Neumann TLM102 Review: A $799 Condenser Microphone and Its Frequency Response

Neumann prints 144 dB of maximum sound pressure and names the threshold it was measured at: 0.5 per cent total harmonic distortion. Under the table it names the standards too, IEC 60268-1 for the measurements and CCIR 468-3 quasi-peak for one of the two noise scales.

$799.00 buys a 210 g cardioid condenser with no switches, 12 dB of self-noise and 11 mV/Pa of output. It fits a treated room, and a preamp with gain to spare. But it's the wrong microphone for a noisy room, because nothing on it can be turned down or filtered.

144 dB at 0.5%, which is not the same 144 dB

Seventeen of the 41 microphones here that publish a maximum SPL say at what distortion they measured it. This one does, though, and it's the strict half of the pair in common use. The difference isn't academic. An Audio-Technica AT2020 publishes the same 144 dB at 1 per cent, which is twice the distortion allowed. Reaching the same number under half the distortion means more real headroom. And the two figures can't be set side by side as equals even though they read identically on a listing.

And that's the whole argument for reading thresholds rather than numbers. A listing that prints 144 dB and nothing else has told a buyer almost nothing, and it's the field carrying the condition that's worth looking for.

12 dB and 21 dB are the same noise

Self-noise appears twice, as 12 dB on the A-weighted scale and 21 dB on CCIR. Both describe the same hiss, measured through different filters. The nine-decibel gap between them's the filters rather than the microphone. Eight of the microphones collected here publish both scales, though all eight come from two manufacturers. At $799 this is the cheapest Neumann among them, while the cheapest of the eight outright is a Sennheiser MK 4 at $429.

But twelve decibels puts it well under the median. An A-weighted figure comes from 30 microphones here, and the middle of them is 17 dB, so this one is quiet for its class without approaching the extremes, and a RODE NT1 Signature publishes 4 dB at $141. A Shure SM81 publishes 16 dB and its own second scale, And that's the same discipline at half the price.

22 mm of diaphragm, published by nobody who sells it

Neither Neumann's table nor the shop listing states how large the diaphragm is. And that's the one figure a buyer of a large-diaphragm microphone is shopping for. Two magazines that took the launch samples apart give it. The K 102 capsule measures 28 mm across the outside, and the freely vibrating diaphragm inside is 21 mm by one account and 22 by the other. And that settles the label. Twenty-two millimetres is comfortably past the 19 mm line the trade uses for "large", though an Audio-Technica AT2020 carries the same words over a 15.2 mm capsule. Here the words and the metal agree.

The capsule is also edge-terminated, with no centre contact and no blind holes in the backplate, which is the simplification that let Neumann halve its entry price in 2009.

11 mV/Pa, and why a Neumann is not the loud one

Sensitivity is 11 mV/Pa, measured into a 1 kΩ load, and among the 30 condensers here with sensitivity in comparable units, that's seventh from the bottom, where the median stands at 19.98.

Two reviewers measured their samples and both came out ahead of the sheet: 13.2 mV/Pa of sensitivity and about 11 dB-A of self-noise, against 11 and 12 printed. Neither result transfers to another unit, though one of the two states plainly that it measures at 33 cm rather than the metre a manufacturer uses. What it does show, though, is the direction Neumann rounds in.

Low output on a condenser is a design choice, and it isn't a fault. A capsule that gives less voltage for the same pressure also clips later, and 144 dB at 0.5 per cent is where that trade shows up. The cost is on the other side. A preamp has to supply about six decibels more gain than the class median asks for, and a noisy preamp will put its own hiss under a microphone that contributes only 12.

Phantom power is 48 V at 3.5 mA under IEC 61938, and the rated load is 1 kΩ. Neither number constrains a modern interface.

210 g on the sheet, 260 g on two scales

The body is 52 mm across and 116 mm long, and weighs 210 g by the sheet. Among the 39 condensers here that publish a weight, twelve are lighter, and the middle of the row is 360 g.

Two reviewers of the launch samples weighed 260 g and 265 g. Fifty grams is the size of the supplied stand mount, and neither review says whether the mount was on the scale, so the gap has an obvious explanation but no stated one. The ranking above uses the published figure. That's the number every other row in the table also comes from.

