TLM 107
microphone
$1,699
Used market: $1,325*
Specifications
5 of 7 values have a recorded sourceExpert Audio Engineering Commentary
Tonal Profile
Large-diaphragm five-pattern condenser with a joystick for pattern, pad and high-pass; transformerless output, 10 dB-A self-noise.
Gain Staging Advice
11 mV/Pa - exactly the figure Neumann prints for the far cheaper TLM 102, and the same -39.2 dBV/Pa follows from it. What the extra money buys is not level: it is 2 dB less self-noise, five patterns, and a 141 dB max SPL that reaches 153 dB with the pre-attenuation. For the gain calculation the two microphones are interchangeable.
What the datasheet actually says
Quoted verbatim from the manufacturer’s own page, with the date we checked it. We state what is printed, not what anyone intended by it.
«Directional Pattern: Omni, wide angle cardioid, cardioid, hypercardioid, figure-8. Sensitivity at 1 kHz into 1 kohm: 11 mV/Pa»
One sensitivity figure is given for five switchable polar patterns, and the table does not say which pattern it was measured in. Sensitivity is not the same in omni as in figure-8: Neumann's own U 87 Ai page states 20/28/22 mV/Pa for omni/cardioid/figure-8, a spread of 2.9 dB across three patterns of one capsule. So the single number here is either the cardioid value or a typical value, and the datasheet does not distinguish. The same page prints one equivalent noise level, 10 dB-A, for all five patterns, where the U 87 Ai page prints three. In practice: plan gain for the pattern you actually use, allow a few dB either way, and treat 11 mV/Pa as a cardioid figure.
checked 8/5/2026* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~78% retained value). · checked on 8/5/2026