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UPDATE: I thought I would update this post from a long time ago. Sennheiser has now introduced the MKH 8090 Wide Cardiod. This makes the figure 8 the only missing pattern in the 8000 series. Hopefully now the 8030 will see the light of day.

Last year I bought a Sennheiser 8050 hypercardiod to complement my mic collection, which is mostly Schoeps and DPA stuff. I love the extended frequency response of this mic, it's super quiet, small, and the super tight pickup pattern has really come in handy.

I'd like to turn this mic into an MS pair, and have considered matching it with an MKH-30. But I've heard unconfirmed rumors that Sennheiser is developing an 8030. Anybody else heard this? I asked a Sennheiser rep at AES and they were uncertain. I also contacted Sennheiser directly via email without a response. A Google search has provided me with folks confirming it's in development, and people saying this mic is not planned for release. If anyone can shed some light on this I'd be very grateful. In addition, has anybody matched this mic with another figure 8 in an MS pair?

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8 Answers 8

Yes! Waiting anxiously for that one. I want to pair it with my 8040 pair for a super compact M-S-M rig, and for normal MS. I am also hoping that the 8030, if it does come out at some point, will have a similarly extended freq range as the 8040/8050. Kind of disappointed that the new-ish 8060/8070 don't have that range.

I currently use an MKH30 with the 8040 and it works really well. But yeah, being able to fit an MS rig in a stereo ball gag would be awesome.

Unfortunately, I only know about the rumours, and can't shed any light if and when a 8030 will be released. However, I would certainly expect that Sennheiser does it at some point. Maybe they're struggling with the design. But then again, Neumann already has a tiny fig-8 (the KK120), and Sennheiser owns Neumann, so you'd expect they manage to build the 8030 in the end, assuming it is down to design challenges. I can't see any other reason why it has been taking Sennheiser so long though, as this mic would surely be an instant hit for them.

EDIT: You've probably seen this - perhaps it's an idea if anybody here who's waiting for that mic start nagging Sennheiser to get their shit together :)

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Kinda odd how the 80X0 were released 2 or 3 years ago now... & still no 8030

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I'm running a MKH30/40 MS pair, and would buy a MKH8030/8050 right away if the 8030 existed.

It would nice to have carry around blimp half the length needed for the 30/40.

If Sennheiser do come out with a 8030 - they will see a large sales spike of other mics : that should be reason enough for them to put in the R&D effort.

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I'm waiting for this too. Maybe we should all email Sennheiser!

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I emailed Sennheiser when I was building my M/S kit, and they sent me back a polite form letter essentially saying 'maybe or not'. I went ahead and plunked down for Schoeps instead, going for the CCM8. I really wanted to go with the Sennies, but I'm really happy with my rig even if it cost a bit more (theoretically).

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Never tried it out! How is it compared to the MKH XX-series not counting the 416 or 816?

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Yup, i'm waiting for that one too. Not sure how long i can wait though, so i'll probably order the mkh 30.

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"Waiting anxiously for the Sennheiser 8030?" Do bears produce stereophonic post-digestive activity in the woods?

No idea why Sennheiser keeps being so catty with their plans, but they've never announced any plans to even make an 8030 AFAIK. When they do, they'd better make enough of 'em, as we'll all be knocking down their doors to get one!

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