Aston Spirit 5th Anniversary Edition

Forget princes winning the hearts of actresses, governments losing their majorities and solo artists smashing the chart algorithms with looper pedals. What should really have grabbed all the British headlines in 2017 was the launch of the Aston Spirit, a truly professional condenser mic which people could actually afford.

Spirit has become a fixture in many of the world's top recording facilities, attracting many favourable comparisons with far costlier 'standard' mics. Chris Porter, who produced David Bowie, George Michael, and many other A-list artists, commented: "I use my Origin and Spirits happily alongside classic microphones such as the Neumann 49b, U87 or AKG C414s and often choose the Astons". And Dave Pemberton (Kasabian, The Prodigy, Orbital, Groove Armada) tells the story of a seamless switch from old to new: The vintage U47 started to pop and fizzle so I switched to a Spirit. The clients seemed unaware of the change... the Spirit had more presence than the U47 and it certainly kept the warmth. Like all Aston's microphones the Spirit was developed in conjunction with the Aston 33, a panel of leading producers, engineers and musicians who blind-tested the prototypes against leading competitor models to achieve world-class performance without an earth-shattering price tag. Only 2000 of the 5th Anniversary Spirit will be produced, meaning it will surely become hot property amongst the boutique brand's fast-growing fan club.

• Limited edition - only 2000 worldwide!

• Built-in steel-knit mesh pop filter

• Developed in conjunction with the Aston 33 panel of top producers, engineers and artists

• Multi-pattern: omni, cardioid and figure-of-eight and Custom-wrap packaging

The Aston Sound
Right from the start of ‘project Aston’, we engaged with some of the top audio professionals in the industry to create a development panel to be our ears, while we focussed on perfecting every tiny detail in our mics, to finally produce what we believe to be the very best products in their class.

Wave-Form Spring Head
The Aston Spirit has our signature wave-form spring head. This unique design not only looks great, but delivers an unprecedented degree of protection for the heart of your microphone, the capsule. The shock resistant wave-form design allows the head of the mic to distort if given a heavy knock, and then return to its normal position, without any damage. It also offers a degree of off-axis rejection, helping to eliminate unwanted artefacts from your recordings

Built In Pop Filter
Aston’s vocal condenser microphones have an exclusive mesh-knit pop filter built into the wave-form head. The random weave allows sound to pass while drastically eliminating unwanted plosives at source. It also shields against multiple wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation making our microphones ideal in critically sensitive electronic applications. This completely encapsulating, single piece, mesh cage is formed in stainless steel, so won’t rust with use, and can even be removed and washed.

Direct to stand mounting
Yet another unique design element of the Aston Spirit is the use of custom moulded end caps with integrated XLR and universal stand thread adaptor. Because the internal shock absorption system is so good, you can mount the microphone directly to a stand via this built in thread and interchangeable thread adapter with outstandingly low handling noise. The design also makes Aston microphones extremely easy to repair and maintain.

PCB

• A superbly balanced mix of discrete and integrated electronic circuitry

• Harmonised circuit stage arrangement for easy integration from phantom power input circuitry to the capsule voltage bias

• Novel non-linear voltage/current source rectification to provide controlled amplification and smooth/ clear audio output

Eco-Friendly Packaging
We have put our hearts and minds into creating the most beautiful performance pieces possible with each Aston product. When it comes to packaging we believe simplicity is king. Protective, re-useable, environmentally sensible packaging that doesn’t cost the earth.

SPECIFICATIONS

Transducer Type: Condenser
Acoustic Operating Principle: Pressure Gradient
Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz (+/-3dB)
Equivalent Noise Level: 14dB A-Weighted
Sensitivity at 1kHz into 1kohm: 23.7mV/Pa
Maximum SPL for THD 0.5%: 138dB
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (rel. 94dB SPL): 80dB A-Weighted
Polar pattern: Omni/Cardioid/Figure-of-Eight
Pad Switches: -20dB/-10dB/0dB
Low-Cut Filter: 80Hz
Product length: 175 mm / 6.89 in
Product width: 54 mm / 2.13 in
Product weight: 625 g / 1.38 lb