RE-10 question

[drichard]

Hi all,

I recently picked up a used EV RE-10 mic. It's a little scuffed up,
but I got it quite cheap, so I'm happy with the purchase. But it no
longer has the plastic grill that fits into a slot on the top of the
microphone.

So I'm curious - what purpose does the plastic grill piece fulfill?
Does not having it change the sound?

Thanks,

Dean

[Richard Crowley]

drichard wrote:
> I recently picked up a used EV RE-10 mic. It's a little scuffed up,
> but I got it quite cheap, so I'm happy with the purchase. But it no
> longer has the plastic grill that fits into a slot on the top of the
> microphone.
>
> So I'm curious - what purpose does the plastic grill piece fulfill?
> Does not having it change the sound?

The grille was a cosmetic cover for the acoustic openings that
are required for the variable-D directional scheme to operate.
Should also be a piece of acoustically-transparent fabric in
that slot where the grille is missing (glued to the metal, under
where the grille would be.) I don't think the plastic grille was
intended to make any significant acoustic contribution.

You know that Bosch (EV's current corporate owners) may
have replacement grilles available. Wouldn't hurt to ask. IIRC
that same grille was used on several different models, RE10,
RE11, RE15, RE16, etc.

I've got a couple of 635As with most of the paint flaked off.
Looks like a bad manufacturing defect, because most EV
mics with that beige flat finish hold up much better.