PRODUCT REVIEW
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LEWITT LCT 540 S M Engineer and producer Ross Simpson tests out the latest creation from Austrian microphone firm Lewitt.. y first experience of Austrian microphone designers, Lewitt, was nearly a year ago when I reviewed their innovative dual output LCT 640 TS condenser. I was very impressed with the next-gen design, quality engineering and remarkable results for such a reasonable cost, making it a real option in a crowded market. Founder and CEO Roman Perschon’s latest creation, the LCT 540 Subzero (LCT 540 S in Europe and UK), follows in similar steps to their LCT 640 TS in terms of unimpeachable build quality, zinc die cast enclosure and full feature set of supplied accessories. But whereas the 640 TS benefits from the flexibility of the infinitely adjustable polar pattern, the 540 Subzero has been created with a fixed cardioid 1” capsule and just one diaphragm, meaning you’d need to buy two of them (with Lewitt’s Perfect Match Tecnology) to achieve stereo recordings. So why might you want to add the 540 S to your list? Well, the clue is in its full name; the LCT 540 Subzero!
A Bold Statement It can be all too easy to get caught up in marketing ‘mumbo-jumbo’ and Lewitt are no exception to the rule when it comes to the LCT 540 Subzero, as their main headliner for this mic is ‘Better Than Human Hearing’. They claim that “comparing the hearing threshold to the self-noise values of the LCT 540 Subzero, you can clearly see that our microphone is always below the threshold of hearing”. I’m not sure about you but when I read claims like this I can be a little dubious, after all, how can we prove it? In fact, Lewitt built a unique measurement device weighing in at over 4,500KG (around the same as two large modern 4x4 cars). This “heavily dampens frequencies up to a 1/10,000th of their sound pressure. The whole frequency range of a microphone from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz is dampened by 60 dB, up to 80 dB on the higher frequencies.” All rather impressive, but these kind of technical figures can become a little overwhelming for some and perhaps can detract from what is really important how does it actually sound – this low self-noise and yet highly sensitive newcomer? 40
March 2018
MICROPHONES
Key Features Accessories: Shock mount, magnetic pop filter, protective case Sensitivity: 41 mV/Pa, -28 dBV/Pa Perfect Match Technology: Sensitivity matched at 1 kHz Max SPL: 136 dBSPL, 0 dB pre-attenuationRRP: £629.00 ($871.00) www.lewitt-audio.com