Oktava MK-012. Confused

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

martin griffith <martingriffith@XXyahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Any one got up to date info on these mics?
>
> I was put off from buying by all the confusion about
> the China version some time ago


Original page is down - no good sign.
Oktava: Attention - fakes!
http://www.google.com/search?&q=Oktava+Attention+fakes
It is the first URL. If you go to the word cached you will
find still some parts of this page.

http://www.sound-patterns.com/mk012/
http://www.debris.com/journal/1274
http://sound-room.com/customer/help.php?section=news
http://gearslutz.com/board/archive [...] 33881.html
http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=575625
http://studioforums.com/groupee/fo [...] 4541057731

Cheers Jens

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I read that the "fakes" have no -10dB pad and are labeled MC012.

I have two MC012 that came WITH -10dB.

Q: are those fake?

If so, I can tell you that they fakes work fine. Infact, I use them all
the time and they sound great

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On 8/31/05 7:23 PM, in article BF3BB421.10229%ten@nozirev.gamnocssj.com,
"SSJVCmag" <ten@nozirev.gamnocssj.com> wrote:

> And here's an anotated version of the ad:
>
> http://media.debris.com/journal/im [...] ava_ad.jpg
>

And what the heck...

Get the real deal
http://sound-room.com/customer/home.php

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Patrick Covert <cover@capital.net> wrote:
>In article <df59o0$6qa$1@panix2.panix.com>,
> kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
>
>> All of the ones currently being sold by Guitar Center are Chinese
>> copies. So are the new 2500 microphones that GC is selling.
>
>Are you sure about the 2500? I haven't seen anything on this elsewhere.

Yes, look at the capsule.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

>OK, the fakes are only since April of 2005. I bought mine years ago.

>One thing that I find strange is that I don't see any MC012's  around
>and that is what mine are badged. They appear to be the same thing as
>my MK012's in every way. I didn't even realize there was a letter
>change until after I had bought them.

I dont think it was a change at all-- they probably just couldn't
decide
whether or not to transliterate the model # for the western market....

The letter written as "C" in the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet is written

as "K" in ours.

Dan

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"Dan Gellert" <dgellert@skyenet.net> wrote in message
news:1125541851.549158.103870@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

<<I dont think it was a change at all-- they probably just couldn't
decide
whether or not to transliterate the model # for the western market....

The letter written as "C" in the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet is written

as "K" in ours. >>

Er, no. The letter written as "C" in Cyrillic is written "S" in ours.

What I think happened is that the word for this type of microphone is
something like "Kondenser" or "Kapasitor" in Russian (anyone here know what
it really is?). And "Mikrofon" is somewhat self-explanatory. So the device
is "MK" for microfon, kondenser-type (as in "one cloth, loin-type" ). But at
some point somebody decided to use the western letters that begin those
words, as in "microphone, condenser". Hence, MC.

Clear as mud, mud, glorious mud.

Peace,
Paul

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On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:11:55 -0400, SSJVCmag wrote
(in article <BF3BB17A.10222%ten@nozirev.gamnocssj.com> ):

> Ken Heaton of Oktava USA wrote to point out a misleading advertisement from
> Guitar Center . In its description of the ³MKL2500,² the copy claims the mic
> is ³Hand-built in Russia.² This is almost certainly not true, as anyone
> familiar with the controversy will tell you ‹ for the Russian mic
> manufacturer severed its ties with the company selling these mics in the Fall

> of 2004.

Ever see the insides of an MK219 or other Russian Oktava mics? "Hand-built in
Russia' is not a compliment.

Ty Ford



-- Ty Ford's equipment reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric
stuff are at www.tyford.com

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Ty Ford <tyreeford@comcast.net> wrote:
>On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:11:55 -0400, SSJVCmag wrote
>
>> Ken Heaton of Oktava USA wrote to point out a misleading advertisement from
>> Guitar Center . In its description of the ³MKL2500,² the copy claims the mic
>> is ³Hand-built in Russia.² This is almost certainly not true, as anyone
>> familiar with the controversy will tell you ‹ for the Russian mic
>> manufacturer severed its ties with the company selling these mics in the Fall
>
>> of 2004.
>
>Ever see the insides of an MK219 or other Russian Oktava mics? "Hand-built in
>Russia' is not a compliment.

I have seen the insides of an MK219 that was sold from the Tula factory,
and another one that was sold through a vendor who emphasized quantity
and price over quality, and they looked totally different in terms of
care spent in assembly.

According to the Tula guys, the demands for cheaper products and the
carelessness about quality are why they dropped McKay's distributorship.

Note that the Oktava guys at least know how to make good products, even
if they don't always do so. This is more than can be said for some other
vendors.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Dan Gellert wrote:
<snip here>
> The letter written as "C" in the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet is written
>
> as "K" in ours.

This is incorrect information. As a student of the Russian language, the Cyrillic "C" is an "s"
sound. Cyrillic "K" is "k" sound for us as well.

In English, "C" can have a "K" sound, but never, never in Russian.

