MICROPHONE OF THE MONTH JANUARY 2026

The M 14, also known as GNM 14 (Goose Neck Microphone), was an omnidirectional condenser tube microphone with a gooseneck.

It was Neumann's earliest post-war product, dating back to 1946. It used the renowned M 7 capsule (produced since 1932), with an RV12P2000 tube directly behind it. All other components, including the transformer (in a GNT 14 wall-mounted cabinet), and the power supply, were external, giving the microphone an unusually small size for the time.

This was ideal, as the microphone was intended for film and therefore had to be as invisible as possible. A battery power supply made it useable for location recording.

A shielded microphone cable allowed for a distance of 50 meters between the microphone and the transformer cabinet. A connector with a built-in transformer was also available, allowing the microphone to be used up to 200 meters away from the power supply.

The RV12P2000 was a tube produced by Telefunken for the German army, since 1936. After the war, these tubes were widely available. Tubes for military use had to meet the highest quality standards, they were perfectly suited for tube microphones.

For use in the M 14, the RV12P2000's tube base had to be modified to fit the microphone head.

Schoeps would later also use the tube for their first microphones. Neumann would use another military Telefunken tube in West Berlin for the U 47, the VF 14.

Besides film, GNM 14s were also used for orchestral recordings. In 1954, the model was updated as the M 14 b, without the gooseneck.

The M 14 was nicknamed the 'Thälman microphone'; Pairs of M 14s were used for stereo recordings of the film 'Ernst Thälmann - Führer seiner Klasse' (Leader of his Class) in 1955.
Thälmann was one of the most revered heroes of the GDR. Before World War II, he was the leader of the German Communist Party. He died in captivity in the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944.
After the war, many streets were named after him, in Berlin a large public park bears his name.

In 1961, the model was succeeded by the M 61, a microphone preamplifier with a small-diaphragm omni-capsule, similar to the M 582 preamplifier with an M 93 omni-capsule.

Many more types feature in my book Witnesses of Words. More information about that can be found at www.witnessesofwords.com