BBC in-vision mic, 70's/80's

[sunray]

1 hour ago, sandall said:

AKG used Tuschel DINs as an alternative to XLRs on many of their mics (I used to have a couple of D202s & several D190s with Tuschels).

I didn't know the D190 was available with XLR. I used to buy them from Norman rose and there was no option.

[paulears]

I've got half a dozen 190's with XLRs - oddly, I've never had them with the other connector!

[sandall]

In the 70s AKG mostly seemed to market (at least in Europe) to the (well-heeled) hobbyist, even the CMS (451, CKn) system (in those days Electret wasn't considered "professional"), so DIN (eg D190C) for Europe & XLR (eg D190E) for the US, but Pin-2 hot, unlike Shure at the time. They also constantly brought out new dynamic ranges, that were heavily marketed for a year or two, then vanished. They used to have an office in Acton, West London, not far from LMC & WLE, until at least 1985, who gave very generous trade terms & usually had a half-price (or less) offer on good-but-not-selling-well mics.

[GaryNattrass]

Those bigger mics could be fichord?

The fichord was also I think then made into a Calrec valve mic and I used to have a couple of them that are now in the Calrec museum. 

In the 80's we also used the Calrec 2010 and 2050 mics that had omni and cardioid screw on removable capsules but the threads were a lot more robust but they also had a short and a long extension tube available.

When AMS bought Calrec in the early 90's they had Keith Ming there and he took over the service of the Calrec mics and then bought the rights to them and started Hebden Sound. He made some gold plated ones and they are the mics that you can see on the opening of Parliament when the Queen reads her Governments proposals.

Sadly Keith is no longer with us but he was a lovely guy and always great to chat to when I worked at AMS Neve in the early 90's.

We also had the Carlec / AMS soundfield mic then but that was sold off the Drawmer and then onto Soundfield inc.  

Edited February 11, 2022 by GaryNattrass

[paulears]

What do you reckon Gary? Very close - so either the same, or a similar model?

[sunray]

15 hours ago, paulears said:

I've got half a dozen 190's with XLRs - oddly, I've never had them with the other connector!

If I'm honest it was probably the reason I stopped using them. and moved over to Shure when things like 588, 515 etc started with XLR's

It's strange the way things happen. I imagine it's just the way Norman Rose bought them in.

[Mixermend]

Enjoyed watching Carol King and James Taylor on BBC2 on Saturday night - they were using the AKG mic system for everything, including the piano. Carol has just celebrated her 80th birthday, so it was great to see her in 1971 - what a fabulous long career!

[Bazz339]

On 2/10/2022 at 10:04 PM, sunray said:

I didn't know the D190 was available with XLR. I used to buy them from Norman rose and there was no option.

That's a blast from the past, Norman Rose- Ardwick Manchester? 

[sunray]

5 hours ago, Bazz339 said:

That's a blast from the past, Norman Rose- Ardwick Manchester? 

Oh heck no, They were Grays In  Road London in those days, I think they moved out to somewhere like Lee valley  before Manchester. That was before they stopped selling audio kit and moved into paint.

[sunray]

1 minute ago, sunray said:

Oh heck no, They were Grays In  Road London in those days, I think they moved out to somewhere like Lee valley  before Manchester. That was before they stopped selling audio kit and moved into paint.

No I have that wrong I think.

I think they had several branches, Birmingham and Blackburn seem to ring a bell. IIRC the London branch turned to paint but oop North stayed with electronics.

It was ages ago I found they had ceased to exist 25, 30 ?? years back.

[kitlane]

10 hours ago, sunray said:

No I have that wrong I think.

I think they had several branches, Birmingham and Blackburn seem to ring a bell. IIRC the London branch turned to paint but oop North stayed with electronics.

It was ages ago I found they had ceased to exist 25, 30 ?? years back.

"Penlyon Electrical Ltd was formed  in March 1993 as part of a management buy out of Norman Rose Ltd."

http://www.penlyon.co.uk/page.php?xPage=company

[sunray]

2 hours ago, kitlane said:

"Penlyon Electrical Ltd was formed  in March 1993 as part of a management buy out of Norman Rose Ltd."

http://www.penlyon.co.uk/page.php?xPage=company

Aha. my estimate wasn't far out then😊

[Somnar]

AKG C28 with various extension tubes. Used extensively by the BBC as well as the Dutch national broadcaster, but I've never seen them anywhere else. 

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/1961-12.pdf

[sunray]

I don't know what version but London Palladium had a row of the style popping up through the stage floor.