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The RCA Type BK-12A
subminiature microphone

RCA Type BK-12A subminiature mic RCA Type BK-12A
“A tidbit: When my dad invented the Type BK-12, it was the first-ever mov­ing coil dynamic mic to have enough windings on the coil to allow elimina­tion of a transformer in the mic, hence the tiny size and light weight. RCA had to buy two extremely expensive Swiss wire-pulling machines to make the ultra-fine wire required for the Type BK-12. My dad’s colleagues consid­ered it a major achievement for him to have convinced the higher-ups at RCA to buy them. Good decision, though, since the BK-12 kept alive the mic production at RCA a good few years longer than otherwise would have been the case.”

—Stephen Sank

RCA Type BK-12A

Microphone courtesy of Jeff Rudisill

1967 RCA catalog page 1967 RCA catalog page

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