Classic Sound for Today’s Engineers
The TLM 49 brings back the vintage tone of Neumann’s post-war classics.
The TLM 49 uses the same K 47 capsule and the iconic large headgrille
design of Neumann’s legendary M 49, but instead of electron tubes the TLM 49
relies on trouble free FET circuitry with a special sound design for
smooth vocals and acoustic instruments with timeless elegance.
Vintage Sound with New Technology
Many engineers, these days, long for the smooth sound of classic tube microphones
of the 1950s. Unfortunately, vintage originals come at staggering prices and are
often in need of maintenance. But for those who want a recording tool rather than a
collector’s item, Neumann has developed an elegant solution: The TLM 49 combines the
sonic excellence of Neumann’s legendary U 47 and M 49 microphones with the convenience
and high reliability of a modern phantom powered microphone. Its looks are classic, too!
As the model number implies, the TLM 49 is inspired by its famous precursor,
the legendary Neumann M 49, a microphone associated with countless jazz and pop
recordings of the 1950s and 60s. The TLM 49 shares the same large, acoustically
open headgrille and the same large diaphragm condenser capsule design.
This classic K 47 capsule, renowned for its unsurpassed sonic elegance,
was also used in the Neumann U 47, the vocal mic of choice for Frank Sinatra,
the Beatles, and scores of famous artists up to the present day.
Re-Engineering the Past
The main difference between the TLM 49 and its famous predecessors lies in its
electronic circuit. Instead of electron tubes, the TLM 49’s head amplifier uses
reliable transformerless solid state technology – yet with a special sound design
that closely reproduces the sonics of tube circuits. For instance, the
TLM 49 intentionally produces soft saturation at higher sound pressure levels,
resulting in a seemingly low max SPL figure of 110 dB for 0.5% THD,
rising slowly to 5% at 129 dB SPL. The TLM 49 thus captures the sound and
dynamic behavior of its legendary precursors without the inconvenience of an
external PSU or expensive tube replacements, yet with a substantially
improved self-noise figure of only 12 dB-A.
Applications
The TLM 49 has a fixed cardioid pattern and is designed mainly as a microphone for vocalists,
but its clear bass and superb midrange with a gentle presence boost above 2 kHz will
produce excellent results with various instruments, too, such as acoustic guitar and upright bass.
Same capsule as legendary Neumann U 47 and M 49 microphones
Cardioid pattern
Classic sound for silky vocals
Large, acoustically open headgrille
Transformerless solid state circuit with tube sound characteristics
Very low self-noise
Acoustical operating principle Pressure gradient transducer
Directional Pattern Cardioid
Frequency Range 20 Hz ... 20 kHz
Sensitivity at 1 kHz into 1 kohm 13 mV/Pa = –38 dBV ± 1 dB
Rated Impedance 50 ohms
Rated load impedance 1 kohms
Equivalent noise level, CCIR 1 23 dB
Equivalent noise level, A-weighted 2 12 dB-A
Maximum SPL for THD 0.5% 3 110 dB
Maximum SPL for THD < 5 % 4 129 dB
Signal-to-noise ratio, CCIR (re. 94 dB SPL) 5 71 dB
Signal-to-noise ratio, A-weighted (re. 94 dB SPL) 6 82 dB
Maximum output voltage -1 dBu
Supply voltage (P48, IEC 61938) 48 V ± 4 V
Current consumption (P48, IEC 61938) 3.2 mA
Matching connector XLR 3 F
Weight 825 g
Diameter 78 mm
Length 165 mm