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AEA N8

Bidirectional Active Ribbon Microphone

The N8 is the second active ribbon mic in AEA’s “Nuvo” series, following the N22.

The N8 shares the N22’s body and grille construction, although it has a black rather than silver finish. The N8 also shares the N22’s ribbon dimensions, transformer, and active transformerless electronics.

These mics’ electronics operate at unity gain; the output signal from the ribbon is amplified by a Lehle step-up transformer. The circuitry following the transformer serves to lower the output impedance to 92Ω without applying additional gain.

The ribbon in both Nuvo mics measures roughly 4.7mm x 60mm, and is made from corrugated 1.8-micron aluminum. But these identical ribbons are built into different motor designs.

While the N22 used multiple layers of acoustic filter materials to reduce bass response, the N8 has a fuller low frequency response, and appears to have a more traditional ribbon voicing, with a fuller low-frequency response.

Unfortunately, AEA’s limited test facilities do not show either mic’s low-frequency response, as they are truncated at 200Hz. But even at 200Hz, the N22 is beginning to roll off, while the N8 shows a slight increase in its response.

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The mic was released in 2014.

Specifications

Frequency Response - BidirectionalClick Graph to Compare!

Pickup Patterns	Pads & Filters
Bidirectional (n/a mV/Pa; 20 - 8500 Hz)

Ribbon Construction	Impedance	SPL/Noise
Length: 59.7mm Width: 4.7mm Gauge: 1.8 microns	92 Ohms (Low)	Max SPL: 141 dB

Weight	Length	Max Diameter	Interface(s)
n/a	32mm (1.26'')	4mm (0.16'')	3-pin XLR male (1)

Power Specifications
Requires phantom power

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