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Lauten Audio LS-208

Cardioid Condenser Microphone

The LS-208 is an end-address, large-diaphragm condenser microphone. While its form factor immediately brings to mind broadcast applications — at which this mic is intended to excel — its frequency response and construction make it potentially more versatile in actual stage and studio use. The manufacturer asserts that its greatest utility is in close-mic applications.

The polar pattern of the LS-208 is nominally cardioid. That said, the graph is slightly tighter than typical cardioid response but without the narrow lobe present at the rear of hyper- and super-cardioid patterns. One feature touted by the company is this mic’s excellent off-axis rejection.

There are two switches on the mic body that engage high- and low-pass filters. The highpass filter can be set at 50Hz or 120Hz and the lowpass at 8kHz or 10kHz. This mic exhibits a strong proximity effect.

The LS-208 features a 1-inch, center-terminated and gold-sputtered capsule and provides a frequency response of 20-20,000Hz with no filters engaged. This mic can handle 135dB SPL with no pad.

The circuit is designed around a USA-made FET and utilizes low-distortion polypropylene capacitors as well as a custom output transformer. This mic does require phantom power.

The LS-208 ships with a hard mount, shockmount, foam windscreen and padded flight case.

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The mic was released in 2018.

Specifications

Pickup Patterns	Pads & Filters
CHART Cardioid (5 mV/Pa; 20-20,000 Hz)	Filter: 50Hz Highpass (Via Switch) Filter: 120Hz Highpass (Via Switch) Filter: 8kHz Lowpass (Via Switch) Filter: 10kHz Lowpass (Via Switch)

Capsule Dimensions	Impedance	SPL/Noise
Diaphragm diameter: 25.4mm	150 Ohms (Low)	Max SPL: 135 dB

Weight	Length	Max Diameter	Interface(s)
480g (16.93oz)	190mm (7.48'')	n/a	3-pin XLR male (1)

Power Specifications
Requires phantom power

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