HISTORY:
Way way back in time we used to play around with 'old' mic's in the studio, it's what our sound engineer called "fun time"!
Once upon a time we had a lot of interesting, weird and some bizzare microphones from all over the world and they have all found new studios to "live in" (for Lo Fi work) but today I came across this poor old Realistic sitting in a dark corner of the storeroom, very lonely and sad ....
Now Realistic is a name that certainly DOESN'T jump to mind for "studio quality" mics but many old microphones can be very surprising in their performance or flexibility - think outside the 'box'
Realistic was the product range from Radio Shack USA but they were only marketers (not designers) of their products, with most of the original Realistic audio product range being sourced from Japan and then rebadged.
Back in the 1970's Radio Shack commissioned companies to manufacture and badge as 'Realistic' - it is extremely likely that this 992 was designed by Shure - they did a lot of design work for Radio Shack but the manufacture was in Japan.
REALISTIC - Dynamic Microphone
Model: 33-992
Mid 1970's vintage - this microphone is showing in the 1977 Radio Shack catalogue page 34 - YES! I still have those catalogues (OMG!)
Frequency response is stated as being 80Hz - 12Khz *** See my notes in the testing section about this.
Super Cardioid pattern
Dual impedance outputs: 600 ohm & 50K Ohm
Metal barrel and head
4 pin male output - NOT 3 PIN OR XLR!
Dimensions: 183mm long x 48mm diameter head
200g weight
Original box
Original microphone stand clip
NOT INCLUDED:
NO Original lead - we changed things to suit our sound engineer because this was one of "his" experimental mics. See my notes below about this ...
The new owner needs to have a 4 pin female connector (easily available) and wire it up according to their needs ...
NO User instructions
SPECIAL NOTES (Flexibility Plus!)
This microphone has two impedance outputs (Lo Z 600 Ohm & Hi Z 50K Ohm) which are each available at the 4 pin output socket - nice!
One of the photographs is the internal wiring diagram for this microphone ... it is of interest that you can lift the audio output 'above' ground and achieve a balanced Hi or Lo Z audio signal OR tie one side to signal ground (Pin 4) for an unbalanced output.
Also keep in mind that the barrel of the microphone can be grounded via one pin at the socket (see the diagram) but the head would not be 'grounded' - between the metal barrel body and the metal screen covering the element is plastic of the capsule, meaning there is no continuity between the barrel and the head.
The side mounted ON-OFF slide switch acts as a pad across the capsule, in fact when activated it slams a short across the capsule.
I have included a 'snapshot' of the microphone internal wiring taken from the original User Manual we had on file. Keep in mind that the view of the 4 pin plug is at the connector in the diagram, if you are looking at the male pins of the microphone then reverse everything (the microphone base plug is not very well marked with the pin numbers)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Very good to excellent - no physical damage EXCEPT the head mesh is a bit misshapen! Its not terrible but the engineer must have given it a decent knock sometime in the past because that screen is no lightweight metal!
The barrel and head are solid metal, not one of those 'el-cheapo' pseudo-metal plastic bodies!
TESTING:
According to our previous sound engineer, not too bad a mic but useful only for specific purposes. He found the frequency response actually was "usable" below 80Hz, even down to 30Hz but he did notice a dip in the frequency response mid range so not so hot on vocal work but as a mic for percussion he thought it wasn't too bad at all.
Since we closed our audio post production facilities (my ears are shot and I need a break!), this microphone has been sitting in the storage room(s) keeping company with some lovely old ribbons, shaver mics and wonderful old RCA's but now this Realistic dynamic is ever so lonely as it's 'mates' have all left 'home' for new adventures ...
I knew it was working fine but yesterday I rechecked the microphone, plugging it in a mixer I happened to have around (don't we all have mixers just 'lying around' - that's what mixers do!) I checked BOTH Hi & Lo Z outputs - all good, no issues at all. The output level from the High Z output is considerably lower than that from the Low Z output, this is normal. Nice clean audio from both outputs.
This is NOT going to rank up there with a good Shure mic for sure but it is a "fun" mic to have around if only because of the flexibility available with the output configuration.
Now that I have told my story and taken some pictures, I have now sealed up the whole unit in a clear, sealed plastic package (help, help I can't breathe the microphone was heard calling ...) awaiting a 'new life' at someone else's studio.
