Ronin Applied Sciences Launches Dove LDC FET Mic, Archangel Passive Gain Mic Preamp
“The combination of the Dove mic and Archangel preamp brings about a paradigm shift – a different and interesting reality.”—Joel Hamilton, in Tape Op
Ronin Applied Sciences, the Brooklyn sonic laboratory of the inspired designer Dimitri Wolfwood, has just introduced a pair of new products built to startle you, in a very good way. The newly launched Dove large diaphragm condenser FET microphone (MSRP: $2300), and the Archangel Passive Gain mic preamp ($1500) were born to make a serious statement – about dispelling conventional notions of signal flow…and also about how sound should sound.
The Dove has debuted.
(RAS is also debuting an enlightening new video series on audio, the R.P.M. (Ronin Progressive Meet) – check it out at article’s end.)
Equating phantom power with “complacency”, RAS created the Dove to be electrified a whole different way. Instead, this is a non-phantom powered, multi-stage FET microphone with standalone power supply. According to the company, it stands as the first commercial microphone with servo’d outputs, sporting a bipolar supply without the use of DC to DC converters or oscillators. As the only commercial microphone with low mass large diaphragms, RAS says it also displays the highest drive capability of any microphone in its class.
“Long story short, we don’t need phantom,” Wolfwood explains of the Dove. “This is a truly high fidelity design, and as per usual with Ronin Applied Sciences this design is not an ‘homage to’ or ‘inspired by’ anything. This does not allude to any past sonic family or microphone. No oscillators, no DC to DC converters, high headroom, high linearity, high drive, natural, and more importantly effortless, capture and presentation.
“All achieved by simply removing the constraints of a preconceived power supply…now we can make the circuit any-way and any-THING we want! New terms of design, new terms of fidelity.”
View this vid to get deeper inside Wolfwood’s mind.
Additional Dove features:
— No output coupling cap – transformer is direct coupled to the circuit.
— American-made, CK12-based capsule, with low mass diaphragms
— Lundahl output transformer 1:1
— All domestic body work, complete in-house design, original circuit design, handmade in Brooklyn
— Cardas interconnect
— +/- 18V rails with 40mA output stage and dedicated 60V capsule line
Archangel Passive Gain Pre-Amplifier
Debuting alongside of the Dove is the Archangel Passive Gain Pre-Amplifier. Bent on high performance and high fidelity, the Archangel’s unique design results in a circuit that RAS calls “practically noiseless.” According to the company, it stands as the only commercially available all passive gain preamp; the only commercially available transformer and tube preamp with no coupling caps; and the only commercially available preamp with autoformer output control.
A pre without precedent? The Archangel arrives.
Says Wolfwood in his inimitable fashion: “A unique, no-holds-barred approach to mic signal fidelity. Gain with active devices…not necessary. Passive gain. Accomplished with a series of step up transformers with buffers between. This method allows us to actually have LOWER IMD than THD — opposed to the usual 3X IMD to THD ratio that traditional active gain gives– it allows us to create a pre with incredible input headroom, thus there is no need for a pad either.
“The output level is controlled by a custom, high Nickel, balanced autoformer (imagine a transformer with a single, multi-tapped winding). This allows us to not degrade signal to noise as level is reduced, it allows the level control to not be between stages, nor be reliant on varying feedback — thus there is no “sweet spot” with our gain….true signal level sonic consistency! It also allows us to lower impedance as we lower level, thereby INCREASING drive with every step down!
“This is a new stance on purebred fidelity in which incredible measurements DO correlate with natural and easy sound. It is a holistic approach, systems thinking, and electronic freedom. We have had our times with the classics, and while they are indeed beautiful, there always comes a time for a new way…different thought = different sound.”
Additional Archangel features:
— All passive gain
— Autoformer output level control, high Nickel, balanced
— No coupling capacitors
— 6C45PI and 6H30 tube buffers
— +/- 50V rails and 36mA symmetrical output stage
— All domestic design and build
Ronin Progressive Meet — Video Series Premieres
Lastly, but not leastly, about that R.P.M. video series. Its debut episode features Studio G superstar engineer/producer Joel Hamilton.
“R.P.M. (Ronin Progressive Meet) is a monthly insight,” Wolfwood explains. “Those speaking are individuals that cherish individuality, purpose, personal freedom and so much love for the craft that it is elevated to art.
“This videos are effectively stream-of-consciousness monologues about the things that are meaningful to them in audio. This isn’t about specs, or brands…features or price, or even tech. This is about love, passion, dedication…and art — audio related things.”