Sennheiser 441 - U unable to handle high SPL

[blackjono2000]

Hi All, 

Jonathan here, brand new to this group.

I am just wondering if anyone here has experience with repairing the 441 u, I have a clip here and I am trying to determine if  this a replacement capsule required. Which is so expensive by the time it's been repaired I could buy a new EV RE-20.

The noise is very distinctive,  it's like a collapsing snarly sound on electric guitar, and on vocals it just sounds like a $15 mic.

Here's the link, please excuse the faux surf guitar.  https://soundcloud.com/jonathan-black-373057281

11 seconds in is the first snarl. I've checked on multiple amps etc, its definitely the mic.

Cheers,

 

[blackjono2000]

Also,

There seems to be a lot of these damaged on the 2nd hand market, maybe someone can shed some light on the main cause, for example dropping on the floor, moisture, or excessive spl from brass?  You don't hear of as  many "bad" SM7 B floating around.

 

[Bill Wilson]

This mike is easily damaged by a teip to the floor, unexpectedly. Likely not worth the repair. The 221 is a bit more rugged.

 

[panman]

How old is your mic? It is likely, that the windscreen-foam inside the capsule assembly has detreriorated and is all over the place  and is cousing the problem.  Not necessarily a big thing, but the diaphragm needs to be cleaned(carefully with isopropanol) and the windscreen needs to be replaced or at least the foam.  A few years ago(ok, maybe more, cannot remember when) those parts were still obtainable from Sennheiser, but I don`t know about it now.

 

[blackjono2000]

I'm not sure on the year, Sennheiser said they couldn't find out. The serial number is  82205.

And it looks so so very unused, like a couple of years old, not dents or marks, which is why it's really weird. I will have a look at the insides and try and clean out, the top half of the mic looks very hard to open up all the same.

 

[blackjono2000]

Ok thanks a million for your advice,

I opened it up and the foam in front of the capsule had gone really bad and sticky, I carefully removed all of it. It may need replacing but for now, it's sounds amazing, the high end is back and extremely nice mids/low mids. It's night and day. I listened to recording I did recently where I put up the 441 and had to abandon. The difference by just cleaning it out is a thrill.

I will be testing for high SPL very soon, but i have a good feeling Sennheiser won't be getting 400 euro from me.

Buzzing!!! what a mic, I way prefer it to the SM7b, which is great but more mid forward in comparison.