Millennia M-2B Stereo Tube Preamp, from Millennia

I have experience with this unit, both as someone who has sold them and received customer feedback, and someone who has used them in numerous recording situations, primarily on-location classical and jazz sessions. I?m not quite sure why these units don?t get a tremendous amount of love, other than the fact that they remain failry unknown, but they are really quite impressive.

I found that they add that subtle element of musicality and ?forgiveness? to what can sometimes be the unforgivingly truthful sound of a traditional Millennia HV-series mic pre. Like DPA mics, as good as they are, sometimes the truth that they reveal can be a little too much- it?s honestly probably why people often prefer Schoeps over DPA?s. However, what this unit does, while similar to the Schoeps/DPA comparison in terms of musicality, and ?forgiveness? is quite different. It really adds a gorgeous three-dimensional splash of tube texture in a very subtle and unimposing way, without the traditional sacrifices you have to pay when adding tubes to extremely delicate and detailed acoustic recordings. Every time I used it with a pair of small diaphragm condensers, I found that they benefited from the subtle, but unimposing warmth that the unit delivered. This is not a tube unit that has a very in-your-face coloration about it, but rather one that can add some real subtle, harmonic activity without a major sacrifice on the detail side of things.

If you are looking for something with it?s own more personalized tube character, and lots of tube warmth, but still retain excellent detail, think Fearn VT-2, or at less of a budget, perhaps the Anthony Demaria ADL600 (manufactured by Presonus). But if you are looking for primarily extreme millennia-like detail with only a mere splash of tube harmonics to warm things up, then this is a really nice choice.

I loved the way this unit interacted with both Schoeps CMC6/MK4?s and MK21?s and also with DPA 4011?s and 4006?s, but also with some large diaphragm microphones, that ordinarily I never would have thought could have worked on a location situation through a tube unit, because I would have anticipated the combination to be too muddy? loved the way the Neumann TLM193?s sounded through it?

All this being said, to this point, most of the people using (at least the ones we have sold them to and talked to about it), from my experience, are location guys, not studio guys. There?s no obvious reason for this, other than that?s the way it has been consumed- perhaps the fact that it?s a Millennia, and for a lot of location engineers, that?s where it starts and stops. Clearly, there?s a lot of good reason to put one of these in a serious studio environment as well- in fact, in a lot of ways, it makes more sense to own one of these than an HV3 for many studios, in my opinion, and yet I wouldn?t be surprised if the HV?s sell at a ratio of 100-channels-to-1 over the M2B. Hey, if any of you happen to be in the NC area (at least until it sells!) we?ve got one you can test at our facility- I'm pretty sure it will suprise you. -Todd

MINIMUM GAIN 14 dB MAXIMUM GAIN 50 dB FREQUENCY RESPONSE +0 / -3 dB 4 Hz to 130 kHz FREQUENCY RESPONSE, STEREO DEVIATION < .10 dB NOISE @ 50 dB Gain, 10 Hz - 30 kHz, 150 Ohm Source -116 dB EIN TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION + NOISE, 30 dB Gain, 10 Hz - 20 kHz, +0 dBu Out < .02% PHASE RESPONSE 35 dB Gain, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, +26 dBu Out <10 degrees deviation PHASE RESPONSE, STEREO DEVIATION 35 dB Gain, 20 Hz - 40 kHz, +27 dBu Out <1 degree deviation COMMON MODE REJECTION RATIO 30 dB Gain, 1 kHz, 100 mV C.M. Better than 60 dB SLEW RATE 30 dB Gain, +27 dBu Out >20 Volts per microsecond MAXIMUM INPUT LEVEL +20 dB Gain, 20 Hz - 40 kHz (no pad required) +20 dBu MAXIMUM OUTPUT LEVEL 14 - 50 dB Gain Range, 20 Hz - 40 kHz, Min 10k Ohm Load > +35 dBu STEREO (INTERCHANNEL) CROSSTALK 30 dB Gain, 1 kHz, +0 dBu Both Outputs Better than -70 dB INPUT IMPEDANCE, Phantom Input 3,800 Ohms INPUT IMPEDANCE, DPA (B&K) High Voltage Input 9,000 Ohms OUTPUT IMPEDANCE (transformerless vacuum tube) 120 ohms B&K POWERING +130 VDC, max, direct (non-phantom) powered PHANTOM POWERING +48 VDC, +/- 2 VDC POWER CONSUMPTION, MAXIMUM 50 Watts POWER REQUIREMENTS 100/120 - 200/240 VAC selectable, 50/60 Hz DIMENSIONS 19" W x 12" D x 3.5" H

The M-2b is a two channel, high voltage, transformerless, 100% Class A biased, all vacuum tube stereo microphone preamplifier unrivaled in delivering the essential nature of triode musicality. The advanced M-2b circuits employ differential topologies, ultra-high headroom, electrically correct transformerless coupling, high voltage rails, hand-selected componentry, unfailing attention to power and ground integrity, and much more. Why a vacuum tube mic preamplifier? All audio circuits, regardless of topology, whether tube or solid state, impart some coloration. In all topologies, Millennia seeks to minimize circuit-induced artifacts while retaining as much original sonic information as possible at the output. Nevertheless, even in these refined tube and solid-state topologies, there remain subtle sonic distinctions. If we were to subjectively characterize our vacuum tube topologies, some descriptions which come to mind include a heightened sense of ambience and "euphonic space," a subtle but enhanced musical "sweetness," and a particular quality of "intimacy" not normally associated with our solid-state designs. By contrast, one might say that Millennia's range of semiconductor products (HV-3, Mixing Suite, TT-FET paths, etc.) present a tactile, acoustically lifelike rendition of even the most difficult and complex spectra, exceptional dynamic stability, and superior objective performance in areas of THD, common mode rejection, noise, frequency response, and output drive capability. Alas, both Millennia design topologies (vacuum tube and solid state) offer incredible realism, yet each technique approaches accuracy from a different sonic direction. Vacuum tubes offer audio performance which semiconductors cannot. Semiconductors offer audio performance which vacuum tubes cannot. Both have a significant and complimentary role in professional audio. Millennia now makes available the finest in both worlds. Product Highlights TRANSFORMERLESS, FULLY CLASS-A, 350 VOLT TRIODE DESIGN >35 dBu OUTPUT HEADROOM OPTIONAL B & K (DPA) +130V MIC INPUTS GOLD AUDIO CONNECTORS, TUBE SOCKETS, AND RELAYS PRECISION POTENTIOMETERS, ULTRA-PREMIUM COMPONENTS. EFFORTLESS, LIFELIKE MUSICAL PERFORMANCE AT ALL DYNAMIC LEVELS BUILT FOR LIFE, COSMETICALLY APPEALING