AKG PERCEPTION 400 User Manual

PERCEPTION

User Instructions ..............p.2

Please read the manual before using the equipment!

Moded’emploi...............p.14

Veuillez lire cette notice avant d’utiliser le système!

400

Table of Contents

Page

1 Precaution/Unpacking............................3

1.1 Precaution .................................3

1.2 Unpacking .................................3

2 Description .....................................3

2.1 Introduction ................................3

2.2 Features ...................................3

2.3

Optional Accessories .........................5

3 Interfacing......................................6

3.1 General....................................6

3.2 Pinout.....................................6

3.3 Connecting the Microphone ...................6

2

Page

4 Using Your Microphone...........................7

4.1 GeneralHints...............................7

4.2 Selecting Polar Patterns ......................8

5 Cleaning .......................................8

6 Troubleshooting .................................9

7 Specifications..................................11

The International Page ............................26

PERCEPTION

400

1

Precaution/Unpacking

1.1 Precaution

piece of equipment your microphone
will be connected to fulfills the safety
regulations in force in your country
and is fitted with a ground lead.

1.2 Unpacking

Check that the packaging contains all of
the items listed below:

• Microphone

• Spider suspension

• Carrying case

• Mini poster

Should any item be missing, please con­tact your AKG dealer.

Please make sure that the

PERCEPTION

400

2 Description

2.1 Introduction

AKG product. This Manual contains
important instructions for setting up and
operating your equipment. Please take a
few minutes to read the instructions

below carefully before operating the
equipment and keep the Manual for

future reference. Have fun and impress
your audience!
The
rugged true condenser microphone built
to the same strict quality standards as all
other AKG products.
Designed on the basis of AKG’s decades
of know-how and feedback from sound
engineers around the world using AKG
studio microphones every day, this gen­eral-purpose 1-inch large-diaphragm
microphone brings AKG studio quality to
the worlds of recording, live sound, and
broadcasting.

Thank you for purchasing an

PERCEPTION

400 is a heavy-duty,

2.2 Features

• Cardioid polar pattern: The micro­phone is most sensitive to sounds
arriving from in front of it while pick­ing up much less of sounds arriving
from the sides or rear (from monitor
speakers or neighboring instru­ments). This makes the microphone
equally suited for recording and
onstage use.

• Gold-sputtered diaphragm: The
diaphragm is made of a plastic foil
that is gold-sputtered on one side
only to prevent shorting to the back
electrode even at extremely high
sound pressure levels.

• All-metal body: The all-metal body
adds to the rejection of RF interfer­ence so you can use the microphone
near transmitter stations and along
with wireless microphones or other
communications equipment. The
extremely rugged, heavy body and

3

1

Fig. 1: Polar pattern selector (1) on

PERCEPTION

4

400 front.

sturdy front grill protect the micro­phone from damage from tough han­dling on stage.

• High headroom, minimum distor-
tion: Capable of handling sound
pressure levels up to 135 dB without
introducing perceptible distortion and
built to resist high temperatures and
humidity, the microphone will give
excellent results in a wide range of
applications.

• Polar pattern selector: Selector 1 on
the microphone front (refer to fig. 1)
sets the microphone polar pattern to
figure eight, cardioid, or omnidirec­tional.

• Switchable preattenuation pad:
Selector 2 on the microphone rear
(refer to fig. 2) lets you increase the
headroom by 10 dB for distortion­free close-in recording. The preatten­uation pad prevents the micro­phone's output level, particularly at

3 2

Fig. 2: Preattenuation (2) and bass cut
(3) switches on

PERCEPTION

PERCEPTION

400 rear.

400

low frequencies, from overloading the
miniature transformers used in many
mixer input stages, etc.

• Bass cut filter: Selector 3 on the
microphone rear (refer to fig. 2 on
page 4) further reduces low-end dis­tortion caused by footfall or wind
noise, etc. The filter also minimizes
the proximity effect that close-in mik­ing from less than 4 inches causes in
any unidirectional microphone.The
filter rolls off at 12 dB/octave from
300 Hz downward.

