Sennheiser MD 515/516
A pair of ProForce dynamics that Sennheiser pitched on gain-before-feedback and road toughness. For a while, it also threw in a free pair of headphones to move them.
Overview
The MD 515/516 shows up in the margins of early-nineties recording magazines, not in a glossy catalog spread. It's listed alongside its ProForce siblings, the MD 511/512 and MD 518. The surviving documentation makes clear that Sennheiser aimed the whole ProForce line at working performers, and the MD 515/516 was one of the models the company was actively pushing. The pitch in the trade press leaned on three claims: Sennheiser's "award-winning sonic superiority," gain that reaches "incredible levels before feedback," and a combination of new high-tech materials meant to keep the mic rock-solid on the road. That's marketing copy, not a lab report. It does tell you who the mic was for.
The MD 515/516 recurs across a cluster of 1993-94 magazine pages, usually as one name in a three-up listing with the MD 511/512 and MD 518. That repeated placement suggests a coordinated campaign rather than a one-off. Sennheiser's own advertising from the period billed the ProForce range as built with "laser-age manufacturing techniques" that kept costs low "but their sound and ruggedness are uncompromised Sennheiser." That's the company's framing, so read it as positioning, not a measured verdict.
One promotional detail stands out in the record. For a limited time, buyers of an MD 515/516 received a free set of Sennheiser HD 440 II headphones, while buyers of the MD 511/512 got HD 435s. A bundled-headphone giveaway is what a manufacturer does when it wants to seed a new range into working hands quickly. It also means plenty of these mics entered studios and gig bags as part of a package deal, which is worth knowing if you're trying to date one or wondering why so many turn up with a pair of period Sennheiser cans alongside.
Beyond that, the documented record on the MD 515/516 is thin. The archive's source material does not establish the capsule type, polar pattern, frequency response, impedance, or sensitivity of this model, and it gives no production years or original list price. What can be said is narrower but solid. It was part of Sennheiser's ProForce line, it was advertised in the American recording press in 1993 and 1994 alongside the MD 511/512 and MD 518, and it was marketed on feedback rejection and durability for live work. Mix (September 1993, p.234) and EQ-Magazine (February 1994, p.31) both carried the ProForce campaign in which the MD 515/516 appears. They help date the model's active promotional life, even though they don't hand over a spec sheet.
For anyone chasing one today, treat the MD 515/516 as a period ProForce dynamic from the early nineties. Verify the actual capsule and connector on the individual unit in front of you, and don't assume specs from its siblings carry over. The MD 511/512 and MD 518 are separate models with their own documentation, and the archive treats them separately.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.