VR2

The VR2 is an active ribbon microphone with a hand-tensioned 2.5 micron aluminum ribbon and onboard electronics powered by 48V phantom. That active stage lifts output to 10 mV/Pa (-40 dBV), roughly the level of a condenser, so you get a quiet, full signal from any preamp instead of hunting for 60 dB of clean gain.

The result is a ribbon that pushes violins, cellos, and voices to the front of a mix. Frequency response runs 20 Hz to 18 kHz using the high-frequency extension technology designed by sE CEO Siwei Zou, giving detailed highs without the brittleness a condenser can add on strings and brass.

The figure-8 pattern hears front and back equally and rejects sound from the sides, which makes it useful for room and overhead work, stereo pairs, and situations where you need to reject a source sitting off to one side. Max SPL is 135 dB with 18 dB(A) self-noise and a 76 dB signal-to-noise ratio, so quiet acoustic passages stay clean and loud cabs stay under control.

Recommended sources include vocals, drum kit, overheads, room, acoustic guitar, electric guitar cab, orchestral strings, piano, woodwinds, and brass. Each ribbon is built by specialist technicians in sE's own capsule room, housed in all-metal construction with a gold-plated XLR connector. At 187 mm tall and 360 g it mounts in the included shock mount and ships in a wooden case with a stand clip and thread adapter.