It works OK but because of its very low output and noise level, its better with a loud sound source. No good as a spot mic within the orchestra as it has out of phase lobes, being Blumlein, and not good for large sources, due to limited angle of view, again Blumlein.

So it works well for loud solo piano, and say a small brass ensemble, good for close vocal solo out the front etc etc.

I was disappointed in ours for string chamber music due to the noise level so I bought the SF24, on spec. Not much different in noise but much less gain required.

Still, one of my favourite recordings from 2 years ago, was the great Quatuor Mosaiques playing Haydn and Beethoven, done with a single SF12, AES analog cable to ceiling GoldChannel then AES digital cable down back of stage to the Nagra. This recording has air, detail, a beautiful solid convincing stereo image and of course the best playing imaginable. Shame I can't post a demo of it for you. :(

Gunnar
If you go to the Royer website you can hear some recordings made with it. There's an excerpt from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet which is rather nice, as well as a few others.

John

I believe Rich Mays (aka Sonare) uses an SF-12 quite a bit in his work. I use the SF-24 here a lot as well. I personally have used both and prefer the sound of the SF-24 a bit more as it seems to have a bit more "body" to the sound (don't know how else to describe it). I just used the Royer SF-24 as my main pair for a big choral CD I recorded...

--Ben

As Ben mentioned I do use the SF12 often because lately I have been doing many choral projects, and nothing I have ever found comes close to it for capturing the resonance and clarity without the "crunch."

This is with the Precision 8. With Millennia it is great for brass and in the right hall is good for other instruments. The transient response is quite good with the Millennias but too zippy for good choral sound (IMO).

I do not often find the out-of-phase side areas a problem. In fact, recently in a choral session in a seminary chapel the organ was 90 degrees to the right of the choir. The rejection of that quadrant allowed me to "steer" the organ to the middle with the pair I had out in front of it.

If I could only take one mic (or pair) to a desert island (with AC power of course) it would be in the running, but only if I could take 2 different mic pres. The smoothness and holographic imaging are hard to resist!

And it is nice to have for jazz drumkit and occasional guitar amp!

Rich

Great thank you for your input. I will have to think a bit about it, seems I will need to upgrade my preamp as well, which might be a good thing to do anyway. Choral music is something I have touched on and will probably do a bit more of.

Gunnar