Audio Technica AT4050/CM5 (circa 1994)
The archive has little on the AT4050/CM5. What survives is a pair of period reviews and one ad campaign. Mix (June 1994, p.131) ran a field test by George Petersen that told readers to forget what they thought they knew about Audio-Technica - that the company's mics had always drawn compliments with an implicit "for the money" qualifier, and the 4050 was different. Petersen also noted that with a non-padded sound handling capability of 149 dB SPL, you'd rarely reach for the switchable 10 dB pad.
EQ (August 1994, p.24) listed the practical facts. It's a dual-element condenser studio microphone with switchable cardioid, figure-eight, and omnidirectional patterns, 20 Hz-20 kHz response, 100-ohm output, 17 dB SPL A-weighted noise, and a 132 dB dynamic range. List price was $995, including the AT8441 shock mount. The mic weighed 16.9 ounces and ran on 48V phantom power, drawing 3.2 mA. A recurring 1994-95 print campaign, "The Stuff That Legends Are Made Of," quoted Alan Parsons saying the CM5 and the rest of the 40 Series put Audio-Technica among the very best mic makers, at a price well under the competition. That was advertising copy, not editorial review, but it suggests the CM5 was aimed squarely at the same rooms as the big-name studio condensers of the day.
Production years, later revisions, and most of the model’s history are not in the record. What we have is two contemporaneous reviews and a marketing push — thin, but enough to show the CM5 as Audio-Technica’s bid to be taken seriously at the top of the studio market.
Known specs from period reviews:
- Dual-element condenser, switchable cardioid / figure-eight / omnidirectional
- Frequency response: 20 Hz–20 kHz
- Output impedance: 100 ohms
- Noise: 17 dB SPL A-weighted (typical)
- Dynamic range: 132 dB, 1 kHz at max SPL
- Max SPL: 149 dB without pad; 159 dB with 10 dB pad
- Power: 48V DC phantom (±4V), 3.2 mA
- Price: $995 including AT8441 shock mount
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