Recording - May 2013 - 18

B Y PA U L V N U K J R .

In our February 2012 issue, we took
our first look at a mic from Austrian maker
Lewitt. The mic under review was Lewitt’s
feature-packed, impeccably built and
wonderful sounding flagship, the
Authentica LCT 640 multi-pattern condenser mic. In our February 2013 issue
we looked at the equally unique DTP 640
REX kick drum mic, which housed a cardioid condenser and a dynamic element
inside one body; the elements could be
mixed and blended together, with their
sounds controlled by a unique set of character switches.
From just those two models Lewitt have
established an identity with our readers,
with sonic versatility and build quality as its
major tenets. This month we look at the
company’s newest flagship, the Authentica
LCT 940.
The new flagship: tube or solid-state?
You betcha!
Before we look at the hottest entry in the
Authentica line, let’s step back and look at
the previously reviewed LCT 640... the reason will become clear momentarily.

As far as I know this is a first in the
microphone world. The only other product
on the market that I am aware of that
comes close to the 940’s dual-architecture
paradigm is Universal Audio’s 710 lineup
of microphone preamps, where you have
a solid-state circuit and a tube circuit simultaneously active and can choose and or
even blend between the two. The LCT 940
is exactly that concept, in mic form!
Build, fit and finish
The LCT 940 looks very much like its
solid-state sibling, with its rectangular
body shape, black matte finish and all.
However, at 7.5 x 2.4 x 1.8" and weighing 23 oz., it is almost twice the LCT 640’s
size to accommodate its 12AX7B tube
(which in proper “look it’s a tube” style is
housed behind a thin sheet of plexiglass
and glows a beautiful orange when on).
The 940 is battle-ready and solidly
built, just as I have come to expect from
Lewitt. Designed in Austria and built in a
company-owned Chinese factory, the LCT
940 sports a very European styling and
nothing on this mic looks or feels cheap.

Lewitt Authentica LCT 940
A flagship mic gives the best of both worlds—tube and solid-state
The LCT 640 is a solid-state, largediaphragm condenser housed in a sleek
black modern styled rectangular body visually reminiscent of AKG’s C414. Inside it
sports modern surface-mount PCB technology and a 1" K-7 style center-terminated
capsule. Aside from its smooth,
full and pleasant sound, what
pushed the LCT 640 over the
top was a feature set that
included 5 pattern choices, 3
pad choices, and 3 highpass
filter choices, all digitally controlled from front-mounted buttons on the microphone body.
Now, if you guessed that the
new LCT 940 is a tube variant
of the aforementioned 640, you
would be wrong! Actually that
would be the just-released LCT
840, which is indeed a tubebased version of the LCT 640.
No, the LCT 940 is more than
that... it’s actually both the 640
and the 840 rolled into one mic.
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RECORDING May 2013

Unlike the LCT 640, the LCT 940 is
devoid of any switches or controls on its
body; those are housed on the microphone’s external power supply.
Command central
The external power supply
is a similarly Euro-styled black
box measuring 9.8 x 5.9 x
2.8" and weighing 68 oz.
Visually it reminds me of a
high-end piece of home audio
equipment. In its center are a
pair of large black dials. The
first, labeled Amplification, is
a rotary knob that blends the

mic between its dual personalities. The knob
on the right is a spring-loaded dial that
selects the mic’s polar pattern; there are nine
to choose from. In addition to omnidirectional, cardioid, figure-8, wide cardioid,
and supercardioid patterns, there are four
“in-between” settings.
On each side of the dials are a series of
push buttons whose features were originally found on the body of the LCT 640. There
are three levels of attenuation, –6, –12,
and –18 dB, and a selection of three highpass filter slopes and corner frequencies:

Recording - May 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - May 2013