The small diaphragm ELA M 260 is arguably one of the industry’s finest acoustic and classical recording tube microphones, offering plenty of tone with excellent detail and clarity. While not a historically accurate reproduction of the original ELA M 260 like the Diamond Series microphones, TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik’s version of the ELA M 260 is still built with the same attention to detail and level of quality that would be expected from a TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik microphone.

Sonic Characteristic

In use, the ELA M 260 has plenty of tone with excellent detail and clarity. It captures sources with a natural presence, making it a fantastic tool for recording acoustic instruments of all types. Violin, cello, upright bass, drum overheads, percussion, woodwinds, saxophones, strings, and especially acoustic guitar all shine through the ELA M 260. Also, despite its size, it has also served well on vocal applications. Its unique tonal character is very well suited for a myriad of applications, both traditional and not.

Circuit Design

The ELA M 260 system features a new circuit design based around a New Old Stock (NOS) EF732 / 5840W vacuum tube and a custom output transformer that is wound to exacting specification in the United States. The combination of these features yields a small diaphragm microphone that is unique while also bearing the qualities of the vintage microphones that it was based upon.

System Configurations & Accessories

ELA M 260 tube microphone systems include an M 902 power supply,  M 860 25’ dual-shielded TX-7 tube microphone cable with right angle female XLR connector,  M 761 elastic shock mount, and hard shell zipper carrying case.

The ELA M 260 Cardioid Set system packages are supplied with one interchangeable TK60 cardioid capsule. Additional TK61 Omnidirectional and TK62 Hypercardioid capsules can be purchased and attached separately.

The ELA M 260 Master Set system packages are supplied with a set of three interchangeable capsules: the TK60 Cardioid, TK61 Omnidirectional, and TK62 Hypercardioid. With all three capsules the user can have the flexibility to record their source material in any way they wish.