CMT 42

Common name: Schoeps CMT 42

Production Status: Discontinued / Vintage

The CMT 42 is a small diaphragm condenser microphone first produced in 1965. It features a single diaphragm omnidirectional capsule. The capsule diaphragm is no longer made of metal but of specially manufactured Mylar for better long-term reliability. These new microphones employ high-quality FET for the first time instead of the previous RF (Radio-Frequency) technology for better linearity and performance. The capsule is fixed via three miniature screws and the contacts as well as the mounts are not compatible with the later Colette series although polarisation voltage (60 V) and performance are similar. It uses a DC-DC amplifier to obtain polarisation voltage for the capsule as well as powering the FET and the transformer-less transistorised output circuit. The microphone is 12 V parallel T-Powered (Tonader). The corresponding Schoeps power supply unit is the NT 41. The microphone has either a 3-pin small Tuchel (D) or XLR-3 M (U) connector. The CMT 3, 4 and 5 series remained in production until the nineteen-eighties.