Mkh 8030 - Page 19

norfolksoundman9 · 17th February 2025

You may well be right, John. The MKH 30 and MKH 50 only were still in production very recently (when Sennheiser sent me these direct), but things may have changed since: have you heard specifically these last two have been discontinued in the last few months?

Cheers,

Roland

ronmac · 19th February 2025

Only 8000 series are being shown on sennheiser.com website.

I wonder if the demise of the 20/30/40/50 products are a result of manufacturing decision, or sales decision.

Yannick · 19th February 2025

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronmac ➡️

Only 8000 series are being shown on sennheiser.com website.

I wonder if the demise of the 20/30/40/50 products are a result of manufacturing decision, or sales decision.

IMO : as much as we like to delve into Sennheiser's choices and marketing driven decisions, it would be my educated guess that it is becoming hard to keep the original series alive due to lack of correct electronic components ? It seems reasonable that after 30 years they would need a redesign of the electronic boards ?
Anyway, I am quite happy with our 4 new 8000 series mics - luckily the 8030 exists today ...

On the German site the MKH416, MKH418, MKH30, MKH50 and MKH800twinNX are still available.
However, the MKH800twin is not .

norfolksoundman9 · 19th February 2025

On the Sennheiser website page for the MKH 30 that comes up for UK users (https://www.sennheiser.com/en-gb/cat...-30-p48-002872) it now says:
'This product is no longer available to be purchased.'

I must have one of the very last ones made!

Cheers,

Roland

DHseetoo · 19th February 2025

There are more than enough of used MKH20/30/40 come up for resale for all of us here who actually might care. If you really want one, or two you can always find them. All the MKH mics I bought, I bought them used and I have a lot of them.

It reminds me of those fancy concerts at Carnegie Hall you find out at the last minute you very much want to go hear; just show up at the door and you always will find a ticket, often for cheaper than what is printed on the ticket.

JamesClark1991 🎙️ · 26th February 2025

The MKH-50 will be in production for a long time I think. It's still heavily used in location sound dialogue recording for numerous reasons. If in the past few year you have watched: Casualty, Gavin and Stacy, A Good Girls Guide to Murder or Life and Death in the Warehouse (amongst many others) you have been listening to the MKH-50.

It's also seen an uptake by some Youtubers in the past couple of years which surprised me.

norfolksoundman9 · 26th February 2025

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesClark1991 ➡️

The MKH-50 will be in production for a long time I think. It's still heavily used in location sound dialogue recording for numerous reasons. If in the past few year you have watched: Casualty, Gavin and Stacy, A Good Girls Guide to Murder or Life and Death in the Warehouse (amongst many others) you have been listening to the MKH-50.

It's also seen an uptake by some Youtubers in the past couple of years which surprised me.

Let's hope so: there's certainly nothing on the Sennheiser product page to say it too has been discontinued: https://www.sennheiser.com/en-gb/cat...-50-p48-003109

Cheers,

Roland

David Rick · 1st March 2025

The MKH 50 is such a standard among boom operators that I can't imagine them being discontinued. As long as they keep that in production, you should be able to buy MKH 40's as well because there's very little difference between them and they can be made in the same production cell.

norfolksoundman9 · 1st March 2025

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Rick ➡️

The MKH 50 is such a standard among boom operators that I can't imagine them being discontinued. As long as they keep that in production, you should be able to buy MKH 40's as well because there's very little difference between them and they can be made in the same production cell.

I don't follow this David: the MKH 40 has already been out of production for some time.

Cheers,

Roland

David Rick · 1st March 2025

Quote:

Originally Posted by norfolksoundman9 ➡️

I don't follow this David: the MKH 40 has already been out of production for some time.

I wasn't aware of that, Roland. Beyond corporate stupidity, Sennheiser really has no excuse for building MKH 50's but not MKH 40's. I'll wager only the back-side acoustic network is different between them. Probably 90% of the BOM is identical. On paper, the MKH 50 probably looks way more successful than the MKH 40 so perhaps some businessperson decided to make their product-line KPI's look better at the cost of incremental sales revenue that costs them next-to-nothing to maintain. It stupid, but I've seen it happen many times.

norfolksoundman9 · 1st March 2025

Yes, very sad about the MKH 40, David. And, indeed, the rest of the series.

John Willett · 17th March 2025

Quote:

Originally Posted by norfolksoundman9 ➡️

You may well be right, John. The MKH 30 and MKH 50 only were still in production very recently (when Sennheiser sent me these direct), but things may have changed since: have you heard specifically these last two have been discontinued in the last few months?

