Telefunken Elektroakustik, headquartered in Connecticut, is shipping all of its Diamond Series large diaphragm condenser microphones with Sommer Cable especially designed in Germany for tube microphones.
Telefunken offers historic recreations of classic microphones in a product line that blends vintage style and sound with the reliability of a modern-day microphone.
The Diamond Series microphones offer meticulous reproductions of classic vintage microphones, including the ELA M 251, U47, and C12, recreated to exacting details to the originals. Telefunken’s U47 and U48 use Sommer’s SC-Square 4-Core MKII cable; all 251 and C12 iterations are using Sommer’s SC-Octave Tube cable.
Telefunken senior technician Ian Cluggish explains, “Our techs have really fallen in love with the Sommer cable because of its workability on the bench. Both models are very flexible and supple, and the individual conductor sheathing is super-rugged and heat-resistant. Beyond that, you can just tell from wrapping/unwrapping, and feeling the cable that it’s extremely high quality. Both the Octave and Square provide comprehensive noise and RFI suppression with the helical copper shielding and internal metallized fleece jacket. Sommer is a respected brand in the industry and they offer many cabling solutions.”
Cluggish elaborates on how the seven conductors in SC-Octave Tube cables operate with the mic, “Two conductors out of the seven have a larger gauge and higher copper strand count. These provide a lower resistance and greater current handling, critical for use in tube microphones for the filament voltage and circuit ground lines. The other five conductors are suitable for carrying B+ high voltage, remote pattern polarization voltage, audio modulation, parameter-variable directivity, and sensor measuring.”
Regarding Sommer’s SC-Square 4-Core MKII cable, Cluggish continues, “Since our U47 is faithful to the original circuit design, there is only a single high voltage line sent from the power supply to run the entire mic circuit; in addition to the ground line, and the (+) and (-) audio lines returning from the mic. Since the mic circuit does not require as many conductors as the Octave provides, the Square is optimal really. There are only four conductors, which leaves more room for a thicker outer jacket and more robust conductors. Overall the Square is a more supple and flexible cable than any 7-pin tube mic cable on the market, yet we don’t have to sacrifice any electrical parameters of the mic performance to use it.