Small matters on a stand rather than in the hand. A 210 g microphone puts less load on a boom arm than the 360 g median, and that's the difference between an arm that holds position and one that creeps. It also takes a smaller shockmount.

There are no controls: no pad, no filter, no pattern switch. The body is a cardioid condenser and nothing else, and that's why every number above describes it completely.

$799, and what the Studio Set adds

The same shop sells two listings. One is the microphone alone at $799.00 and a Studio Set at $899.00 that adds a shockmount, so the difference is $100 for the mount. But the same maker does it the other way higher up the line. A U 87 Ai and its Studio Set both cost $3,750, and the EA 87 mount that only the set contains sells alone for $407.55. So there the bundle is the cheaper of the two.

And that distinction matters beyond the receipt. The set listing is the one that turns up first in a search. Its price is the one an automated comparison picks up, which files a $799 microphone in the row above where it belongs. The figures on this page come from the single-microphone listing. A Sennheiser e604 has the same problem in reverse, sold singly at $159 and as a three-pack at $429 where the pack price describes three microphones. The Sennheiser MK 4 named above was in this collection as a set until the same check caught it. The set sells for $399.95 and the bare microphone for $429, so the bundle was quietly undercutting the thing inside it.

Among the 38 condensers collected here with a price, twenty-seven cost less than $799 and nine cost more, and the middle price is $410.0.

Thirty-eight ratings at $799.00

Thirty-eight owners rate the single-microphone listing 4.9. That's a small sample on an expensive item, and the number it produces is less informative than the specification itself, which is unusual and worth saying plainly: on most products in this collection the ratings carry information the sheet doesn't.

Here the sheet is the more complete document. It names thresholds, scales and standards. And there's very little left for an owner to discover that Neumann hasn't already stated.

What the sheet answers about the TLM102

What is the Neumann TLM102's frequency response?

20 Hz to 20 kHz, and Neumann publishes the range without a tolerance figure, which is the one field on this sheet that's not qualified.

What is the TLM102's maximum SPL?

144 dB, measured at 0.5 per cent total harmonic distortion. There's no pad, so that is also the ceiling.

How much self-noise does the TLM102 have?

12 dB on the A-weighted scale, 21 dB on CCIR. They're the same noise through different filters.

What does a Neumann TLM102 weigh?

210 g on Neumann's sheet, in a body 52 mm across and 116 mm long, though two magazine reviews of launch samples weighed about 260 g without saying whether the stand mount was included.

How big is the TLM102's diaphragm?

The K 102 capsule is 28 mm across and its free diaphragm 21 to 22 mm, according to two reviews. But neither Neumann nor the shop publishes the figure.

Where $799 of condenser makes sense

A quiet room and a source that needs headroom. Twelve decibels of self-noise and 144 dB at half a per cent are a pair of numbers that describe a microphone meant to sit close to something loud without either hissing under it or breaking up.

But everything it lacks is a room problem. No filter means a rumbling floor stays in the recording, and no pad means the only way down is to move the microphone. No pattern switch means the cardioid is the answer to every question. A Sennheiser e965 carries all three switches for less money, though it gives up 9 dB of self-noise to do it.

What the money buys, in one line, is a sheet that hasn't got gaps in it. It also buys a capsule that behaves the way the sheet says.

Price and specifications

Sources

1. Neumann's product page for the TLM 102: acoustical operating principle, pattern, frequency range, sensitivity, rated load impedance, both self-noise figures with their scales, maximum SPL with its distortion threshold, both signal-to-noise figures, phantom power draw, weight and dimensions, and the footnotes naming the measurement standards.
2. B&H Photo Video listing for the single microphone: price, availability, rating count, and the same specification values. A separate listing on the same shop carries the Studio Set price.
3. A sound&recording review of a launch sample, December 2009, in the English translation Neumann itself hosts: the capsule dimensions, the edge-terminated construction, measured sensitivity and self-noise, the off-axis behaviour, the 33 cm measuring distance, and a weight of 260 g.
4. A Keys review of the same period, also hosted by the maker: the capsule dimensions again, a weight of 265 g, and the launch price.
5. Medians, row sizes and positions come from listings of 200 audio products collected the same way. How those are converted and compared.

What we did not do

This microphone has never been in our hands. Every figure above is Neumann's or its dealer's, and what we add is the ranking: where each number sits among the microphones collected here.