AKG D5 S Professional Dynamic Vocal Microphone

Precaution / Description

• Please make sure that the piece of equipment your microphone will be connected to fulfills the safety regulations in force in your country and is fitted with a ground lead.
• Check that the packaging contains all of the components listed above. Should anything be missing, please contact your AKG dealer.

Optional Accessories

• For optional accessories, refer to the current AKG catalog or folder, or visit www.akg.com. Your dealer will be glad to help.

Features

• Frequency response optimized for vocal use.
• Integrated wind and pop screen for effective suppression of pop and breath noise.
• Frequency independent supercardioid polar pattern for high gain before feedback.
• New Varimotion diaphragm for brilliant sound.
• Shock mounted transducer element reduces handling and cable noise.
• Extremely resilient, spring-steel wire-mesh cap for extra impact resistance.

Description

Brief Description D 5:

The AKG D 5 is a supercardioid dynamic microphone. It has been designed specifically as a vocal microphone for rough onstage use. The wide frequency response of the D 5 slightly favors the midfrequency and treble regions to ensures good intelligibility of speech. The term “supercardioid polar response” means that the D 5 is most sensitive to sound arriving from in front of it, less sensitive to sound arriving from the sides and rear. This pickup pattern is virtually the same for all frequencies or, in other words, from the lowest to the highest notes (“frequency independent”). A shock mount on the transducer minimizes handling and cable noise. An integrated windscreen reduces pop, wind, and breath noise to a minimum. A rugged front grill made of spring-steel wire mesh that is extremely resistant to deformation and a sturdy zinc alloy die-cast body effectively protect the microphone and transducer element from damage on stage and on the road

D 5 S:

The D 5 S has the same mechanical, electrical, and acoustic characteristics as the D 5 and features a noiseless on/off switch.

Interfacing

The microphone provides a balanced output on a

3-pin male XLR connector:

• Pin 1: ground
• Pin 2: hot
• Pin 3: return

You can connect the microphone either to a balanced or an unbalanced microphone input.

• To connect themicrophone to a balanced input (XLR connector), use a commercial XLR cable.
• To connect the microphone to an unbalanced microphone input (1/4″ jack), use a cable with a female XLR connector and a 1/4″ TS jack plug. Please note that unbalanced cables may pick up interference from stray magnetic fields near power or lighting cables, electric motors, etc. like an antenna. This may cause hum or similar noise when you use a cable that is longer than 16 feet (5 m).

Using Your Microphone

Introduction

A handheld vocal microphone provides many ways of shaping the sound of your voice as it is heard over the sound system. The following sections contain useful hints on how to use your microphone for best results.

Working Distance and Proximity Effect

Basically, your voice will sound bigger and mellower the closer you hold the microphone to your lips. Moving away from the microphone will produce a more reverberant, more distant sound as the microphone will pick more of the room’s reverberation. You can use this effect to make your voice sound aggressive, neutral, insinuating, etc. simply by changing your working distance. Proximity effect is a more or less dramatic boost of low frequencies that occurs when you sing into the microphone from less than 2 inches. It gives more “body” to your voice and an intimate, bass-heavy sound.

Angle of Incidence

Fig. 1: Typical microphone position.

Sing to one side of the microphone or above and across the microphone’s top. This provides a well-balanced, natural sound. If you sing directly into the microphone, it will not only pick up excessive breath noise but also overemphasize “sss”, “sh”, “tch”, “p”, and “t” sounds.

Using Your Microphone

Fig. 2: Microphone placement for maximum gain before feedback.

The term “feedback” means that part of the sound projected by a speaker is picked up by a microphone, fed back to the amplifier, and projected again by the speaker. Above a specific volume or “system gain” setting the sound system will start howling, and the sound engineer will desperately dive for the master fader to reduce the volume and stop the howling. To increase usable gain before feedback, the microphone has a supercardioid polar pattern. It is most sensitive to sounds arriving from in front of it (your voice) while picking up much less of sounds arriving from the sides or rear (from monitor speakers, for instance). To maximize gain before feedback, place the main (“FOH”) speakers in front of the microphones (along the front edge of the stage). If you use monitor speakers, be sure never to point any microphone directly at a monitor or FOH speaker. Feedback may also be triggered by resonances depending on the acoustics of the room or hall. With resonances at low frequencies, proximity ef-fect may cause feedback. In this case, it is often enough to move away from the microphone a little to stop the feedback.

Backing Vocals

1. Never let more than two persons share a microphone.
2. The microphone is very insensitive to off-axis sounds. If the two vocalists were to sing into the microphone from an angle wider than 35 degrees, you may end up bringing up the fader of the microphone channel far enough to create a feedback problem.

Fig. 3: Two vocalists sharing a microphone.

Cleaning

Microphone Body

• To clean the surface of the microphone body, use a soft cloth moistened with water.

Internal Windscreen

1. Unscrew the front grill from the microphone CCW.
2. Remove the windscreen from the from grill and wash the windscreen in soap suds.
3. Allow the windscreen to dry overnight.
4. Replace the windscreen in the front grill and screw the front grill on the microphone CW.

Troubleshooting

Specifications

• Polar pattern: supercardioid
• Frequency range: 70 Hz to 20 kHz
• Sensitivity: 2.6 mV/Pa (-52 dBV re 1 V/Pa)
• Max. SPL for 1% / 3% THD: 147 / 156 dB SPL
• Equivalent noise level: 18 dB(A) to DIN 45412
• Impedance: ≤ 600 ohms
• Recommended load impedance: ≥ 2000 ohms
• Connector: 3-pin XLR
• Finish: matte gray-blue
• Size: length: 185.2 mm (7.3 in.);
• diameter: 51 mm (2 in.)
• Net weight: 340 g (12 oz.)
• Shipping weight: 655 g (1.45 lbs.)
• Patents: Varimotion varying-thickness diaphragm for dynamic transducers (patents nos.
  • AT 403.751, US 6.185.809, DE 814.637,
  • DK 814.637, FI 814.637, FR 814.637,
  • GB 814.637, IT 814.637, NL 814.637)

This product conforms to the standards listed in the Declaration of Conformity. To order a free copy of the Declaration of Conformity, visit http://www.akg.com or contact sales@akg.com.

Frequency Response

Polar Diagram

FAQ

• Q: How do I know if the microphone is electrically, mechanically, and acoustically identical to D 5?
  • A: The D 5 S has a noiseless on/off switch, while maintaining all other features of the D 5.

Documents / Resources

AKG D5 S Professional Dynamic Vocal Microphone [pdf] Instruction Manual D5, D5 S, D5 S Professional Dynamic Vocal Microphone, D5 S, Professional Dynamic Vocal Microphone, Dynamic Vocal Microphone, Vocal Microphone, Microphone

References

• User Manual