Neumann Berlin Km 53 Users Manual

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neumann.berlin

the microphone company

KM 53 – Miniature Microphone

The postwar years in Germany were shaped by reconstruc-

tion and new developments in every field. Progress was made

in virtually all aspects of studio technology, including radio

broadcasting. The introduction of frequency modulation dra-

matically improved the audio quality by expanding the trans-

mission 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 re-

placed by the vinyl record,

moving pictures came to rely

more and more on magnetic

recording technology for

sound, and finally a new me-

dium took hold on the scene:

Television. This placed addi-

tional 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 micro-

phones already fulfilled the needs of the evolving studio tech-

nology. Meeting high quality standards for this new medium

was easy to achieve but the size of the microphones present-

ed 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 want-

ed to see them as well! Neumann was thus faced with the

challenge of producing smaller microphones, which, while

maintaining their established technical parameters, could also

be integrated harmoniously into the television picture.

A practical solution was to

take one the smallest exist-

ing studio microphone cap-

sules and install it in the

smallest possible micro-

phone. The pressure capsule

that had been used so suc-

cessfully in the M 50 mi-

crophone (where it was in-

tegrated into a plastic

sphere) proved to be more

than a capable performer

when placed in a cylindri-

cal housing of 21 mm in

diameter. Thus a new om-

nidirectional microphone

made its world debut in

1953 as the KM 53, “KM”

standing for “Kleinmikro-

phon”, or “little micro-

phone”. The capsule, origi-

nally with a metal dia-

phragm, was more capable

of withstanding the intense

heat generated by the

bright stage lights of early

television than any synthet-

ic film based membranes.

For the standards of that

time, the miniaturization

was remarkable. A bro-

chure 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 mini-

ature microphone was the

already proven AC 701 k

from Telefunken.

The microphone’s acoustic

characteristics were de-

scribed at the time as fol-

lows: “Because of this miniature microphone’s tiny meas-

urements, 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.

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.