AKG D-19E
Seven ounces of Austrian dynamic that ended up on more tape contests, theatre inventories, and home hi-fi shelves than almost any cardioid of its day.
Overview
The D-19E is a cardioid dynamic microphone that AKG built for "high quality recording and sound reproduction." The company's own period copy is specific about what it was chasing: exceptionally clear speech intelligibility and above-average "reach" for a dynamic of its size. It wants to be heard across a room, not just close-miked into a pop filter. The 200-ohm version carried the D-19E/200 designation. AKG's advertising in Audio (February 1967, p.7) laid out the pitch plainly: a bass roll-off switch for cleaning up speech, effective front-to-back discrimination, and a nonmetallic diaphragm intended to prevent popping and harshness on close-ups. That last detail is the one collectors keep coming back to. The non-metallic diaphragm was a deliberate choice aimed at taming the plosive bark that plagues close vocal work.
The numbers are good without being flashy. AKG rated the frequency range at 40-16,000 cps with a response of ±3 dB, sensitivity at -53 dB, and impedance at 200 ohms ±20%. The body is 7% inches long by 1%6 inches in diameter and weighs 7 ounces. That is light enough to hang on a boom or a floor stand for a full session. None of that is exotic on paper. What made the D-19E a fixture was the combination: a cardioid pattern with useful rear rejection, a switchable bass roll-off that let one mic cover both a boomy announcer and a thin acoustic source, and a diaphragm that didn't turn every close consonant into a spike.
AKG's own advertising billed it as a cardioid for "high quality recording and sound reproduction," and the period press repeated that framing almost verbatim in the spec columns. Audio (March 1967, p.49) ran the same description of the bass roll-off switch and the nonmetallic diaphragm. That is marketing copy recycled into a review column, not an independent verdict. The independent evidence comes from the people who actually used it.
The D-19E shows up in some odd places. Theatre Projects Sound in London listed the D19 and D19E alongside Nagra and Revox machines and the AKG D109, D900, and C451 in its 1972 Studio Sound inventory. That is a rental and installation house stocking it as a known quantity. A 1968 Audio installation feature shows a home hi-fi enthusiast running three D19Es in his rack, with a fourth D19 variant and an AKG K60 headphone not pictured. The tape-contest winners in Audio (August 1972, p.18) are the most telling. The first-prize church-organ recording used a Revox A77 with E-V 676 and AKG D19E microphones. The second-prize piano-trio entry ran five D-19E/200s and two E-V RE-15s through Shure mixers.
The bass roll-off switch gets the least attention of the D-19E's features. A cardioid dynamic with a controllable low-end tilt is handy: roll it off for speech and close vocals, leave it flat for instruments and room capture. The ±3 dB response figure is honest rather than flattering. This is not a ruler-flat condenser. The 40-16,000 cps range still covers the full musical spectrum with room to spare.
The D-19E is not a collector's trophy in the way the C-12 or the C414 family became. It's a working dynamic, priced and traded as such, and the market reflects that. The W-24 windscreen was the period accessory. AKG's own literature notes it fits the D-19E/200 and also the D-24E. Finding one with the mic is a small bonus rather than a dealbreaker.
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