ProAudio Review - October 2008 - (Page 64) LIVE | REVIEW by Richard Alan Salz including their Asian-made products). The D5 retails for $160 with a street price around $99; the C5 retails for $299 with a street price is around $200. Both microphones carry a two-year limited warranty and are made in Austria. | IN USE First up was the D5, and it was easy to see that this microphone is a winner. Compared to some industry standards, I found the handling noise to be lower and less obtrusive. The pattern seemed fairly tight, and the off axis sound was unobjectionable in character. The tonal balance reminded me a bit of the beyerdynamic M 88 TG; direct head to head comparison of the two microphones confirmed that impression (the beyerdynamic microphone, by the way, is a much more costly product). The output level of the D5 was slightly hotter than the M 88 TG as well. The D5 also stood up rather nicely to an Audix OM3 and the venerable Shure SM58. Next out of the box was the C5, which was markedly different in terms of its sonics. While the D5 was what I would describe as balanced and slightly warm sounding, the C5 was bright and present. It didn't have the overly sibilant character of the Shure KSM9, but it did have the same sort of up-front presentation of the Shure microphone. To my taste though, the C5 was still a little bit on the edgy side. That's where the PB1000 presence booster comes into play; as aforementioned, the PB1000 introduces a not-insubstantial bump in the response of the C5. Removing the PB1000 is as simple as unscrewing the grille, and (gently) pulling the booster off of the C5's capsule. Once the PB1000 was off of the C5, it became a much more balanced and pleasing sounding microphone, at least to my ears. (That said, certain voices will no doubt benefit from its use, so don't toss it away just yet.) In the words of Buster Poindexter, the output from the C5 was “Hot! Hot! Hot!” Handling noise was certainly reasonable, and the off axis sound (especially) with the PB1000 removed was fairly transparent sounding. I tried out the C5 and the D5 at a large wedding gig during soundcheck (and then later during the performance). On a male vocalist (who had a slightly-edgy voice) the AKG C5 sounded good, though I preferred the D5’s more mellow tonal balance. The band (and I) both felt that the D5 AKG continues on page 66 ® AKG C5 and D5 Handheld Microphones The first thing that came into my mind when I unzipped this AKG microphone case — one that contained the C5 (condenser) and D5 (dynamic) microphones — was the phrase, “two peas in a pod.” Why? Simply put, the C5 and D5 microphones share the same zinc-alloy body and appear to be completely identical. One has to look closely to notice that the C5 microphone has the word “condenser” printed around the silver band that encircles the grille. Interestingly though, these microphones sound radically different from each other. That's not altogether surprising as the diaphragms in each microphone are different sizes, different topologies, located different distances from the top of the grille, have different foam inserts in their grilles, and differ electronically. Even so, I did expect a little more “family resemblance” based upon their identical appearance. | FEATURES The C5 cardioid electret condenser microphone weighs in at 12.2 ounces and is finished in a non-reflective matte grayish blue (honest, that's what AKG calls it). It feels good in hand, having a natural contour towards the grille that allows the thumb to rest comfortably. The paint is of the conventional type; no rubberized finishes here. The C5 microphone includes a removable presence-boosting attachment, which clips on to the capsule (featuring a 1/2-inch diameter gold plated diaphragm) called the PB1000. This attachment alters acoustic response by physically covering the microphone's diaphragm. It is easily removable, which is a good thing, in my opinion. The C5 microphone is specified to operate between 65Hz and 20kHz. AKG provides measurements both with and without the PB1000 installed. The response with the PB1000 starts to deviate from the raw microphone at about 4kHz; the PB1000 enhanced microphone is up around 2dB from about 5kHz to 10kHz. Selfnoise is rated at 25dBA — a little high, although in actual use it’s unlikely to be objectionable. Max SPL is 140dB. The D5 features a one-inch varimotion diaphragm with a neodymium magnet structure which features variable diaphragm thickness tapering from 40 microns in the center to 20 microns at the edge. Its self-noise is rated at 18dB; its frequency response is specified as ranging from 70Hz to 20kHz. The frequency chart is nowhere near flat, but that's fine since this is a handheld live performance vocal microphone. Max SPL for the D5 is 147dB. There is also a version available with an on/off switch called the D5s for applications where that is desired. Both microphones come packaged in a nice velour-ish padded bag and include the excellent SA61 microphone clip; I suspect the SA61 had more time spent on its engineering than some microphones. Similarly, both microphones feel very well made, as has been typical for recent AKG offerings (even APPLICATIONS Live Sound KEY FEATURES Varimotion diaphragm (D5), SA61 microphone clip, Rugged build quality. PRICE $299 (C5) $160 (D5) CONTACT Acoustics, U.S. | ¤ 818-920-3212 · www.akg.com/us 64 | ProAudio Review | October 2008 www.proaudioreview.com http://www.akg.com/us http://www.proaudioreview.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.