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Aston Microphones Spirit

Multi-Pattern Condenser Microphone

The Aston Spirit is a large diaphragm, multi-pattern, transformer-balanced condenser microphone, designed and assembled in the UK. It is the second microphone to be premiered by Aston, the fixed-cardioid Origin being the first.

Like its sister mic the Origin, the Spirit has a stainless steel body and a flexible stainless steel protective mesh around the capsule. It also has Aston’s “wave spring” in lieu of a traditional headbasket. Should the microphone be dropped, the wave spring is designed to deform on impact but in such a way that it can be easily reformed to its original shape. It also has the same integrated stand mount on the bottom end cap as the Origin.

Unlike the Origin, the Spirit is a transformer-balanced microphone. The transformer is a toroidal model of Aston’s own design.

Also unlike the Origin, the Spirit is a dual-diaphragm, multi-pattern mic. It has omni, figure 8 and cardioid patterns, accessible from a switch on the front of the mic.

The Spirit also has switches for a pad (-20db/-10db/0db) and a low cut filter at 80Hz.

Where the Origin is comparatively flat in the upper midrange, The Spirit’s frequency plot indicates a presence peak at 4kHz as well as a very pronounced top end above 8kHz.

Tristan Mandel, Aston Microphones

“The mics are actually designed to be quite different sounding so that with both of them you have a really good set of studio tools for most jobs. The transformerless Origin is incredibly pure, natural and smooth sounding, the transformer balanced Spirit has a very open top end with HF sparkle so is exceptionally good for multiple instrument use and more ‘pop’ sounding or aggressive vocal style. If you had to sum it up, Origin is more of a vintage sound, Spirit more modern.”

The Aston Spirit is sold in a padded cardboard box.

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The mic was released in 2016.

Specifications

Pickup Patterns	Pads & Filters
CHART Omnidirectional (23.7 mV/Pa; 20 - 20,000 Hz) CHART Cardioid (23.7 mV/Pa; 20 - 20,000 Hz) CHART Bidirectional (23.7 mV/Pa; 20 - 20,000 Hz)	Pad: -20db/-10db (Via Switch) Filter: 80Hz low cut (Via Switch)

Capsule Dimensions	Impedance	SPL/Noise
Diaphragm diameter: 25mm	n/a	Max SPL: 138 dB Self-noise: 14.0 dB(A)

Weight	Length	Max Diameter	Interface(s)
n/a	n/a	n/a	3-pin XLR male (1)

Power Specifications
Requires phantom power Phantom voltage: 48v

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