AKG D 320 B
A road-tested vocal mic that floats its transducer in a die-cast zinc housing and gives you three ways to shape the sound.
Overview
The D 320 B is one of three vocal microphones in AKG's D300 series, sitting alongside the D 330 BT and the D 310. AKG's own advertising positioned the trio as an attempt to bring studio-grade sound to the stage — the company's marketing billed the line as the first time trouble-free performance and accurate studio sound were both possible live. That's a claim from a sales brochure, not an independent lab, but it frames what the mic was built to do: survive a tour and still sound like an AKG.
The housing tells you most of what you need to know. It's a precision zinc-alloy die-cast shell finished in satin-nickel, chosen according to AKG's literature for durability and to keep light reflectance down on stage. Inside that shell sits a strong internal grille, a plated stainless steel outer grille, and shock mounting around the transducer system.
The feature that separates the D 320 B from the plainer D 310 is the three-position contour switch. AKG's own materials describe it as a way to shape the frequency response individually, letting the user pick the "ideal" curve for a given voice or room. The D 330 BT carries the same switch; the D 310 does not. For anyone who's fought a muddy stage mix, having three preset voicings on the mic body is a practical bit of flexibility that most stage mics of the period didn't offer.
Polar pattern is unidirectional, which AKG's advertising says minimizes acoustic feedback and ambient noise. The integral windscreen is designed to eliminate pop and breath sounds entirely — again, a manufacturer claim, but the design intent is clear. Mix (1981, p.49) ran AKG's own description of the D300 line's design objective, framing the series as putting advanced microphone technology directly into the performer's palm, and singled out the patented suspension system that lets the transducer float free of the housing. That floating mount is the real engineering story here: it limits contact between the capsule and the shell, which is how AKG claims to cut handling and cable noise while keeping the mic rugged enough for the road.
AKG's literature is candid about the commercial logic behind the series, too. Because the D300 mics use a unitised module that terminates in a keyed female connector, the entire system module can be unscrewed and replaced by removing the grille clamping ring. For a working band, that meant fewer backup mics to carry — a failed module swaps out rather than retiring the whole microphone. AKG's own copy notes that this modularity was intended to minimize the number of spares a touring group needed, and that the D 320 B and D 330 BT carry the module as an integral part of the transducer system. It's the kind of detail that reads as marketing until you've had a mic die mid-show.
The company was also explicit about where it saw the competition. AKG's advertising states that although pricing was competitive, the D300 series' values and features exceeded those of competing models aimed specifically at the music industry. Distribution ran primarily through music stores and allied equipment suppliers worldwide. Whether the D 320 B actually outclassed its rivals is a judgment for the person behind the board, but the mic's reputation as a workhorse — AKG's own word — suggests it earned its place in enough gig bags to matter.
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