It does, indeed, sound like it's time for a new ribbon. The 77DX should be able to handle any
SPL that an M160 can. As for the spec, RCA did not give a max SPL spec for any of their ribbon
mics, but I would estimate it is in the region of 120dB or so.

--
Stephen Sank, Owner & Ribbon Mic Restorer
Talking Dog Transducer Company
http://stephensank.com
5517 Carmelita Drive N.E.
Albuquerque, New Mexico [87111]
505-332-0336
Auth. Nakamichi & McIntosh servicer
Payments preferred through Paypal.com
"hank alrich" wrote in message
. ..
Ty Ford wrote:

I think the culprit was my new mic cabinet. Shelves are too close together
for the 77DX to stand up. It's been lying on its side for 8 months. I'm going
to experiment with lying it on its other side.

From this we learn that those warnings about how to store a ribbon mic MAY
WELL BE TRUE.

I think you might just have excess gravity up there.

--
ha