KM 73

Common name: Neumann KM 73

Production Status: Discontinued / Vintage

KM is the acronym for “kleinmikrophon” meaning “little microphone”. Georg Neumann GmbH  first introduced this type of microphone in 1953 with the KM 53. The KM 73 belongs to the “fet 70” series, the first transistorized microphones family manufactured by Neumann. The microphone preamplifier circuit was designed around the newly developed FET (field effect transistor), that had the very high input impedance required for condenser capsule coupling. It used the same high quality KK 63 pressure (omnidirectional) capsule fitted to the KM 63 microphone. At the time a new low voltage microphone standard was defined (DIN 45 595 today known as DIN IEC 268 15). The low consumption microphone is powered via a 12 V DC wire feed, also known as A-B, T- powering or modulation lead powering. This kind of power doesn’t require separate wires from the audio output ones. The KM 73 is a transformer-less microphone. The KM 73 was manufactured from 1966 to 1970.