Neumann Berlin Km 53 Users Manual

KM 53 to the manual cd473ba0-304f-40b4-9d34-ae2197366d4a

: Neumann-Berlin Neumann-Berlin-Km-53-Users-Manual-494469 neumann-berlin-km-53-users-manual-494469 neumann-berlin pdf

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neumann.berlin
the microphone company

KM 53 – Miniature Microphone
The postwar years in Germany were shaped by reconstruction and new developments in every field. Progress was made
in virtually all aspects of studio technology, including radio
broadcasting. The introduction of frequency modulation dramatically improved the audio quality by expanding the transmission bandwidth and largely eliminating system noise. This
new method allowed for the full audible range of sound to
be transmitted intact.
In recording technology the
shellac recording disk was replaced by the vinyl record,
moving pictures came to rely
more and more on magnetic
recording technology for
sound, and finally a new medium took hold on the scene:
Television. This placed additional demands on devices
which now not only served to
capture sound, but in doing so
inevitably also became visible.
Of course, we are referring to
the microphones.
With regards to the electro-acoustical data, Neumann microphones already fulfilled the needs of the evolving studio technology. Meeting high quality standards for this new medium
was easy to achieve but the size of the microphones presented new challenges: the face of a performer would virtually
disappear behind the bulk of an M 49 or U 47. The audience
no longer wanted to just hear the artists, they ultimately wanted to see them as well! Neumann was thus faced with the

A practical solution was to
take one the smallest existing studio microphone capsules and install it in the
smallest possible microphone. The pressure capsule
that had been used so successfully in the M 50 microphone (where it was integrated into a plastic
sphere) proved to be more
than a capable performer
when placed in a cylindrical housing of 21 mm in
diameter. Thus a new omnidirectional microphone
made its world debut in
1953 as the KM 53, “KM”
standing for “Kleinmikrophon”, or “little microphone”. The capsule, originally with a metal diaphragm, was more capable
of withstanding the intense
heat generated by the
bright stage lights of early
television than any synthetic film based membranes.
For the standards of that
time, the miniaturization
was remarkable. A brochure noted: “Despite the
dense concentration of
miniature components in
this microphone type, a
high degree of reliability is
achieved.” The tube chosen
for use in the KM 53 miniature microphone was the
already proven AC 701 k
from Telefunken.
The microphone’s acoustic
characteristics were described at the time as follows: “Because of this miniature microphone’s tiny measurements, the small increase in directivity associated with a
desired slight rise in the frequency curve occurs in a free
sound field only at high frequencies”. The phenomenon is
clearly illustrated in the diagrams.

challenge of producing smaller microphones, which, while
maintaining their established technical parameters, could also
be integrated harmoniously into the television picture.

The KM 53 laid the foundation for a successful line of small
diameter microphones whose characteristics will be examined
in the course of this series.



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