Nakamichi CM-300
A true condenser that runs on a AA cell or phantom power, with capsules you can swap — the sleeper of the Nakamichi microphone line.
Overview
Nakamichi built its reputation on cassette decks that cost more than most people's cars, so it's easy to forget the company also made microphones. The CM-300 is the one that turns up in the strangest places: studio equipment lists from the late 1970s show it sitting alongside Neumann U-87s and AKG 414s, not because the studios were cheap, but because engineers trusted it. Mix (December 1978, p.46) listed the CM-300 among the microphones at a Hauppauge, Long Island facility that also kept a U-87 and a pair of 414s on hand — a small but telling detail about where this mic landed in the professional pecking order.
What makes the CM-300 interesting is the combination of a genuine externally polarized condenser capsule with a powering scheme that refuses to be precious about it. Owners can run it from an internal battery — a single 1.5V AA cell — or feed it 48V phantom power over the XLR connection. That flexibility mattered in the 1970s and matters more now, when a lot of people record into interfaces that may or may not supply reliable phantom power, or into a portable rig where a battery is simply easier.
The capsule is a large-diaphragm design, and the system is interchangeable: the mic ships with both cardioid and omnidirectional capsules, and swapping between them is the work of a moment. The CM-300 is a true condenser, which is part of why it retains a following among people who've spent time with one. Reviewer Hugh Robjohns has discussed the CM-300 favorably as a vintage condenser in Sound On Sound, treating it as a classic worth revisiting rather than a curiosity.
It's a solid-state design, and it's built like the rest of Nakamichi's output from the period — which is to say, with more attention to the internals than the badge might suggest to someone who only knows the brand from its tape decks.
Key Features
True Condenser Capsule, Externally Polarized
The CM-300 is a true condenser — externally polarized. That distinction matters to anyone who's compared the two families side by side: a true condenser needs its polarizing voltage supplied, which is part of why the mic has the powering arrangement it does. The capsule is a large-diaphragm design, and the mic is described as solid-state throughout. The fact sheet doesn't capture a frequency response figure, so anyone quoting one is working from a source that isn't in front of us — treat published curves with appropriate skepticism until verified against the original documentation.
Interchangeable Cardioid and Omnidirectional Capsules
The CM-300's party trick is the interchangeable capsule system. It ships with both a cardioid and an omnidirectional capsule, so the same body covers close-in vocal and instrument work (cardioid) and room capture or ambient pickup (omni). The capsules are the same family used across Nakamichi's microphone line — the budget CM-100, for instance, was built to accept the CM-300's optional capsules. That's a useful bit of cross-compatibility for anyone who owns more than one Nakamichi mic, and it means a CM-300 body with a missing capsule isn't dead weight.
Battery or 48V Phantom Powering
Dual powering is the feature that keeps the CM-300 usable today. It runs from a single 1.5V AA battery loaded internally, or from standard 48V phantom power over the XLR output. The battery option means the mic works with recorders and interfaces that don't supply phantom, and it means a session doesn't stop because a preamp's phantom rail is misbehaving. The exact battery designation is worth confirming against the original manual — the fact sheet flags it for re-verification — but AA cells are common enough that this is a non-issue in practice.
XLR Output and Studio-Standard Connectivity
The output is a standard XLR connector, so the CM-300 plugs into any normal preamp, mixer, or interface without adapters. For a mic with battery powering and swappable capsules, that conventional connectivity is a quiet virtue: nothing about using the CM-300 requires a special cable or a proprietary box.
Collectibility & Value
The CM-300 has the profile of a sleeper rather than a blue-chip collectible. It shows up in RecordingHacks' database among Nakamichi's microphones, which is where a lot of buyers first encounter it, and Robjohns' favorable treatment of it as a vintage condenser in Sound On Sound has done the model no harm among people who read that publication. Used-market pricing is discussed in the available research, but no exact figure was captured — so anyone shopping should treat asking prices as variable and verify against current listings rather than relying on a number from a decade-old forum post.
Capsules are the other wear point — the interchangeable system is a feature, but it also means capsules get swapped, stored loose, and occasionally lost. A complete CM-300 with both capsules, the windscreen, and the cable is worth more than a bare body, and buyers should confirm what's actually included before committing.
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