You may want to try a pressure buildup ring as used on the MKH-20 instead of
the sphere.... at least their chart suggests about the same effect as
switching them to diffuse response....

Rgds:
Eric

"Rob Reedijk" wrote in message
...
David Satz wrote:
Rob Reedijk wrote:

I have a set of KM131s. And they sound very nice, except I always
found
them a bit too dark for stereo pair recording.

That's understandable with a larger ensemble, given the miking distances
that typically have to be used in order to get a good overall balance
with just the two microphones. At those distances a fair proportion of
the sound energy striking the microphones has bounced off of various
room
surfaces already, and has undergone high-frequency absorption as a
result.

Try them some time on a small ensemble such as a woodwind quintet--you
may be pleasantly surprised, especially if you place them relatively
close to the players. They are designed for use where the predominant
sound energy reaching them is direct.

(I'm saying this all by analogy with my Schoeps MK 2 capsules, which
have
similar frequency response; musicians often respond quite positively to
recordings made with them. The results may not always sound
"commercial"
in today's terms, but that's a good thing, of course ...)

Thanks David,

Actually, while I have never used them on a large group, I have used them
extensively with small groups---loads and loads of solo piano recordings
and a number of duos and trios including string players, woodwinds and
brass.

The midrange and low-end actually always sound fabulous. But they are
lacking in the top-end.

As I posted earlier, Doug Walker tested them. And he was surprised by
the top-end roll-off. The fact that they are matched this way makes
me wonder if there was a generation of KM131s which were made this way.

I would be happy to send you the frequency response graphs if you want.

I know that he sent them to Neumann to ask for an explanation, but they
never replied.

Rob R.