recordinghacks

Avantone Pro CR-14

Bidirectional Ribbon Microphone

The CR-14 is a passive dual-ribbon design in an unusual form-factor — flat and rectangular. The second ribbon motor increases the mic’s sensitivity and output level (although a lot of clean gain is still needed for quiet sources).

Numerous lookalike mics can be found on the market; for example, see the Alctron HRM-14, the Apex 215 (which is manufactured by Alctron) and the ShuaiYin SYR-50. (Find links to these and more in the sidebar.) Nonetheless, Avant president Ken Avant claims the CR-14 contains a few design tweaks that separate it from the pack, both sonically and visually.

The front and back of the mic produce different sounds, making this mic less suitable for use in mid-side applications.

Common ribbon-mic mods apply — for example, internal blast filters and baffling can be removed to open up the mic’s sound, at a cost of requiring an external pop filter during vocal use. The stock transformer can be upgraded, e.g. to a Lundahl LL2912; see the sidebar link to a Gearslutz exchange featuring before-and-after audio samples.

Includes a padded wooden storage box and suspension shockmount, all of which fits in the included metal road case.

Electronic Musician

the CR-14 is fairly quiet, though I found it still exhibits the lower output you’d expect from a passive ribbon design, based on my experience with older beyerdynamics and newer Royer models. As with any ribbon mic, you’ll want to use the cleanest high-gain preamp you can get your hands on.

Like all Avant mics, the CR-14 is individually tested at the company’s headquarters in Upland, CA.

The Avantone Pro CR-14 is also known as: CR14.

Specifications

Frequency Response - BidirectionalClick Graph to Compare!

Pickup Patterns	Pads & Filters
Bidirectional (2.5 mV/Pa; 30 - 15,000 Hz)

Ribbon Construction	Impedance	SPL/Noise
dual 35x5mm, 2-micron aluminum ribbons	600 Ohms (Low)	Max SPL: 145 dB

Weight	Length	Max Diameter	Interface(s)
496g (17.50oz)	175mm (6.89'')	37mm (1.46'')	3-pin XLR male (1)

Power Specifications

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