Violet Design Flamingo ME (Magic Ear)
Large-diaphragm tube condenser
Microphone$7,418Manufacturer list price
Specifications
- Type
- Microphone
- Description
- Large-diaphragm tube condenser
- Topology
- tube condenser
- Signal path
- Analog
- Channels
- 1
- Channel format
- mono
- Form factor
- Side-address studio body with external tube power supply, wooden box; 307mm length x 68mm max diameter, ~1300g
- Powered
- external dedicated tube PSU (mains powered)
- Drivers
- single large diaphragm, ~26mm, asymmetric 'Magic Ear' shaped capsule (gold-sputtered Mylar, 'Golden Drops' formation)
- Frequency response
- 20 Hz - 20 kHz
- Max SPL
- 134 dB
- Sensitivity
- 27 mV/Pa (per RecordingHacks.com); FLAG: violet-design.com storefront lists a conflicting 21.5 mV/Pa on this product's page, which is identical to the Stereo Flamingo (FET) figure -- likely cross-contaminated/cached storefront data, not used here
- Polar pattern
- cardioid (fixed, unidirectional)
- Impedance (Ω)
- 200 (low impedance output, per RecordingHacks.com)
- Back design
- side-address
- Introduced
- 2007 (per RecordingHacks.com; not independently confirmed by manufacturer page)
- Country of manufacture
- Latvia
Details
Controls: none on mic body (fixed cardioid); PSU may include mains voltage select
I/O: Mic: multi-pin (7-pin) output to dedicated tube power supply; PSU: 1x XLR3M line output; AC mains input
Notes: FLAG: tube condenser, NOT FET (distinguishes it from most other Violet models). FLAG -- IMPORTANT: multiple independent sources (JZ Microphones company blog, Gearspace 2015 thread) report that in 2015 Latvian company JZ Microphones took over manufacturing AND distribution rights of the entire Flamingo series from Violet Design/Estonia; JZ now sells this line as 'The Flamingo' under its own brand. Current status of Flamingo ME as an active Violet Design product is therefore uncertain even though it remains listed on violet-design.com's storefront (which itself appears stale/unmaintained -- broken TLS cert, PrestaShop footer dated 2013-2015). price_usd of $7,418 is RecordingHacks.com's stated launch-era MSRP (2007), not a confirmed current price; storefront separately (and inconsistently) lists EUR 3,933 (marked '-35%' off EUR 6,050) -- not used given reliability concerns.