--fletch

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <df6qq2$q2o$1@panix2.panix.com>,
kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

> Danny Taddei <palmtreedreamer@aol.com> wrote:
> >OK, the fakes are only since April of 2005. I bought mine years ago.
> >
> >One thing that I find strange is that I don't see any MC012's around
> >and that is what mine are badged. They appear to be the same thing as
> >my MK012's in every way. I didn't even realize there was a letter
> >change until after I had bought them.
> >
> >Any info on that?
>
> The Russian letter C is equivalent to the Roman letter K.
>
> The Romanized ones are sold through McKay, as well as other sources.
> McKay doesn't seem to have sold the original Cyrillic ones, but I am
> not sure about that.
> ---scott

It's been the better part of 2 decades since my last Russian class, but
I believe the Cyrillic C is the Roman S.

Whatever my 012s are, they work well for me, but I listened to 25 of
them at GC a couple years ago to choose my two.

Edwin
--
http://www.theetherealplane.com

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On 9/1/05 12:15 PM, in article Xns96C4C45F84D5AjPMmessage@192.89.123.233, "j
Pekka Mäkelä" <j.pekka.makela@yrttimaa.net> wrote:


> http://www.yrttimaa.net/muuta/kuvia/MK-219auki.jpg
>
> To my unexperienced eyes, that looks just like a bit old-fashioned. Not
> particularly bad, not particularly neat.

Wow! I haven;t seen anything like that since I pulled apart pocket Am radios
and walkie talkies in the 70's... Is that really a single lonely 3-legged
TRANSISTOR can there...!?

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On Thu, 01 Sep 2005 16:26:06 GMT, in rec.audio.pro SSJVCmag
<ten@nozirev.gamnocssj.com> wrote:

>On 9/1/05 12:15 PM, in article Xns96C4C45F84D5AjPMmessage@192.89.123.233, "j
>Pekka Mäkelä" <j.pekka.makela@yrttimaa.net> wrote:
>
>
>> http://www.yrttimaa.net/muuta/kuvia/MK-219auki.jpg
>>
>> To my unexperienced eyes, that looks just like a bit old-fashioned. Not
>> particularly bad, not particularly neat.
>
>Wow! I haven;t seen anything like that since I pulled apart pocket Am radios
>and walkie talkies in the 70's... Is that really a single lonely 3-legged
>TRANSISTOR can there...!?
Probably the FET, and it looks as if the gate is connected mid air,
because its extremely hi impedance at that point. Quite adequate
construction. KISS..........


martin

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

SSJVCmag <ten@nozirev.gamnocssj.com> wrote:
>Do you know if the product strained through the SOUND ROOM / Taylor Johnson
>shows better QC?

Yes, but to begin with, the Sound Room folks are buying from the factory
in Tula and they are getting good products to begin with rather than
the junk units that another distributor has mostly got.

After this, they are then providing additional matching and some degree
of QC. But the real deal here is that they are starting out with better
production to begin with.

Note that Taylor is no longer running the Sound Room, and he has sold
the business and moved to Argentina where he is involved with direct
microphone production for THE. But the folks who are running it are
good folks who also care aboout quality.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On 9/1/05 1:47 PM, in article df7eqn$kja$1@panix2.panix.com, "Scott Dorsey"
<kludge@panix.com> wrote:

> Note that Taylor is no longer running the Sound Room, and he has sold
> the business and moved to Argentina where he is involved with direct
> microphone production for THE. But the folks who are running it are
> good folks who also care aboout quality.
> --scott

Ahhh thanks for the correction...
Good that both SR and TJ are still Good Folks!


>

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

> There is also a drive transistor, but it's a plastic type that is
> lower-down on the board.

The 219 MP I just played with were a simpe "FET into Transfo" affair - no
other semiconductors in between.

You're not thinking about the MK012, are you?

JP

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On Thu, 1 Sep 2005 09:31:22 -0400, martin griffith wrote
(in article <bj0eh19c4phgin0iv4llde7sc0i78800fg@4ax.com> ):

> On Thu, 1 Sep 2005 08:49:58 -0400, in rec.audio.pro Ty Ford
> <tyreeford@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> snip
>
>> Ever see the insides of an MK219 or other Russian Oktava mics? "Hand-built
>> in
>> Russia' is not a compliment.
>>
>> Ty Ford
>>
>>
>>
>> -- Ty Ford's equipment reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric
>> stuff are at www.tyford.com
>
>
> any pictures?
>
>
> martin

Others have provided that.

The MK219 also suffered from a particularly nasty "boink" resonance. I
documented that when I reviewed it some years back. I lined the clamshell
body and parts of the headgrille with adhesive backed felt to damp the boink.


I have two MK219 that I have never used to record anything because I have
better choices. Hey, an AT4050 is a major step up on many different levels.

I am continually amazed at how many people become smitten by Oktava mics,
regardless or their manufacturing origin. They're OK for the price, but there
are a lot better mics out there for just a bit more.

Regards,

Ty Ford

-- Ty Ford's equipment reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric
stuff are at www.tyford.com