Shure Microphone and Earphone advances at NAMM 2016
January 2016 – At the Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, Shure showed off two products that have been in development for a long time the first Dualdyne handheld vocal microphone the KSM8 and the first functional portable in-ear electrostatic monitors and amplifier the kse1500.
Most microphones have sweet spot for pickup on a standard single diaphragm design. When the microphone is not held perfectly straight to the singer/mouth, both the volume and frequency response of the pickup suffers. The new KSM8 is the first dual diaphragm capsule in a hand-held microphone. This allows a much larger sweetspot, but more importantly, it allows for use of the microphone with only volume reduction in off-center use. The KSM8 Dualdyne Cartridge utilizes a new reversed side entry airflow system. The sound enters the microphone via the side entry inlets and passes through the rear second diaphragm before striking the front diaphragm. By using the second diaphragm in the resistance network low frequencies are partially blocked from entering the cartridge resulting in a natural, low-end response with controlled proximity effect and no loss in clarity. With standard single diaphragm mics the low-frequency response increases as the microphone moves closer to the vocalist. By design, these microphones are engineered with a strong presence peak centered around 4 to 5 kHz to counteract the increase in bass. The dual-diaphragm microphone delivers a more natural response over the vocal range, eliminating the need for a strong presence peak, and simplifying the signal processing for the sound engineers.
Shure KSM8 DualDyn Microphone
In addition to the dual diaphragm, the capsule – which can be used on most of the Shure bodies that support interchangeable capsules, has a Diaphragm Stabilization System (DSS™) and a new grille design. The DSS uses a pumping pneumatic shockmount to isolate and suspend the cartridge, reducing handling noise. The outer grille has been tempered to provide enhanced dent resistance and the interior of the grille is lined with a hydrophobic woven fabric. This moisture-resistant cloth protects the cartridge for outdoor user while providing superior pop protection, ensuring years of usability and durability without an additional windscreen. The dual diaphragm design is for vocal applications and resolve news and interview recording of speakers who have a high treble, extended SH sounds in their language or accent without the need for post-process engineering to re-level the dialog.
In addition to the microphone release, they also had a new engineering to production release of the KSE1500 Electrostatic in-ear headphone system. This $3000 system, supports full 17+bit dynamic range listening with an in-ear solution. Using an electrostatic speaker and driver system, allows the design to both be energy efficient and have purity of sound. Electrostatic speakers have been around for a long time, however, getting the sound to be clean at a reasonable price (yes, $3000 for a mobile system is reasonable for the technology) has been a challenge. The speaker technology has been plagued with invasive odd harmonics in the sound band (primarily 1KHz-to-10KHz) that needed fairly large mechanical damping systems to suppress. The systems have also been challenged with true phase reproduction of the stereo mix.
Shure KSE1500 Electrostatic in-ear headphone system
In the quick environment of NAMM, the system worked extremely well at sound isolation and clarity of play back. The amplifier supports up to 96KHz sampling and 24bit recording. At the show it was tested with an uncompressed WAV file, and did a very good job with both sound placement and the phase response, as well as accuracy & sensitivity of the sound reproduction. The amplifier system accepts audio input from any source that can connect with a 3.5mm mini plug.
Both the KSM8 and the KSE1500 are currently available from both traditional brick & mortar and on-line retailers.
