I’ve been a big fan of Soyuz equipment since a rep came down to Chase Park Transduction here in Athens, Georgia, and let us demo several of their microphones a few years ago. After the demo session, studio owner David Barbe [Tape Op #14] decided to buy their Bomblet condenser mic [#140], and the rep was so friendly they let me borrow several microphones for a bit longer to use on an upcoming Kishi Bashi session that I had at Echo Mountain in Asheville, North Carolina. Since then, I’ve purchased their Launcher microphone booster [#167], V1 dynamic microphone [#171], and their 013 Ambisonic microphone [#163]. Amazing equipment and top customer service are what I’ve come to expect from Soyuz as a company, and they haven’t let me down yet. So, I was extremely curious when I found out that they were doing a variant of their flagship 017 tube condenser microphone [#117] called the Silver 17.
The main difference, from an electrical design perspective, is that the capsule in the Silver 17 is edge-terminated rather than center-terminated like the traditional Soyuz 017. What this means is that the diaphragm of the capsule is mounted so that it is making electrical contact (terminating) at the edge of the diaphragm rather than the center. Neumann U 87s and U 47s are famous examples of microphones with center-terminated capsules, whereas the AKG C12 has an edge-terminated capsule. Edge terminating a capsule supposedly gives the diaphragm more sensitivity to higher frequencies for a more “open top end,” often known as “air.” Soyuz provided me with both the new Silver 17 capsule and the original 017 capsule so that I could not only take the new mic for a spin but get a perspective on the sonic differences between these two designs.