AKG D 222
A two-way dynamic that borrowed the loudspeaker crossover and shrank the D 202 into something a studio could actually afford.
Overview
The D 222 is a cardioid dynamic microphone built around an unusual idea: a two-way transducer system. AKG's own trade advertising in Studio Sound described it as a cardioid with a two-way high-frequency/low-frequency transducer arrangement, aimed at TV, film, and recording-studio work. It had a wide-range response and a built-in three-position bass-cut switch. Dealer listings repeat the pitch and explain the concept plainly. As with a crossover in a loudspeaker, splitting the band between two transducers lets each one work where it performs best. The listings claimed this ensured the highest quality possible from a dynamic.
That architecture is the reason the model exists. Dealer copy from the mid-Eighties and mid-Nineties consistently identifies the D 222 as an updated version of the D 202, and the family resemblance is structural, not cosmetic. The two-way capsule was redesigned to be swapped out easily, and the whole assembly is acoustically suspended. A hum compensation coil and equalisation round out the package.
The capsule is protected against wind and pops internally rather than through an external foam ring. The polar pattern is cardioid and, per AKG's announcement, uniform and frequency-independent. The bass-cut switch has three positions, giving -6 dB and -12 dB attenuation at 50 Hz according to the trade coverage, with some listings reporting a further -10 dB step. The finish is dull black. A 1980 High Fidelity listing gave the D-222EB variant a 20 Hz to 18 kHz response, a two-way dynamic transducer, cardioid pattern, 200-ohm impedance, and -52 dBm output re 94 dB SPL. A separate entry in the same listing gives 35 Hz to 17 kHz, which is what happens when a magazine prints catalogue copy without reconciling it. Treat the response figures as approximate.
Trade coverage at the model's introduction noted the D 222 is roughly two-thirds the size of its elder sibling, the D 202. That helps on a crowded drum kit or in front of a guitar cabinet, where a full-size dynamic blocks the view. The D 222 was priced at £80 at launch in the UK, and the street price held steady. Dealer lists put it at £86.98 in 1983 and £62 - £64 new in the early-to-mid Eighties, and by 1996 a London shop was clearing three of them at £12 apiece.
In the studio it found a niche as a general-purpose dynamic with more top-end reach than the average cardioid. Dealer top-ten lists in Studio Sound (May 1985, p.13) placed it among the best sellers recording engineers actually reached for, alongside the C451 and the D12E, and described it as the two-way dynamic that carried the D 202 concept forward. That's a modest endorsement compared to the C451's "studio condenser to buy first" reputation, and it's honest: the D 222 was never the mic you built a locker around. It was the one you grabbed when a dynamic would do and you wanted a little more detail than a plain cardioid gave you.
Collectors note that the D 222 sits in an awkward spot. It has the swappable two-way capsule and the acoustic suspension, both of which make it a more interesting repair than a sealed-back dynamic. Buyers should test all three switch positions and check the capsule seating, since the whole point of the design is that the capsule comes out.
For anyone recording today, the two-way arrangement gives the D 222 a slightly more open top than a single-transducer cardioid, which suits guitar amps, snare, and aggressive vocals where a plain dynamic sounds blunt. It is not a substitute for a condenser, and nobody in 1978 claimed it was. The £80 launch price and the steady secondhand value point the same way.
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