Recording - April 2015 - 56

B Y PA U L V N U K J R .

Soyuz

SU-017 Tube Microphone

From the heartland of Russia comes a classy new mic
The SU-017 is a brand new microphone
by Russian mic manufacturer Soyuz, whose
products are distributed here in the States by
MV Pro Audio. The word "Soyuz" (written in
Cyrillic letters on the mic's badge) means
"Union;" it was the first word in the full
Russian name for the Soviet Union.
Nowadays the most common use of the
word in the USA is in reference to the Soyuz
spacecraft, which dates back to the 1960s
and is still in use today for missions that service
the International Space Station, including a
role as a highly reliable emergency escape
vehicle. The Soyuz is, according to Wikipedia,
"widely considered the world's safest, most
cost-effective human spaceflight system." Oldschool technology built with care, doing solid
service over the course of many decades.
That's not a bad analogy for Soyuz mics,
which are built with top-notch quality and oldschool building techniques reminiscent of the
golden age of mic design.
The Soyuz headquarters and factory is
located in the city of Tula, which has a long
history in manufacturing craftsmanship. Tula is
most famous for its metalwork, which is quite
evident in these microphones. Each mic is
made in Tula by hand with locally sourced
parts and materials, with the exception of the
tubes, which are sourced from a Russian military facility.
There are currently two models in the
Soyuz line: the SU-011 small-diaphragm
FET-based pencil condenser, and the SU017 large-diaphragm tube condenser mic
under review today.
The SU-017
The SU-017 is a large-diaphragm tube
microphone that stylistically would be considered a "bottle" mic with a removable, allbrass lollipop style capsule. The included capsule features a cardioid pattern and is a dualbackplate design, inspired by the Neumann K
67, that uses two 34mm membranes, one of
which is gold-sputtered. Soyuz will also have
omni and figure-8 options in the future, and it
is worth noting that these capsules can be
used on the SU-011 FET microphone as well.
56

RECORDING April 2015

Looking at the body, you can see that it has
an antique look reminiscent of what my
Lithuanian great-grandmother would refer to as
"the old country". The mic is made entirely of
brass with a white enameled midsection. Its 2
lb. body is dense and heavy with an impeccable fit and finish. The brass is micro-titanium coated, so it will always retain its polish and shine,
It will require only a simple wipe with a cloth
(provided by Soyuz) to keep fingerprints and
smudges at bay.
The Golden Ratio
In conversation with the Soyuz folks at
NAMM, I found out that the look and dimensions of the mic were inspired by a balance of
art and science. The body of the mic measures
5.9" with an additional 3" added by the capsule. The brass domes on the top and bottom of
the body were inspired by the domes found in
old Russian churches. While they look
machined from a solid brass sphere split in half,
they're individually lathed. The body cylinder in
the center dimensionally adheres to the Golden
Ratio (1 to 1.618), as does the size and distance of the capsule.
Soyuz explained that the reason for this is
all about reducing resonances and how
they travel through the mic. I can tell you
that they succeeded in every way. Tapping
this mic gives off only a muted 'thunk', vs.
the hollow metallic 'ping' so prevalent on
many of today's microphones.
Inside and out
The inside of the SU-017 is just as impressive as the outside for two primary reasons.
First, unlike most modern import microphones, which use a pair of single, long and
often cheap metal braces to hold and house
the electronics, in this mic the bracing is
made up of pure brass posts which screw into
a round horizontal center section where all of
the circuitry is anchored. The last time I saw
an internal mic design even close to this style
was when I reviewed Neumann's reissue of
the U47fet back in our February 2015 issue.
The second impressive internal feature of
the microphone is its minimal circuit design.



Recording - April 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - April 2015

Recording - April 2015 - Cover1
Recording - April 2015 - Cover2
Recording - April 2015 - 1
Recording - April 2015 - 2
Recording - April 2015 - 3
Recording - April 2015 - 4
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