The Garnet

The Violet Design Garnet is an electrostatic vacuum tube microphone. Its vintage sound is warmed by vacuum tube circuitry and an output transformer. The Garnet uses a specially designed large dual-diaphragm transducer, which can be adjusted to nine different polar patterns. The Garnet's multi-layer brass mesh grille keeps frequency response and sound details clear while its massive body construction provides low mechanical noise and solid bass response. An external elastic suspension shockmount is included to protect the Garnet from stand rumble, subsonic vibrations, and external shocks. Its Class 'A' fully discrete internal vacuum tube preamplifier provides high output, low impedance and low distortion. The Garnet has a large humbucker, custom-wound audio transformer that balances the microphone's output, separating it from external interference and providing additional analog warmth to the sound. A soft starting, smart power supply is included.

The Garnet microphone is based on our original true electrostatic capsule and  vacuum tube electronics.The capsule diaphragms are made of the special, highest  quality, calibrated polymer film. Unique irregular sputtering with our special formula of  gold mixture gives them faster impulse transient response with minimized resonance,  sound coloration, high and low frequencies reduction, and possibility to handle higher  sound pressure levels. Using our original technology the diaphragms are tensioned  and  adjusted on our precisely made brass back-plates. At the end of the manufacturing  process every capsule is carefully checked for electrical parameters and measured in  an  anechoic chamber for optimum of audio performance. The acoustically transparent  multilayer mesh head's construction supports polar patterns, keeps sound  transparency  almost unaffected and minimizes head's internal resonances, the same  time reducing plosive sounds and wind noise, and shielding capsule from external  interference.

The Garnet microphone's internal preamplifier is based on class-A discrete vacuum  tube circuit designed under the highest audiophile standards. Carefully selected  vacuum  tube and the best quality components provide linear audio frequency range,  natural dynamics, minimum self noise and very low audio distortion of all types.

Massive  metal body stabilizes thermal regime of vacuum tube electronics. Tube is mounted on an internal damper to protect it from  mechanical resonances and acoustical feedback. Large size,  noise cancelling design custom wound audio transformer  provides even more warmth to the sound, and balances the output  circuit separating microphone from RF and other kind of  interference. Gold plated contact 7-pin XLR output connector  provides stable microphone connection. Microphone is powered  from an external soft starting PSU-5 smart power supply unit, providing stabilized and protected polarization, plate and heather voltages. Included special audiophile quality VTC-06 tube microphone cable with gold plated contact 7-pin XLR connectors must be used between microphone's output and power supply unit's input. Cable minimizes all types of internal and external interference, noise and signal loss.

The Garnet microphone's rugged construction with balanced internal dampers-shock mounts for the capsule, vacuum tube, and all electronics module, together with included orginal construction JSM elastic external studio shock mount effectively reduces stand rumble, infrasonic interference and mechanical shocks.Under the special request "The Garnet" microphones are available in matched stereo pairs to provide balanced recordings.

INCLUDED ACCESSORIES

JSM - elastic studio shock mount

PSU-5 - power supply unit

VTC-06 - tube microphone cable 6m

IEC - grounding mains cable

Specifications