20 Hz to 16 kHz +/-3 dB, sensitivity of -32.2 dB (ref. 1v/pa +/1 dB), equivalent noise level (A-Weighted) of 15 dB, and a maximum SPL >135 dB. The RNR1 comes supplied in a wooden presentation box with a full suspension cradle microphone mount. Lifting the RNR1 from the box, it’s reassuringly heavy, and close examination of the interestingly tapered body shows a high level of build quality. There’s only one switch on the RNR1, and that’s the high-pass filter. The suspension cradle screws solidly to the base of the (continued on page 48) Simon Tillbrook is a U.K.-based engineer. He contributes to PAR this month courtesy of our sister publication, Audio Media. 26 ProAudioReview | March 2009 www.proaudioreview.com http://www.proaudioreview.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ProAudio Review - March 2009

ProAudio Review - March 2009 Contents Technically Speaking New Studio Products Opinion: Studio Sense Gear Trends In Nashville Focusrite Liquid Mix HD TDM Plug-in Daking Mic-Pre One sE Electronics RNR1 Active Ribbon Microphone WAVES Tony Maserati Plug-in Collection KRK Systems Rokit 8 G2 Monitors and 10s Subwoofer JBL Control 2P Powered Desktop Monitors Neumann TLM 103D Digital Microphone System Violet Design “The Wedge” Condenser Microphone New Live Products Opinion: Worship Audio Fender Passport Deluxe PD-500 Portable PA PAR Contributor Of The Month Behringer 2442FX 10x4x2 Analog Mixer Single Slice

ProAudio Review - March 2009

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