CAD Audio celebrates over 90 years in the microphone business and 65 years since the original A77 appeared on stages in 1957. The A77Bk comes in a high-gloss midnight black finish and features a super-cardioid, large-diaphragm (1.25-inches) dynamic element. It retains the famous styling of the original Astatic A77 (Patent #185,712) but has updated circuitry and a modern version of the capsule for more reliable and solid performance
The A77Bk weighs just 1-lb and is a side-address microphone I found excellent for my first use for a voice-over session. It has minimal proximity effect when speaking up close and I found it also took a conscious effort to "pop" the mic with p-pops. Its hypercardioid pick-up pattern lessens the amount of annoying "room tone" that mixes with the desired sound. I love this when recording in highly reverberant spaces.
The new PowerGap high gauss Neodymium magnet along with the TrueFlex diaphragm provided plenty of output level into my Sunset Sound S1P mic pre-amp. The sound is upfront, not boomy, and clear and well-articulated.
The A77Bk is built for onstage live sound, studio recording (many instruments sound good recorded with this mic), broadcast (the black finish will not reflect light back into your camera) and podcasting—where I am using it all the time. Lastly, there is a small blank panel at the base of the mic where an optional on/off slide switch could be positioned later if needed. The A77Bk comes with a two-year warranty and sells for $149.99 MSRP.
