Extinct Audio BM9

Manufacturer:

Extinct Audio

Model:

BM9

Country of Manufacture:

United Kingdom

Microphone Type:

Ribbon

Polar Pattern:

Figure 8

Production Start Year:

2017

Rarity:

Frequency Response:

Microphone History:

Extinct Audio Ltd. was started in April 2017 by Dr. Stewart Tavener and Adam Watson, in York, England, with the ambition of building high quality ribbon microphones locally. Stewart had previously spent ten years running the Xaudia repair shop, servicing Reslo, AEA and B&O microphones along with many others.

The BM9, also known as the Viking, was the production model from Extinct, and has an obvious aesthetic connection to the B&O BM3 and BM4 models. Stewart told us.. "We asked ourselves the question: if B&O made a ribbon microphone today, with access to the magnets and technology that we have now, what would it look and sound like? That is how the BM9 was born. It broadly follows the ribbon geometry of the BM3 but it also contains everything we learned from ten years of repairing and upgrading the old microphones. It has a much stronger output and low noise because of the magnet and transformer design, and we also did something subtle with the grills which lifts the high end response."

The first two hundred BM9 microphones have a hand written serial number which is located on the green XLR insert, between the pins. It can be seen if you peek into the bottom of the microphone. Later models from 201 onwards have the serial number laser etched onto the rear of the microphone.

The microphone is pictured with the optional Fenrir mount, which was inspired by bicycle brake callipers!

A stereo version, the Valkyr, was launched in 2019.

An active version of the BM9 was introduced in 2022.