Sennheiser MKH 80
A compact multipattern condenser that solved the pattern-switching problem electrically - and never became a household name.
Overview
Pick one up and the first thing you notice is how little it weighs for what it does. The MKH 80 is a side-fire condenser with twin capsules arranged with their axis perpendicular to the body, so the element faces you from the side rather than the end. Less obvious, the reviewer admitted, is which side is the front. The instruction manual settles that, not the hardware.
The switching is what made the MKH 80 unusual. Multiple-pattern condensers of this size were rare, and most manufacturers solved the problem with a standard preamp body plus interchangeable capsules. The Schoeps relied on mechanical adjustment of the internal capsules. The Josephson used a single diaphragm with mechanically closed acoustic ports. The MKH 80, by that accounting, was the only compact model with fully electrical switching - a point Studio Sound made in its September 1993 issue (p.41). Electrical switching means no handling noise from turning a mechanical collar, no wear on moving parts inside the capsule assembly, and repeatable settings you can trust between sessions.
The pattern set runs omnidirectional, wide-angled cardioid, cardioid, supercardioid and figure-of-eight. Studio Sound (September 1993, p.41) highlighted that flexibility in its coverage of the MKH 80 as a variable-pattern studio condenser. The front panel carries a set of four small rotary switches - attenuation, treble boost, bass cut among them - plus an LED that helps with orientation. A dual-membrane converter gave bass response in the neighborhood of large-diaphragm mics, which is a big claim for a half-inch diaphragm.
Some context. Sennheiser introduced the current MKH condenser series in 1985 with the MKH-40 cardioid, a range built to meet the demands of digital recording with improved distortion, self-noise and SPL handling. By the time the MKH 80 arrived, the family ran from the omni MKH-20 and figure-of-eight MKH-30 up to the MKH-60/70 interference-tube directional models. All of those were fixed-pattern designs optimized for a single job. The MKH 80 was the flexible one in a family of specialists.
That makes the mic's commercial fate a genuine puzzle. Outside a band of devotees, it never passed into the language. That assessment came seven years after launch, from a writer reviewing its successor, so it is hardly early-adopter hype.
The successor clarifies what the MKH 80 was for. The MKH 800 took the 80's design and added another octave, extending response toward the ultrasonic range that high-sample-rate recording was beginning to demand. The original 80, by contrast, was built for the digital era as it existed in the early nineties. Studio Sound's 2000 review noted that most microphones of the period were already rolling off before they reached the brickwall filter frequency of CD sampling rates, so the 800's extra octave addressed a gap the 80 never claimed to fill.
The MKH 80's appeal today is the same flexibility that failed to make it famous. It has five electrically switched patterns in a body barely wider than some simple end-fire models. It mounts on a conventional Sennheiser sprung clip, and it has the low self-noise and high SPL handling that the RF condenser topology delivers. It also asks for patience with its quirks: the front-orientation ambiguity, the reliance on the manual, the front-panel switches that reward familiarity. In return it covers close cardioid work and figure-of-eight mid-side pairs without swapping bodies mid-session.
Collectors and engineers who seek one out tend to be the devotees that 2000 review mentioned — people who already know what it does and want it for that reason. The market for it has never been driven by reputation the way certain other studio condensers are, which cuts both ways: prices reflect the mic's obscurity rather than its capability, and parts and service knowledge are correspondingly thinner. That's the trade with any sleeper. The MKH 80 rewards the engineer who reads the manual, learns which side is front, and lets the switches do the work.
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