Electro-Voice CS-15
An electret condenser that takes a hand-held beating and keeps working. It was the working studio's answer to the fragile European condensers of its day.
Overview
Electro-Voice built the CS-15 as a single-D cardioid electret condenser. The company's own promotional copy makes the design intent plain: it was meant to be light, to reject off-axis sound, and to add controlled bass boost as a singer moves in close. That last quality is the proximity effect, sold as a feature instead of a flaw. It made the mic a natural for broadcast and sound-reinforcement work, where a vocalist drifts between "close and closer" or a trumpeter buries the bell of the horn in the grille. Those players need a microphone that stays smooth instead of turning to mud.
The headline spec is the powering. The CS-15 can be powered remotely with anywhere from 8 to 48 volts. That range is wide enough to run off the phantom supplies of a surprising variety of consoles and outboard preamps, with no proprietary supply needed. It mattered in the late 1970s, when studio powering standards were still a patchwork.
According to Electro-Voice, what separates the CS-15 from the electret condensers before it is the charge retention of the element itself. The company claimed to have developed an electret that could endure sound pressure levels that "would have blown the charge off earlier electrets". That was a direct shot at the reputation electrets had earned for going soft in front of a kick drum or a screaming guitar cabinet. Whether or not every earlier electret deserved that reputation, the claim is the reason the CS-15 exists as a distinct product and not a rebadged version of something else in the line.
The physical package tells the same story. The CS-15P variant carries a head with a 27-mm (1.0625-inch) outside diameter, and the element fills the bore of the housing. That has consequences. Audio (March 1981, p.49) noted that the high-frequency characteristics of the CS-15P cannot be expected to be as linear with frequency as the smaller C015P head, though the reviewer judged the response comparable to many other condensers then current. So the CS-15 trades a little top-end flatness for the larger diaphragm area, which helps it handle level and deliver that proximity-enhanced low end.
Electro-Voice's advertising leaned hard on durability, and the copy reads as marketing, not measurement. The CS-15 condenser is described as "every bit as rugged as our most rugged dynamic," backed by what the company called the strongest condenser microphone guarantee in the business. That is a manufacturer's claim, not an independent finding, and collectors should treat it that way. The mic was pitched at people who had been burned by condensers that died on the road.
The CS-15 sits in Electro-Voice's "C" series of electret condensers, alongside the C015P, whose omnidirectional pattern and 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz response got separate promotional emphasis. The two are siblings, not substitutes: one cardioid, one omni. Buyers who wanted the omni's reach into the very limits of audibility were pointed at the C015P. Buyers who needed off-axis rejection, in a room with monitors, a crowd, or a camera crew, got the CS-15.
Similar items on eBay
No exact Electro-Voice CS-15 listings are live right now — these searches show current Electro-Voice and similar vintage audio gear on eBay:
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.