The Audio History Library & Museum has announced that it will be presenting a collection of rare microphones to attendees of the upcoming 2022 AES Conention at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City on October 19 and 20 in booth 247.
The microphones display are much like the ones that starred in historic events such as: 1683, the Oxford English Dictionary’s first entry for the word Microphone (“small sound”) but described ear trumpets of the day; in 1827 Charles Wheatstone used the word microphone for a stethoscope-like invention; M. Charles Bourseul in 1854 hypothesized a person “speaking near a movable disc” in Vienna, and the process reversed for a hearer in Paris; Philipp Reis invented his “Transmitter” in 1861; Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray invented their transmitters in 1876, missing each other at the patent office on the same day.
Further, in 1877 Thomas Edison created the dynamic, charcoal button, Plumbago, and condenser transmitters, and that same year, Emile Berliner improved an Edison device, calling it a microphone; in 1878 Edison returns with a carbon disc with Blake, Hughes and Hunnings joining the chorus.
In addition, there will be military applications by Electro-Voice, General Electric, Magnavox, RCA and Western Electric; 1918 Wente & Turas improve condenser; W. C. Jones’ double-button carbon mics take center stage from 1921 onward; Eugen Reisz with assistant Georg Neumann succeed with a marble block containing carbon, a European standard for the next decade; the rise of the ribbons, Neumann’s condenser, and more.
Specific models being showcased:
1901 Western Electric 143W “receiver”
1922 Western Electric 1-A double button
1929 RCA 4-AA/AP black cube with NBC badges
1929 Western Electric 618-A dynamic
1934 Shure 40-C condenser
1936 Telefunken Ela M 102 dynamic
1938 RCA 44-BX “Junior Velocity” ribbon
1938 RCA 77-B ribbon
1940s surprise by Neumann
1954 Stephens Tru-Sonic OD-1 – First wireless mic
1980s NADY HT-3 handheld and Pro 410 receiver – Second wireless mic
A surprise from Schoeps and more!
