BM-700 Condenser Sound Recording Microphone

Review: Aukeys BM700 mic.

The microphone looks like a Neumann TLM102, but for $17.22(US) I was not expecting it to perform the same as a Neumann. The price of the microphone varies depending on the day .

The Aukeys BM700 looks good (physically) on the web site, so I figured if it was not a good sounding microphone I could take out the microphone element and replace it with something else.

When speaking into the microphone from eight inches away, without the foam wind protector, you will notice popping. Once the wind protector is on it limits the popping significantly.

BM700 microphone grill

The microphones appears to be well made and machine tooling is clean. The gold grill of the microphone is especially bright and clean. The barrel is a non-reflective dull black. The male XLR is recessed into the bottom of the microphone with only 3/16 of an inch of silver connector showing. The pins for the XLR connector appear gold in color.

When looking into the grill I can see the microphone element which appears to be about one inch in diameter. There is no silk or cloth between the grill and the microphone element to prevent dust or foreign objects to come in contact with the microphone element or to prevent pops from speech. If I could take the microphone apart I would add this to the inside of the screen to prolong the life and usefulness of the microphone.

Examining the microphone body I can find no screws or indication how it’s put together. For the moment I’ll assume it’s either a tight threaded barrel or press fit.

Side view of microphone with microphone mount.

The microphone comes with a mic stand holder. The microphone is slid in, (somewhat tight), up to the grill ring, and is held in place by friction.

The tooling of the stand mount will accept both the U.S. standard microphone stand and European. Standard US mic stand thread is 5/8-27. The smaller European-style thread is 3/8-16. An adapter for the smaller European mount is furnished.

The microphone mount is not made out of metal, but it appears to be a hard ABS plastic with stretch strings to cushion the microphone. An adjustable wing-nut allows for positioning of the microphone in a range of 190-degrees up and down. I did notice some “slop” in the mount when the wing nut is loosened for elevation adjustment. It appears the hole for the screw is oval, rather than round. It does not impede the use of the mount, nor make it unusable, but it could have been machined better.

TESTING

Testing the microphone was very difficult. Depending on the axis of the mic in relationship to the test speaker, I would get different results.

The mic claims to have a response of 20 Hz to 16 KHz, but I found the low end lacking in many cases, and the high end rolled up 2 dB starting around 2,300 Hz.

Signal to noise ratio claims to be 78 dB, but my tests had it more in the range of 66 dB.

CONCLUSIONS

This is by no means a “broadcast” or “professional” mic, nor would I use it for crucial sound recordings.

For the cost, $17.22(US), I would find it useful for my computer, recording speech on my mini-disc, or perhaps with an interface it could be a nice microphone for my amateur radio transceiver.

As you can see by the pictures the microphone is very good looking.

Now,if you guys,want to buy it, here's the link on gearbest, you can find te cheapest prices here:

 http://www.gearbest.com/speakers/pp_193552.html

Have a good time. And, Take care !!