JOE WALLACE: We’re on the floor of AES 2006 with [PH] Dan Raven from Sennheiser. How are you?

DAN RAVEN: Thank you, Joe. I’m good.

JOE WALLACE: I wanted to ask you about the Neumann KM 184 D. Tell me a little bit about it.

DAN RAVEN: Well, the KM 180 D Series was basically designed to expand on Neumann’s patented analog-to-digital conversion technology that we first debuted a number of years ago in the Large Diaphragm Solution D or the D 01, and the D 01 was a very, very powerful microphone and had every bell and whistle that every engineer could ever ask for, and that technology was great but not available to everyone, and in Neumann’s ever expanding quest to bring digital technology and technology advancement to more people, they’ve taken the very popular KM 180 series and put the A-to-D conversion right behind the capsule in a digital microphone.

So, this is a small diaphragm microphone with a modular choice of capsule from omni, cardiod, or hypercardiod. These are the capsules from the KM 184, KM 185, and KM 183 which are very popular and probably the most popular microphones in the history of Neumann.

Instead of having an amplifier and output stage behind the capsule, it’s feeding directly into the A-to-D conversion, so that permits a much wider range of dynamics and much greater signal fidelity than any analog microphone ever has been able to produce. We’re offering the KMD in complete sets which include capsule, output stage, windscreen, clip, wood box, and a choice of either SPDIF or AES/EBU connection kit which sends this digital signal directly out to a digital output. Those kits retail -- pardon me -- street price at about $2,699 estimated, which brings the KMD series to quite a bit more people than the Original Solution D. We also offer them with the Original DMI interface, which has been updated to include newer software which permits you to control DSP functions, change the polar pattern, and any other audio parameters with a computer, a PC or a Mac.

JOE WALLACE: Now, for someone who’s never used one of these, the Series before, what is the application for this particular mic?

DAN RAVEN: Well, the applications are fairly limitless because we have a range of different capsules which permit different polar patterns. Any type of application where you need very high signal fidelity could be anything from outdoor recording, could be recording a band, could be broadcast. We’ve actually found the broadcast industry starting to get a little bit excited about these because of the fidelity of the signal and the ability to go directly digital all the way through the signal chain, and beyond that, anyone who’s interested in pushing the forefront of technological advancement would be interested in this type of product because in audio we love to get -- we love to push the boundaries of technological advancement.

JOE WALLACE: Now, for a band one of the concerns is sound pressure level. What can this microphone withstand?

DAN RAVEN: Well actually, digital microphones, because the analog-to-digital conversion is right behind the capsule, can handle a much wider range of dynamics than any analog microphone. So, it’s somewhat of a common misconception that you can actually blow up a modern condenser microphone. You really can’t. The rated max SPL level on a condenser microphone has to do with referencing total harmonic distortion. At Neumann, our max SPL levels referenced against 0.5% total harmonic distortion, so that max SPL level refers to where we hit 0.5% total harmonic distortion. But when the microphone is drive past that level, and I believe it’s 146 dB but don’t quote me on that. That’s where we start to see a little bit of distortion. The microphone will not explode in your hand. It will simply start to distort.

JOE WALLACE: All right. I’ve been talking with Dan Raven from Sennheiser. I’m Joe Wallace on the floor of AES 2006 for Gearwire.Com.