Aiwa DM-68 Uni-Directional Dynamic Microphone -250ohm (AKG D19C Clone)

This is a very uncommon dynamic microphone from Japanese brand Aiwa. Aiwa is better known today for consumer stereo equipment, but in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, they were one of the premier pro audio manufacturers in Japan, creating extremely high quality ribbon and dynamic microphones national broadcasters, studios, and other high profile clients. In many cases, Aiwa drew inspiration from classic microphones but continued to iterate on the designs long after the inspirations had ceased production (especially true of their RCA-inspired ribbon microphones, which are remarkable).

The DM-68 takes its inspiration from the AKG D-19C, a 60s utility dynamic microphone used by the Beatles at Abbey Road (and by many other artists at other studios as well). Like AKG, Aiwa made both high and low impedance versions of their D-19 design—this is the rarer and more desirable 250ohm version. I have used this and another DM-68 alongside my original 60s AKG D-19, and they are sonically very close—in many cases, I actually prefer the DM-68 to the (now eye-wateringly expensive) AKG original. It’s great wherever you’d normally use a dynamic mic (amps, drums, vocals) but also in unexpected places (acoustic guitar, overhead, upright piano, glockenspiel).

I’m only selling as I have too many microphones and too little recording work to do with them. This is the nicer of the two that I own as it includes the original clip and case.