These days your best bet is to buy Schoeps capsules and use third party active setups. They’re smaller cheaper and simpler than the kc5> cmc6 option.

Nick of nbox fame sells a knockoff of the now discontinued kcy cable for ~$600. Then you buy a pair of Naiant pfa adapters to allow the 48v phantom to power your capsules. Select a kcy extension cable as needed from nick or one of the many community cable makers.

Feel free to dm me, I’ll be happy to work this through for you.

If I were putting together a 2 channel rig today I’d buy mk22> Nbob kcy> naiant pfa> mixpre3 ii

That should be doable for ~$2500 and would stand up to the most expensive rig in the section.

I also highly recommend a rycote shock mount and the srs 3D printed mounts available through shapeways.

@BradleyJY15 said:

I should probably move this conversation over to taperssection, but since I already have a captive and knowledgeable audience here, I will continue.

I am still listening to different Shoeps capsules. I think I have moved away from the 21 and towards the 22. The 4 is still somewhat in the mix as well. I am listening to various sources on various stereos.

Beyond capsules, I am in need of a completely new rig with the only exception of a stand that I have. Old mics (Coresound High-End Binaural with DPA 4061s), Pre-Amp (Denecke AD-20), and DAT recorder (Sony PCM-M1) - all from ~ 2000-2001 - will no longer be used (built as a stealth rig).

I am currently planning to get the Sound Devices MixPre-6II for a recording device.

And I will get some Shoeps capsules.

I get confused on what all I need between. I originally planned to get a set so that I would have 2 caps, 2 CMC 6 amplifiers, 2 clamps, and 2 windscreens. But as I learn more, many tapers are using active cables so that the CMC 6 can be stored in bag and not attached to capsule on the stand. And with the active cables, there are 2 major options: 2 cables or a Y. With 2 cables, I can use the KC5 or 10 between the cap and the amp. I am confused on the KCY. Does that require a different amp (VST 62 IU or VMS 5 U – neither available anymore)?

My really dumb question is do I need anything else in between? Can I go caps->active cable->cmc6->SD Mix Pre6II? Or do I need something else in there? And do you really plug the CMC6 directly into the recorder? That seems bulky. I am not sure why I would need the active cables. The CMC6 could go with the caps on the stand and then run regular cables down to the recorder? I am still unsure of phantom power…is that provided by the SD MixPre-6?

Lots of questions. And more to come. Thanks again for all the input.