AKG CK94 - affordable MS

Throwback

Throwback

Well-known member
Well, just after they have been discontinued, I've finally bought an AKG CK94 to give me a mid-side SDC pair. I've owned a CK93 for years, and have thought it excellent value (and so much better than my Oktava MK012 hypercardioid). Despite its longevity, the AKG CK94 never got much in the way of detailed reviews, although the odd positive reference from cognoscenti to its performance compared to the similarly priced Ambient ATE 208 Emesser and my liking of the CK93 made me think it worth a punt: in my case £200 for one in very good condition together with the SE300B body - a real bargain! I was concerned about the high self-noise figure (22dBA), but the reality has been a pleasant surprise.

Anyway, for anyone interested, I've done a little write up on my blog (https://drbadphil.com/mid-side-with-akg-ck94), and have included there a short wav file of an ambient recording illustrating the acceptable self-noise: my main use will be for rather louder sound sources.

Cheers,

Roland

PS: If you want to hear a comparison between the Emesser and the CK94 Suso Ramallo (the sound mixer/recordist) put up a couple of wav files on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/suso-ramallo/sets/ms
 
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Yes, I've always been puzzled by the lack of SDC fig 8 mics. OK they would sell fewer than other polar patterns, but they would still sell. And if one of the main manufacturers could produce one with reasonable self-noise (15-18dBA) for, say, £400 then I'd have thought that would sell reasonably: you would have thought Rode could have produced hypercardioid and fig 8 capsules for the NT55, for example. Anyway, with the discontinuing of AKG's CK94 we have lost perhaps the best sub-£700 single-diaphragm SDC fig 8. Hopefully mine will see me out (or last until I can afford an MKH30!).

Cheers,

Roland
 
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