AudioChainsDB

ShurePGA81

microphone

New retail price (MSRP)

$149

Used market: $115*

Check price at ThomannManufacturer datasheet

Specifications

5 of 8 values have a recorded source
Connectors
XLR 3-Pin Male·
Built-in converter
no·
Transducer
Condenser Electret✓
Sensitivity
-48.5✓
Output impedance
600✓
Phantom power required
yes✓
Connection
XLR-Only✓
Indexable Locales
·

Expert Audio Engineering Commentary

Tonal profile

Small-diaphragm electret cardioid for acoustic instruments and hi-hat. Flat rather than tailored, 129.5 dB SPL before 1% distortion, and a phantom draw of only 2 mA, which matters on a passive splitter or a battery-powered mixer.

Gain staging

At -48.5 dBV/Pa it needs about 6.5 dB less gain than a PGA58 and 7.5 dB less than an SM57 - but it is a condenser, so the 600 ohm output plus phantom means it must see a real mic input, not a line input with a barrel adapter. Shure publishes no self-noise figure for it, so how quiet a source it can serve is not answerable from the sheet.

* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~77% retained value).