CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
2
TIPS and TECHNIQUES
3
SPECIFICATIONS
5
WARRANTY
6
INTRODUCTION
Thank You for purchasing the Langevin CR-3A. This microphone has an interesting evolu-
tion story. It was originally built in China for "ASC" until Manley purchased the rights to it
when ASC quit the microphone business. Manley was impressed by a few of the mics but
was not satisfied with the consistency. This required a visit to China to tighten quality
control for both capsule and circuit boards. The solution was a combination of efforts with
some critical parts supplied by Manley. A few of the early batches were finished in a black
paint finish with either a VTL or a red Langevin logo- You may see some of these around.
Later batches returned to the clear silver look. The final evolution was for Manley Labs to
design and build new circuit boards and have all the parts placement and final construction
take place in the Manley factory in California. Truly an international effort now. By the way,
testing and repairs have always been done by Manley employees. This international coopera-
tion has resulted in a good general purpose mic at an affordable price. The CR-3A usually
wins compared to European mics selling for four times the price. Some major producers
have several CR-3As for vocals and guitars and find it to be a fine general purpose mic in
any studio. Enjoy.
The Langevin CR-3A is a FET Condensor mic that features a large diaphragm capsule. The
capsule itself is 1.25 inches overall with a diaphram surface of 1 inch. The membrane is 6
microns thick polyester film which supports a thin layer of gold. Besides quality materials, a
large part in the art of capsule design is the tension to which the film is stretched over the
precision machined brass ring. The art is the correct amount of tension and doing it in a way
that insures the film stays that exact tightness for many years. Some people can play piano
and some can make mic capsules - its technique, practice and special fingers. The capsule
needs electronics to make it a usable microphone. The only choices are tubes or FETS. The
CR-3A uses a FET input with a bipolar output stage. The electronics require power - 48
volts phantom power is supplied from most consoles and mic preamps right along the mic
cable. All you need to do is make sure it is on. For you tech heads out there - the circuit has
two 1KM resistors in it. Thats 1,000,000,000 ohms or 1 gig-ohm. We joke about replacing it
with a chunk of plastic. Not likely to find these kind of parts in most repair shops.