2.3 Optional Accessories

• PF 80 studio pop screen

• ST 305 floor stand

• W 4000 external windcscreen

PERCEPTION

400

5

3 Interfacing

3.1 General

The microphone uses a true
condenser transducer designed for 48­volt phantom powering to DIN 45 596/
IEC 268-15. Neither the diaphragm nor
the backplate are permanently polarized,
so the microphone needs an external
power supply.

3.2 Pinout

The microphone provides a balanced
output on a 3-pin male XLR connector:

Pin 1: ground
Pin2:hot
Pin3:return

6

3.3 Connecting the Microphone

Refer to fig. 2 below.

1. Use an XLR cable to connect the
microphone to a balanced XLR input
with phantom power.

Fig. 2: Connecting to a balanced input with phantom power.

2. Switch the phantom power on. (Refer
to the user manual of the unit to which
you connected your microphone.)

PERCEPTION

400

4 Using Your
Microphone

4.1 General Hints

The

PERCEPTION

pose multipattern microphone for re­cording, broadcast, and onstage use.
Every instrument radiates its sound in a
specific way. Therefore, to get the best
sound it is crucial to experiment with
microphone placement.

• Whichever polar pattern you select­ed, it may be good to know which
way the transducer axis is facing: the
front of the microphone is the side of
the body with the AKG logo and
polar pattern selector (1) on it.

• When recording wind instruments or
vocals, make sure not to blow or
sing directly into the microphone.
To avoid unwanted wind and pop
noise or moisture problems, place an

PERCEPTION

400 is a general-pur-

400

optional PF 80 pop screen from AKG
between the microphone and vocal­ist/instrument.

• Keep the microphone dry. Moisture
from blowing or singing directly at the
capsule from a short distance, or
extremely high humidity may cause
the microphone to start crackling or
go very quiet due to partial short cir­cuits in the polarization voltage.

• If you use the microphone in the

open, use an optional AKG W 4000
windscreen to protect the micro-

phone from moisture and reduce
wind noise.

• High volume instruments: You can
use this microphone for close-in
recording of very loud instruments
(brass instruments, kick drum, etc.).
Just switch the preattenuation pad in
to increase the microphone’s capabili­ty of handling sound pressure levels to
145 dB.

1

Fig. 5: Microphone front.

7

• Low-frequency noise: To suppress
low-frequency noise such as air con­ditioning rumble, footfall noise, or
traffic sounds, switch the bass cut fil­ter in.

Selecting Polar Patterns

4.2

Each of the PERCEPTION 400’s selec­table polar patterns is virtually frequency
independent so that reflected sound, too
will be reproduced accurately and uncol­ored.

• Cardioid (center setting): This is a
standard setting for recording and
gives excellent results on all kinds of
voices and a wide range of instru­ments. Remember to aim the micro­phone front (see fig. 5 on page 6) at
the sound source.

• Figure eight (left-hand setting): The
microphone will pick up sounds arriv­ing from the front and rear with equal

8

sensitivity. Use this mode to mic up
the side signal in M/S stereo record­ing or to record two sound sources
(talkers, instruments) facing each
other. It is also a good choice for
cymbal overhead miking.

• Omnidirectional (right-hand setting):
This is the preferred setting for "all
around the mic" recording, high qual­ity ambience (audience sound) mik­ing, or far-field recording in excep­tionally good-sounding large or small
recording rooms, etc.

5 Cleaning

To clean the surface of the
microphone body, use a soft

cloth moistened with water.

PERCEPTION

400

6 Troubleshooting

Problem Possible Cause Remedy

No sound.

Distortion.

PERCEPTION

400

1. Power to mixer and/or amplifier is off.

2. Channel or master fader on mixer, or
volume control on amplifier is at zero.

3. Microphone is not connected to mixer
or amplifier.

4. Cable connectors are seated loosely.

5. Cable is defective.

6. No supply voltage.

1. Channel gain control on mixer set too
high.

1. Switch power to mixer or amplifier on.

2. Set channel or master fader on mixer
or volume control on amplifier to de­sired level.

3. Connect microphone to mixer or am­plifier.

4. Check cable connectors for secure
seat.

5.

Check cable and replace if damaged.

6. Switch phantom power on.
Phantom power supply: insert
batteries.
Check cable and replace if necessary.

1. Turn gain control down CCW.

9