Samar Audio AL95 Ribbon Mic + AL Active Bundle Matched Pair  From Samar

AL95

We are pleased to announce our newest Samar AL95 figure 8 passive ribbon microphone. Years of perfecting ribbon transducers, and experience in machining and making them exclusively in house have allowed Samar Audio to create a microphone of ultimate performance for a price that is unheard for a completely US made microphone. This makes it perfect solution for home studios, artists, and engineers with budget restrictions, as well as professional engineers, whose goal is making the highest quality recordings. Specifically designed for very smooth, extended frequency response, and low distortions, it is handcrafted and meticulously assembled at the company’s Salt Lake City based shop.

This design was conceived and realized by the company’s founder, Dr. Mark Fouxman. The efficiency of the construction, such as its uni-body design, unique and innovative motor structure and parts utilization, makes for a microphone consisting of very few parts, which is the main factor for such a drastic price drop. However, do not let its budget price give you the wrong impression—this is a high end, no-compromise microphone, which will provide the highest possible level of performance and years of dependability.

At the heart of the microphone is a ‘piston’ corrugated ribbon. Compared to the regular ‘zig-zag’ corrugation, it offers lower noise, deeper, fuller, and more controlled bass response, higher output, lower resonance modes, and very high SPL handling. All those advantages are due to the ribbon motion, which is similar to that of speaker cones. A very important feature of the ribbon is its robust construction and therefore, much lower fragility than conventional ribbon microphones. Due to this, they do not require any special precautions for storage.

The ribbon motor is coupled to an in-house made amorthous-core torroidal transformer, which started its lineage from Samar’s flagship MF65. The transformer ratio and other parameters were specifically matched for this microphone. This optimization has resulted in very low distortion, noise, and neutral sonics.

Due to its modern design and linearity, the AL95 has a very wide range of applications, especially where a deep bass response and extended top are of importance. Also, its symmetrical design makes it perfect suited for M-S and Blumlein applications.

The Samar Audio AL95 comes in an injection-molded, US made carrying case with anti-vibration, shock-proof clip. It features a 1-year part and ribbon replacement warranty (limited to two services), and 15-day satisfaction guarantee.

AL Active

The AL Active in-line 48V phantom powered preamp is the perfect solution for studios, artists, and engineers whose goal is to make the highest quality recording where sound purity and clarity is essential. It helps customers see more gain, less distortion, and lower noise from virtually any ribbon or dynamic microphone including Samar Audio Design passive ribbons like the high end MF65, VL37, and AL95.

The circuit is based on Samar Audio Design founder Dr. Mark Fouxman’s schematics, which were originally developed for the company’s highly regarded flagship active microphones the MF65A and VL37A. The philosophy “life is in iron” finds itself here the purest way—all gain is achieved by the same high-end signature toroidal transformer used in every Samar Audio ribbon microphone.

Unlike any solid state-based microphone boosting devices, all the gain stage in the AL Active is in the transformer itself, which doesn’t add ANY noise. A sonically transparent and neutral buffer follows the transformer so the signal gets decoupled from the cable and preamp input. The sound passes through the entire signal chain maintaining its original 3D qualities and clarity with no sonic interference. Having an optimal load impedance of 10kOhm, passive microphones like to see for the most open and natural sonics.

Competing devices are built using standard enclosures and are to be used with an extra cable between the microphone and device. This negatively loads a passive microphone, multiplied by the length of the cable, or distance from the microphone to the device. In contrast, because Samar Audio Design makes everything in house, the AL Active's body is custom crafted on state of art CNC machinery and can be plugged directly into the microphone’s XLR connector, bypassing any need for extra cable. With this approach the cable resistance, capacitance, inductance, and all other electronic impurities affecting the sound in an unpredictable way are no longer an issue. The AL Active becomes a physical continuation of the microphone itself making the entire setup effective, sonically transparent, natural, pure, and easy.