KMS 85

Common name: Neumann KMS 85

Production Status: Discontinued / Vintage

KM is the acronym for “kleinmikrophon” meaning “little microphone”. In 1953 Georg Neumann GmbH introduced the “KM” family with the KM 53. In 1971 the first “soloist” KM microphone was launched. The KMS85, available in nickel or dark matt finish, and with a choice of either large or small Tuchel or XLR-3 (“i” version) had great success in television broadcasting. The microphone shape is unusual and this unit is easily recognizable. The external body consists of a 26 mm diameter tubular handle with a 40 mm diameter cylindrical head grille mounted above. The head grille features three circular mesh patterns repeated every 90 degrees around it. This external assembly houses a nearly complete KM 85 microphone inside with a shock damper and anti-pop foam material inside the head grille. Although this microphone was developed for vocals, it was bought by several recording studios and used for vocals and instrument recordings. The microphone, manufactured from 1971 to 1985, had a certain touch sensitivity compared to moving coil soloist microphones and was prone to feedback problems in some P.A. applications (Larsen effect). As usually happens with foam materials, the anti-pop inside the head deteriorates so most surviving pieces today exhibit this problem. The ip version has a reduced output sensitivity of 0.3 mV/Pa and a maximum SPL of 144 dB.