Neumann KM74 Pair #13060/13061 (Vintage)

Excellent condition pair, serviced and in great shape. Original mic cases and cables (with tuchel-to XLR adapters), and a custom T Power dual PSU. Cardioid only pattern, very nice on acoustic instruments. Because of the power circuitry, there is no need for a transformer in the mic, giving them a very unique tone.

The KM 74 is a solid state FET cousin of the U64 and KM64. Also similar to a KM84. It uses 'T power', a 12 volt alternative to phantom power that requires a special PSU.

"Tonader Power, T Power, T12 or AB Power all refer to a method of powering microphones via their cable. This system uses 180 ohm feed resistors and a 12 V supply but does not send the DC power as a common mode signal like Phantom Power. The powering is unbalanced and shares the same path as the audio signal. Therefore T12 needs greater design attention to keep hum, noise and crosstalk out of the powering system.

On a normal 3 pin XLR connector the positive voltage is applied to pin 2, negative to pin 3. However, the reverse is occasionally found, positive to pin 3 and negative to pin 2. The screen does not form part of the circuit so a T Powered microphone will work without screen continuity, unlike a Phantom Powered microphone.

As there is 12 V DC across the signal wires care must be taken to ensure that dynamic or ribbon mics are not inadvertently connected to cables with active T12 power, otherwise they may be permanently damaged. "