Download the entire circa-1962 Turner Microphone Catalog. Dig the crazy Soviet-esque graphic-design. Printed on that great old eggshell-texture paper, no less.
DOWNLOAD: Turner_Microphones_1962
The Turner Microphone Company was based for many years in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. What and interesting story they had. The Turners were a highly successful family of morticians. Their funeral home was so large and accommodated so many mourners that in the mid-20’s they became interested in installing an early PA system. This lead to DIY manufacture of PA systems, and eventually microphones. By the Mid-60s, Turner had become one of the world’s leading manufacturers of communications and PA (as opposed to recording and broadcast) mics.
Turner did manufacture some high-end mics for professional audio applications, though. I own a model 510, and it’s not terrible. The grey-blue finish is really stunning. When I get around to it… I hope to do a listening test of the 510 next to some period competitors (EG, Shure SM-56 and an EV 666). 510s are hard to find. The example that I own is the only one that I have ever seen in the flesh.
Much more common are the Turner U9s and its several variants. See this link for a listening test I did with a U99 earlier this year. When Turner describes this mic as rugged, they are not kidding. I own three of these; they are around 50-60 years old, and they all work perfectly. And they get used in the studio for ‘certain’ sounds.
Turner 250 series mics are also commonly found today. They made and sold a shit ton of these for use in PA and paging systems. I like the sound of these mics as a close-mic for raw-sounding rock vocals, along with a good condenser mic a few feet off of the performer for some depth. Blend em and voila. Lots of grit without the typical ‘Strokes-mic’ vibe.
You will also see a lot of these little plastic Turners around. I have not found a good use for mine.
I am not sure that this is an effective way to mic up a rock band, but like I said, Turner Microphones were not considered studio-standard.
7 replies on “Turner Microphones Circa 1962”
In i961 thru 1966 Turner produced a special order mic for the Hallicrafters Co. This mic was produced specificaly for the SR series HF transceivers. All I have been able to find out about it is a few specs and a guess or two. It is a dynamic mic Z is 500 ohms. The output into a 100k load was -52.5db (0 db=1 volt per microbar). The case was the dark 350 case. The guts were those of a SR90D-5. I am looking for any information on this mic in particular any copies of correspondance between Turner and Hallicrafters and spec sheets.
73, Walt WD0GOF
Hello,
I just became curious about a Turner microphone element labeled “model 13C” when I saw it on eBay. It looks much like a couple defunct ones I have that are (on the elements themselves) labeled BO1140, but I don’t see this on the pictures of the element and much of what *is* shown is simply gasket.
The eBay listing is titled:
“N.O.S. N.I.B. Turner Model 13 Microphone “Interior” Magnetic Cartridge Element” if you want a squint at it. It is priced at $145, but ships free. It is somewhat unique in that it is still in the original box.
From the 1962 Turner catalog:
https://www.preservationsound.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Turner_Microphones_1962.pdf
#13C
Universal replacement dynamic interior
used in Turner models 9D,
20D, 33D, 70D, SR90D and 250.
Sze is 2″ dia. x 7/8″ depth.
List Price $11.00
how does the 500 differ form the 510?
Hi Al. I’ve owned two 510s, have one remaining now, but ive never owned a 500 so I have not A/Bd them. I CAN tell u that the 510 has a matte gray ‘broadcast’ finish and paint-matching clip and paint-matching XLR4 rather than the shiny silver 500 – but other than that, i dont know, it may simply be marketing hype OR the 510 might be a ‘selected’ optimal 500 OR the 510 might actually have a different capsule and/or transformer. The 510 was WAY more expensive and spec’d higher, so maybe there are real internal differences? But i don’t know. i will say that the two 510s i had sounded quite different, for whatever that’s worth.
[…] The Turner family originally ran an undertaking business in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was so successful that they needed to install a PA system to make announcements to the assembled mourners. Their first efforts were unsuccessful however, and Turner struggled badly for many years against Shure, ElectroVoice, and Astatic. But by the mid-1960s, they’d paid off their investment costs and become a market leader by specialising in communication mics for CB radios and PA systems. More here. […]
Turner was sold to Telex in 1978 and subsequently disappeared. I saw a couple of 250 series runs going through the Telex paint shop at the former Hy-Gain factory in the early 2000s. That was the end of them. Almost everything else except the Road King CB microphones were gone by that time. Road King was sold off not much after and appears to me owned and still manufactured by DAS Companies, Inc.