AKG C 414 B-XL II User Instructions page 18

1 Description
Fig. 2:
Preattenuation
selector.
Fig. 3: Bass cut
selector.
1.5 C 414B-XL II
18
2 Preattenuation Pad Selector*)
Selector 2 on the microphone rear panel (refer to fig. 2) lets you
increase the headroom by 6 dB, 12 dB, or 18 dB for distortion-
free close-in recording. The preattenuation pads prevent the
microphone's output level, particularly at low frequencies, from
overloading the miniature transformers used in mixer input
stages, etc.
*) Note:
To keep noise levels in the microphone input stage as low as
possible, the entire transducer section uses extremely high-
impedance circuitry. Therefore, the selected (changed) polar
pattern or preattenuation setting will take about 10 to 15 sec-
onds to become active.
3 Bass Cut Selector
Selector 3 on the microphone rear panel (refer to fig. 3) further
reduces low-end distortion caused by footfall or wind noise,
etc. The filter slope is more than 12 dB/octave at the 40 Hz and
80 Hz settings and 6 dB/octave at the 160 Hz setting. The
160 Hz setting minimizes the strong proximity effect that may
arise when close-in miking from less than 6 inches.
Overload Indication
The polar pattern indicator LEDs also provide an overload indi-
cation.
If the output level of the microphone equals or exceeds a value
of approximately 2 dB below the overload limit, the currently
active LED will change to red for about 0.3 seconds. If it does,
we recommend increasing the preattenuation by one or more
"notches" using Selector 2.
The C 414B-XL II is identical to the C 414B-XLS except for a
slight high-frequency peak above 3 kHz.
C 414 B-XLS / C 414B-XL II