e 914
microphone
$429
Used market: $335*
Specifications
3 of 9 values have a recorded sourceExpert Audio Engineering Commentary
Tonal Profile
A small-diaphragm cardioid condenser with an exchangeable capsule, three-step pad and three-step bass filter - the instrument and overhead microphone of the evolution line. 137 / 147 / 157 dB maximum SPL depending on pad position means it will sit over a cymbal without a thought.
Gain Staging Advice
7 mV/Pa is -43.1 dBV/Pa - about 13 dB hotter than an SM57 and enough that a cheap preamp barely has to work. Sennheiser publishes the attenuated figures too, 2.3 mV/Pa and 0.7 mV/Pa, which is -52.8 and -63.1 dBV/Pa; plan the input for those if you engage the pad.
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.
«Equivalent noise level A-weighted 24 dB(A) CCIR-weighted 34 dB»
The specification table gives the A-weighted equivalent noise level as 24 dB(A). The Architect's Specification paragraph on the same page of the same PDF says 'Equivalent noise level shall be 19 dB(A)'. Same weighting, same document, five decibels apart - and self-noise is precisely the figure a buyer uses to decide whether this microphone can be used as a distant overhead. The 24 dB(A) figure is the one in the table with its CCIR counterpart beside it.
checked 8/6/2026* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~78% retained value). · checked on 8/6/2026