M 150 Tube

4990 €

Common name: Neumann M 150

Production Status: In production

The M 150 Tube is a modern microphone inspired by the original M 50 employing a very small diaphragm mounted in a sound diffraction sphere. In 1951 the M 50 inherited the M 49 shape and basic circuit. Today the M 150 Tube features the same housing assembly with large mesh head grille, sub-miniature tube impedance converter and high-precision, ultra-low distortion transformer-less output stage found in the M 149 Tube. The pressure transducer is flush installed, as for the M 50’s and TLM 50, in a 40 mm diameter sound diffraction sphere. The capsule is a new version of the 12 mm element used for the TLM 50 microphone (K 33), employing titanium made diaphragm instead of nickel, named K 33 Ti. The back fixed electrode is titanium made too. This transducer was also used in the TLM 50 microphone starting from 2001. The small diaphragm pressure microphones with sphere flush mounted transducer are all engineered and aimed at orchestra recording. Although they are often used in “Decca Tree” configuration, with or without out-riggers microphones, they can also be used in A-B center-fill technique, as M50s were used in some of Rca Victor’s Living Stereo productions. The transducer has a very smooth response up to the frequency in which the wave length becomes comparable with the sphere diameter, then, for higher frequencies with smaller wave lengths, the frequency response is boosted. For a 40 mm sphere this limit is around 1 kHz, then the frequency response rises gradually with an overall +6 dB boost in the 8000-16000 Hz range. The polar response is at the same time omnidirectional for lower frequencies and directional for higher ones. The transducer practically works like a pressure one for low ends and like a pressure gradient for higher frequencies. These features make the microphone a perfect choice for high distance environmental orchestra recordings, as high frequencies are more prone to long distance attenuation than low frequencies. The M 150 Tube transformer-less output stage is very quiet (15 dB-A self noise) and very long cables up to 300 m can be used without sound degradation. This output stage can load and and drive any kind of microphone preamplifier without overloads. The microphone has a -10 dB output electronic attenuator in addition to a 40 Hz rumble filter. In the “LIN” position the rumble filter is not completely excluded but shifted down to 16 Hz to protect the microphone preamplifier and the audio chain from subsonic overload, having the transducer and the microphone amplifier a virtually unlimited low frequency response. The sensitivity is quite high at 20 mV/Pa,  9 dB higher than the M 50. The microphone can only be powered by a genuine Neumann PSU (N 149 A). Upon release a special PSU version, named N 149 V with vintage shape an looks was available as an option. The M 150 Tube is only available in nickel finish.

Electrical Characteristics

Frequency Response
20Hz - 20 kHz
Output Sensitivity
20 mV/Pa
Max SPL
114
Max SPL, THD:
0.5
Self Noise (CCIR)
28 dB
Self Noise (DIN/IEC)
15 dB-A
Output Impedance
50Ω
Recommended Load
1kΩ
Powering
Proprietary unit
Supply Current
mA
Alternative Powering
Tube Model
EC 1000

Switchable Options

Pad
Filter/EQ

Physical Characteristics

Connector
XLR-3M
Connector notes
Available Colours
Weight
800 g
Length
165 mm
Min diameter width
Max diameter
78 mm
Depth

Accessories

Included
Power supply. Microphone cable. Shock mount and carrying case.
Optional