Product Review - AEA KU4

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Article Preview :: Supercardioid Ribbon Microphone

Published in SOS January 2012

Reviews : Microphone


This lovely mic from AEA is based on a classic RCA design from the ‘40s. It certainly looks the part, but is it worth the asking price?
Hugh Robjohns
When the ‘ribbon microphone’ comes up in a discussion, most people will automatically assume that the mic in question has a figure‑of-eight polar pattern — after all, the vast majority do! Compared with other capsule technologies, the practicalities of building a ribbon microphone make it harder to deliver a variety of polar patterns, and the nature of the ribbon itself naturally pre‑disposes it to velocity (pressure-gradient) operation, which means a figure‑of‑eight polar pattern. To put some numbers on that notion, of the 58 ribbon microphones currently listed on www.microphone-data.com, 55 have a figure‑of‑eight polar pattern. Two of the remaining three (the Beyerdynamic M160 and M260) are hypercardioids, and the last is the cardioid RCA KU3A — but that particular mic is long since out of production, and is only listed for historical interest. Although not listed on the site, Silvia Classics make a cardioid ribbon mic called the SC5C, which looks similar in design to the long-deleted RCA BK5.
However, there is no intrinsic link between the electro-mechanical nature of a microphone, be it electret, capacitor, ribbon or moving-coil, and its acoustical properties (pressure or velocity operation, or a combination of both). We are quite used to capacitor mics being available with omnidirectional, cardioid, hypercardioid or figure‑of-eight polar patterns and, in theory at least, a ribbon microphone could be constructed to deliver the same range of pickup patterns if so desired. All of which brings us neatly to the subject of this review: Audio Engineering Associate’s new KU4 ‘unidirectional’ ribbon. And if you’ve noticed a similarity between this new model’s name and that of the RCA classic I mentioned above, that’s because the KU4 ‘celebrates’ the KU3A. You can read more about the original KU3A microphone in the ‘Blast From The Past’ box.
Ribbon Revival
AEA are very well known specialist ribbon‑microphone manufacturers and also have a strong pedigree in repairing and restoring classic ribbon microphones. Simultaneously, they have built quite a reputation for their modern ‘reincarnations’ of some of those original RCA designs, as well as their own bespoke models. I’ve reviewed many in the past, including the A440 (June 2009), the R44C (June 2002), the R92 (April 2007), and the R84 (February 2004), as well as the company’s purpose‑designed TRP and RPQ ribbon-mic preamps (April 2007 and October 2008, respectively). The company’s new KU4 microphone is a very close derivative — a modern recreation, if you like — of the original RCA KU3A, and even uses new‑old‑stock (NOS) RCA ribbon material. The similarity in design is emphasised by the fact that some parts are directly interchangeable with the original model.
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Published in SOS January 2012

 

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In this article:
Ribbon Revival
Opening The Box
Intelligent Design
In Use
Final Thoughts
Alternatives
Blast From The Past
information
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Affinity Audio +44 (0)1923 265400.
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wwwaffinityaudio.com
www.ribbonmics.com
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Audio Engineering Associates +1 800 798 9127.
Click here to email
www.wesdooley.com
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GLOSSARY: technical terms explained
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