NEUMANN – THE
MICROPHONE
COMPANY
HUGH ROBJOHNS MIBS
reviews a fascinating book
about the history of the
Neumann company and its
products, published to
celebrate its 75th Anniversary.
sk any audio professional to name a
significant Western microphone
manufacturer, and most will
probably offer ‘Neumann.’ Many reading
this will be aware of Georg Neumann’s
early work for AEG Cables, helping to
develop the ‘Reisz’ microphone, but it is
surely the CMV3 ‘Bottle’ condenser mic –
introduced in 1928 – that forms the basis of
our modern association of ‘microphone’
with ‘Neumann’.
The post-war developments in
microphone design established the
Neumann company as the standard bearer
– a position it continues to hold thanks to
continuous and innovative technological
development. However, there is more to
the Neumann company than just
microphones – many will know something
of its pedigree in record cutting lathes, but
the company has also produced a range of
mixing consoles, including digitally
controlled analogue designs. I would
wager, though, that Georg Neumann
invented the sealed NiCd battery, in 1947,
as a source of a stable and hum-free valve
heater supply voltage!
A
A Story of Innovation
As part of its jubilee celebrations the
Neumann company opened its archives to
Anselm Roessler, the former editor and
current publisher of the German audio
magazine, Keys. The result is a large format,
290 page hardback book with fourteen
chapters crammed full of the most
intriguing insights into the background,
history and development of both the man
and his company. The book includes a lot
of technical detail too, about the
microphones and their capsules, as well as
other product lines.
30 LINE UP Feb/Mar 2005
The opening chapters start with details
about Georg Neumann’s education and
early career, his interests outside the world
of audio, and the creation of the company.
Chapter 4 concerns the development of the
post-war microphones, starting with the
U47 and U48, and continues with
fascinating detail, describing the evolution
of the M49, M50 and the U67. The
introduction of solid-state designs in the
1960s is covered next, starting with the
small-diaphragm KTM in 1965, the
phantom powered U87 and AB-powered
U77 in 1967, and the U47fet in 1969.
In Chapter 5 we are told how, in the
1950s, television broadcasters required
smaller microphones – a demand satisfied
with the small capsule KM 50 series. This
technology was improved in the 1960s
with the introduction of a ‘crossed slit’
capsule design which made its debut in the
KM 60, 70 and 80 series microphones,
including popular models like the KM 84
and KM 86. Stereophony was also
becoming important during this period, and
the book describes the evolution of the SM
2 and SM 69 single-bodied stereo mics (and
their variants). The development of stage
vocal mics, such as the KMS 84, and
shotgun microphones like the KMR 82 are
also described, along with the introduction
of transformerless technology, starting with
the TLM 170 in the early 1980s.
There is a chapter describing
Neumann’s mixing console heritage, from
compact desks through to vast digitallycontrolled analogue systems, while the
following chapter is concerned with the
development of disc cutting lathes. Chapter
9 discusses the design of alternative
microphone systems, including the KU100
dummy head, the discontinued KFM100
spherical surface microphone, and the
GFM132 boundary layer microphone.
Life with Sennheiser
The decision of the Neumann family to sell
the company to Sennheiser in 1989 and the
subsequent reorganisation of the company
is the subject of the next chapter, along
with the integration of Neumann’s
microphone production at the Sennheiser
factory near Hannover. The construction of
various Neumann microphones is also
illustrated here. Chapter 11 details
Neumann’s service and repair facilities,
while the following chapter describes
ongoing microphone development in the
R&D department in Berlin.
The book is rounded off with a treatise
on the Neumann brand image, the current
model range, and the company’s future
expectations. Finally, there is an interesting
company timeline and a stunningly detailed
table listing every Neumann microphone
ever made; production period; any
equivalent models; the capsule type,
operating principle, membrane and year of
introduction; the polar pattern(s);
amplifier/valve type; power supply; and
useful comments.
This excellent tome is bilingual, in
English and German, but it is easy to read
and requires little technical background for
the most part. It is well illustrated
throughout with hundreds of photographs,
cutaway pictures of microphones, drawings
and technical diagrams. Whether an
unashamed wearer of anoraks, or someone
with a more casual interest in the history of
the audio industry, this superb book
definitely falls into the ‘must read’ category.
Highly recommended.
The book is available from the
publisher’s web site
It costs 58 euros plus 5 euros P&P
www.ppvshop.de