The U87 is probably the best known and most widely used Neumann studio microphone. Every sound engineer will immediately recognize it by its characteristic shape. It is an excellent choice for general use in studios, broadcasting, film and television. It is also used as the main microphone when recording orchestras, as a point microphone for individual instruments and as a vocal microphone for all types of singing and spoken word. The double membrane is flexibly placed and protected by a cover grid. Directional characteristics are selected with a switch located under the grille: spherical, cardioid and figure-of-eight. The selected characteristic is displayed in the window above the switch. The frequency course is the same even at higher frequencies for the cardioid and figure-of-eight characteristics. The microphone can be placed very close to the source without the sound becoming unnaturally sharp. The bass filter significantly reduces distortion at low frequencies and in the subsonic part of the spectrum. The letter A in the name of the microphone indicates the newer generation U 87 – the original version was produced in the period 1967 – 1986. The modernization concerns only the electronic part, the microphone capsule is identical. Modern circuits expand the possibilities of use - the U 87 Ai has a 10 dB higher sensitivity and a 3 dB better signal/noise ratio. The switch on the back of the microphone reduces the sensitivity by 10 dB, and when turned on, the U 87 Ai is able to pick up sound with a sound pressure of up to 127 dB without distortion. Another switch sets the frequency of the bass filter. This limits low-frequency interference directly at the input of the microphone amplifier. This setting also compensates for the inevitable increase in the level of the bass component when shooting from a short distance ("proximity effect"). With the cardioid characteristic, the frequency curve is balanced when scanning at a distance of 30 to 40 cm, with the figure-of-eight characteristic even between 15 and 20 cm. It is produced in matte nickel and matte black.