The sE Electronics RNT is the third microphone in the collaboration between sE Electronics and Rupert Neve Designs, founded by the legendary audio designer Rupert Neve.
Much like the RNR1 Active Ribbon and RN17 Small-Diaphragm Condenser before it, the RNT has been developed over several years of careful listening and measurement by Rupert Neve, Siwei Zou, and the engineering teams from both Rupert Neve Designs and sE Electronics.
This new flagship tube microphone has been designed to bring the larger-than-life sounds of classic studio microphones into the modern age with greater depth and clarity than ever before.
The RNT utilizes fully discrete, Class-A electronics throughout both of its active stages.
The first stage is tube-based, with a hand-selected, low-noise ECC82 tube within the microphone chassis, and implementing a custom-built Rupert Neve Designs output transformer.
The second stage is within the floor box – which controls polar pattern, filter and gain switching and is also coupled with a second custom-made Rupert Neve Designs output transformer. It is built around the same custom op-amps used in Rupert Neve Designs’ 5088 recording console, known worldwide for its transparency and headroom.
The custom handcrafted large-diaphragm true condenser capsule is born from years of rigorous testing and listening, and developed and constructed by hand in sE’s own factory.
The Class-A electronics and switchable gain have been designed to ensure a massive dynamic range, with high sound pressure level (SPL) handling capability, extremely low-noise components, and the switchable low-cut filters eliminate rumble or footfall noise, and can also compensate for an excess of bass frequencies caused by the proximity effect.
This design enables the RNT to close-mic many instruments including electric guitar speaker cabinets, brass instruments and drums.
Lastly, the 9-position polar pattern switch allows for omnidirectional, cardioid, and figure-eight pickup patterns (plus several positions in between each) for precise tailoring of the balance between direct and ambient sound when recording with the RNT.
What's In The Box?
- RNT microphone
- Custom shock-mount
- RNT Floor Box (Power Supply)
- 8-pin cable (to connect mic to floor box)
- IEC power cable
- Wooden microphone box
- Flight case
- sE logo sticker
- User manual with warranty card
- Street price $3,249