AKG Perception 150

The perception 150 (now called the 170) is AKG's budget small diaphragm condenser mic which definitely seems aimed at the beginning engineer in the home studio. The mic looks fantastic with a shimmery metallic blue coating and a sleek design. It needs phantom power so owners will need to make sure they have preamps that can handle one and you're not just plugging this right into a computer. The mic is a cardioid pattern, and you can't change that. It tends to be very useful to have switchable patterns on small diaphragm condenser mics. People will often use this type of mic for middle to large distance miking, and being able to switch a mic into omni for a bigger sound is very useful in this instance. You will be stuck with cardioid pickup with this mic. It does come with a 20 dB pad which is nice, since this type of mic tends to be very easy to overload, especially if you are miking up a drum set or a really loud guitar amp. AKG does build their mics to be physically solid, so the capsule of this mic is pretty safe in its housing compared to some other companies' designs.

OVERALL OPINION

The sound quality of this mic should be the most important mic, but I think you can tell that this is where AKG saved their money to be able to sell this mic so cheap. It definitely sounds very thin and metallic. I never recorded anything with this mic without having to boost EQ between 150Hz and 300Hz to put a little body back into the mic. It's my opinion that you shouldn't have to automatically correct fundamental flaws in microphone's frequency pickup spectrum, so I really was not impressed with the sound of this mic. You will be hard pressed to find a small diaphragm mic this cheap that will sound any better though, so I guess in the value category it still does okay. I would recommend spending some more money on a nicer mic though, if you are going to spend money on a condenser like this at all.