Speck M72 console

[Michael Proctor]

Hi,
Malice mentioned you know something about the Speck electronics... I'm looking at a M72 console from the mid 90's... well maintained, 5 mic pre's, 48 full eq channels, 24 filter eq channels, 16 busses, $12K.

Any advice?

I'm wanting to upgrade my studio... and I'm not sure which way to spend my money best... a good analog console, or mic pre's and other outboard gear.

Thanks,
Michael

[malice]

This desk is a real nice one. The EQ are fine, the pre solid and pleasing, it's a real nice desk if you are serious about doing it the "analog way". I would put this desk in the "studer 90*like" category, with a very clean path and creamy sound.

However, I think you should try to keep in touch with our friend Fletcher from Mercenary audio (see the add in our sponsor section right of this forum)

I think he has a 40 frame (80 input) with more pres for about 7500$. I know that Fmetcher is very serious about servicing that kinda gear, and I would buy with confidence from him any time.

malice

[Michael Proctor]

the guys at Mercenary said they don't sell used consoles anymore...

I do have one question that is pretty fundamental... When someone says that I should get a board like this ONLY if it has transformers on all channels... do they mean mic pre's?

Mic pre's and transformers are not one and the same are they?

Thanks & sorry for my digital brain ignorance!

[Brendo]

theyre not one and the same.

[dwoz]

May as well start at the top....


A transformer is basically two coils of wire, wound together but electrically isolated, either wound around an iron core, or just wound around an open core.

Your guitar pickups are closely related to a transformer.

The transformer works on the principle of physics and electricity that a voltage across a coil of wire induces a magnetic field that is proportional to the voltage of the signal, and proportional to the number of windings in the coil, and conversely, when a magnetic field is fluctuating around a coil, it induces a voltage in that coil.

So, a typical transformer has a PRIMARY winding, and a SECONDARY winding, wound together. If you put a voltage on the primary, a proportional voltage "shows up" on the secondary, even though THERE IS NO ELECTRICAL CONNECTION between the two.

This is "useful".

Because of Ohm's law, and the second law of thermodynamics, there is an intimate connection between the voltages, impedances, and power in a transformer that is very easily modelled mathematically, which means that it becomes a useful tool to "do stuff" with electrical signals.

We use transformers to change a high voltage to a low voltage and vice versa...we use transformers to accomplish Isolation, because signal flows through it without an actual connection, and we use transformers to change a high-impedance load to a low, and vice versa.

because of the interesting ways that we can connect transformers, they're very useful for implementing a balanced line connection.

Because transformers have something called "hysteresis", they also impart some small(or significant) amount of "color" to a signal, and very often that coloration is of a pleasing, desirable nature.

So, it is very common to find transformers in mic pres, because we need just about ALL of those features somewhere in that circuit, however there are other ways to accomplish all that stuff without using a transformer, so it isn't strictly necessary to HAVE a transformer in a mic pre, although a lot of very good sounding pres HAVE used transformers.

Transformers are expensive to construct, there's a bit of art to it, so electronics designers often try to work out circuits that don't need 'em.

But it turns out that it isn't all that easy to design a circuit that does not use transformers, that sounds as good as one that does, although there are plenty out there that DO.

It is commonly thought that transformers, or "iron" are a significant part of what makes good analog sound good. The decision NOT to use them most commonly comes down to cost, and retail price-point.

dwoz

[nobby]

Great post by Dwoz. Up until this point, I thought that "hysteresis" was something that was treated with medication and outpatient care.