Cheers,

Roland

Last year Sennheiser in Germany asked me to write an article on RF condenser microphones for them (it seems they still consider me the expert on these, even though I stopped working for them 15 years ago) - I was happy to do this for them. It was while talking with my contact there that I was told that the old series was now, sadly, discontinued. Luckily i still have my pairs of MKH 20, 30 and 40.

James Lehmann · 4 weeks ago

As of the date of this post, the Sennheiser UK website currently lists the following MKH mics:

MKH 8020 Omni
MKH 8030 Fig 8
MKH 8040 Cardioid
MKH 8050 Supercardioid
MKH 8060 Supercardioid, Lobar
MKH 8070 Lobar
MKH 8090 Wide Cardioid
MKH 416-P48 U3 Hypercardioid
MKH 418 M/S Stereo
MKH 30 Fig 8 This product is no longer available for purchase
MKH 50 Supercardioid
MKH 800 Twin NI This product is no longer available for purchase

norfolksoundman9 · 3 weeks ago

Yep, that squares with what I understand from Sennheiser.

Cheers,

Roland

The Listener · 3 weeks ago

I wonder when the prices for the used MKHs will go up. When they become collectibles and "vintage".

heva · 3 weeks ago

Is already happening; lucky me got a pair of 2021 mkh20’s for a good price 😎

The Listener · 3 weeks ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by heva ➡️

Is already happening; lucky me got a pair of 2021 mkh20’s for a good price 😎

Does it? I've seen one MKH30 on reverb for around 1k - that is not "vintage unobtanium" price, yet.

Also I recently got one MKH20 for 850EUR. So it's not yet really happening, I guess...

nat8808 · 3 weeks ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Listener ➡️

Does it? I've seen one MKH30 on reverb for around 1k - that is not "vintage unobtanium" price, yet.

Also I recently got one MKH20 for 850EUR. So it's not yet really happening, I guess...

My MKH30 was £500 by auction on eBay.

Their previous one sold for £450 as a buy it now.

That was only several months ago..

MKH40 and 30s failed to sell last week due to not reaching reserves, only hitting £450 in bids ..

(p.s. they also have a listing for both in a Rycote blimp and cabling for £1600 or offer on UK eBay, should anyone want all that - not a bad deal at all, plus an offer may get it cheaper!)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186934948348

The Listener · 3 weeks ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by nat8808 ➡️

My MKH30 was £500 by auction on eBay.

Their previous one sold for £450 as a buy it now.

That was only several months ago..

MKH40 and 30s failed to sell last week due to not reaching reserves, only hitting £450 in bids ..

(p.s. they also have a listing for both in a Rycote blimp and cabling for £1600 or offer on UK eBay, should anyone want all that - not a bad deal at all, plus an offer may get it cheaper!)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186934948348

Very good offers... nowhere near the "vintage" prices...

Far from what people ask for beaten up Neumann KM84...

And the situation is somewhat the same regarding the "tone" - the Sennheiser MKH8000 series vs the old MKH series is pretty similar to what the contemporary Neumann KM is to the vintage ones... The new ones being better in most of the technical specs, but not in "tone"... And not made anymore...
MKH30 for 2,5k anyone?

Salty Heaven · 3 weeks ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Listener ➡️

Very good offers... nowhere near the "vintage" prices...

Far from what people ask for beaten up Neumann KM84...

And the situation is somewhat the same regarding the "tone" - the Sennheiser MKH8000 series vs the old MKH series is pretty similar to what the contemporary Neumann KM is to the vintage ones... The new ones being better in most of the technical specs, but not in "tone"... And not made anymore...
MKH30 for 2,5k anyone?

I have two MKH30's on eBay Australia at what I think is a reasonable price ($AUD 1400), they are sitting there with no takers.
Perhaps I'm being unrealistic with my price? However I'd rather keep them than let them go for much less.

DHseetoo · 3 weeks ago

As I had said before, there are plenty of used MKH20, 30 and 40 mics available for reasonable prices. Keep in mind, those mics were in production for 40 years much longer than Neumann KMxx.

The Listener · 3 weeks ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salty Heaven ➡️

I have two MKH30's on eBay Australia at what I think is a reasonable price ($AUD 1400), they are sitting there with no takers.
Perhaps I'm being unrealistic with my price? However I'd rather keep them than let them go for much less.

Yes, people are not obsessed with them as they are with Neumanns... 😀

Salty Heaven · 3 weeks ago

Back to the 8030...

Here's a little tune, 8050/8030 mid/side pair. Recorded in a little cabin. Sound Devices mixpre6 ii. The distant white noise is rain outside.

This is a close mic'd capture! Just to warn you all that are not so interested in this.

Tom Waits' epic tune 'Who are you?'

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