| Pro Audio Review, January 2003 Royer R-122 by Russ Long Anyone who has read my reviews with any consistency knows that I’m a lover of ribbon microphones. They capture audio impulses in a way no other microphone can. Their smooth, warm, natural sound works wonders on everything from violin and trumpet to vocals and guitars. They do have some weaknesses. Their low output requires significantly more gain than their condenser and dynamic counterparts and their impedance dependency requires that they see a fairly high impedance before they operate to their full potential. With the release of the new Royer R-122, all of this changes. Features The Royer R-122
ribbon-velocity microphone is the first phantom powered ribbon microphone
ever made. The mic’s head amplifier, designed by Royer’s resident
geniuses David Royer and Rick Perrotta, is fully balanced, discrete, and
it utilizes a specially designed toroidal transformer and ultra-low noise
FET’s. This head amp/transformer system makes the R-122 15 dB more
sensitive than standard Royer ribbons, bringing its sensitivity to the
level of the average condenser microphone. The Z-match feature provides
the optimal impedance to the ribbon element and a low impedance output
that allows for long cable runs with minimal signal loss. Additionally,
this eliminates the possibility of damage by phantom power or electrical
surges. The toroidal transformer
is responsible for the microphone’s gain. This transformer produces
a voltage gain across the full audio bandwidth while reducing the current.
The balanced FET amplifier has a gain of less-than-one, and since its
impedance is so high, it effectively imposes no load to the transformer.
This allows the full voltage gain achieved by the transformer to be utilized.
Since the amplifier has no gain characteristics of its own, thermal noise
from the FET's and transistors is negligible. The amplifier acts strictly
as a buffer and provides a balanced low-impedance drive to the circuit’s
output. The amplifier can handle SPLs approaching 150 dB (well in excess
of the 135 dB limit of the ribbon element), and is very quiet, The Z-match feature is what makes the greatest difference between powered and un-powered ribbon microphones. With conventional ribbon microphones, the input impedance of the mic pre directly affects the ribbon element. If the impedance match is good, the ribbon element operates at full potential. If the impedance is too low, the ribbon element becomes overdamped and loses sensitivity and bottom end, resulting in compromised performance. A great ribbon mic will perform poorly if it isn’t presented with the proper impedance. Z-match perfectly matches the impedance to the ribbon so the ribbon always provides optimal performance. In Use As I anticipated,
the microphones worked extremely well to capture the sound of violin,
viola and cello. I almost always use ribbon microphones on strings and
I was more than pleased with the way the microphones captured the performances
of these instruments. The microphone
did an adequate job recording vocals. The Royer SF-1 and the Coles 4038
remain my favorite vocal ribbon microphones but the R-122 is a nice option. Summary Minus The Score Review Setup Copyright 2002 IMAS Publishing
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