PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Aston Starlight

The Aston Starlight features a 20 mm cardioid capsule hand-picked by a panel of more than 70 top producers (Aston 33) in double blind listening tests conducted during 2016. Starlight showcases a host of innovations, including laser targeting, multiple voices (Vintage, Modern & Hybrid), and near perfectly linear off-axis response, which have seen the mic win a host of international awards and a nomination for 2018 NAMM TEC, the ‘Oscars’ of the music technology industry.

• Professional small diaphragm cardioid condenser mic
• 3 switchable voices – modern, vintage and hybrid
• Built-in Class 2 laser for easy targeting and positional recall
• Tough sIntered head
• Individually tumbled steel chassis
• Superbly balanced mix of discrete and integrated electronic circuitry
• Also available as meticulously matched stereo pair

360° filtering

Halo’s unique design is much bigger than other portable booths, and wraps around top and bottom, to a maximum rear depth of almost 100 mm to improve room isolation and absorption without dominating the room sound.

The Aston Sound

Right from the start of ‘project Aston’, we engaged with some of the top audio professionals in the industry to create a development panel to be our ears, while we focussed on perfecting every tiny detail in our mics, to finally produce what we believe to be the very best products in their class.

Class 2 Laser

The addition of a Class 2 laser to our Starlight SDC, with on/off switch, allows the user to recall mic positions in the studio so set up can be easily replicated. It also means, for touring bands, that mic positions can be marked off on drums etc, and set-up becomes a breeze. It’s a world’s first and a big leap in helping to get a consistent sound whatever the situation.

Sintered Metal Head

Sintering is not new to the mic world, though seldom used… but we’ve taken the technology a step or 2 further than ever before. We tested many thicknesses of sintered head, as well as the average size of the sinter spheres, and combined that with nickel plate which is controlled to only a few nanometres thickness to achieve near perfect acoustic porosity. In addition the head is virtually indestructible, so like all Aston mics, it can take any amount of studio or even live use and will never let you down.

Voice Switching

Yet another remarkable step-up in technology, performance and cool features! The Starlight has 3 modes of operation, courtesy of some very fancy front-end filtering between the capsule and PCB. You can choose between Vintage, Modern and Hybrid settings to get the perfect tone response for your application… guitar cab, drums, strings, even vocals… whatever the application you’ll get a perfect fit for your music, and each setting has been carefully tuned to give superb top-flight performance, way beyond Starlight’s price point.

Chassis

Part of the beauty of our microphones is the custom finish of each chassis. There are no mass-produced paint job finishes here… instead, each chassis is individually tumbled for up to 4 hours to give it a very hard-wearing, extremely beautiful, finish. To perfect the look, each microphone is separately engraved with its legends, and our brand mantra… ‘The Art of Audio’.

PCB

• A superbly balanced mix of discrete and integrated electronic circuitry

• Harmonised circuit stage arrangement for easy integration from phantom power input circuitry to the capsule voltage bias

• Novel non-linear voltage/current source rectification to provide controlled amplification and smooth/ clear audio output.

Eco-Friendly Packaging

We have put our hearts and minds into creating the most beautiful performance pieces possible with each Aston product. When it comes to packaging we believe simplicity is king. Protective, re-useable, environmentally sensible packaging that doesn’t cost the earth.

Tech specs

Transducer Type: Capacitor

Acoustic Operating Principle: Pressure Gradient

Directional Polar Pattern: Cardioid

Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz (+/- 10dB)

Equivalent Noise Level: 15dB A-Weighted

Sensitivity at 1kHz into 1kohm: 42.1mV/Pa

Maximum SPL for THD 0.5%: 130dB/ 140dB/ 150dB

Signal-to-Noise Ratio (rel. 94dB SPL): 79dB A-Weighted

Pad Switch: -20dB/-10dB/0dB

Low-Cut Filters: 80Hz, 140Hz

Product length: 181 mm / 7.13 in

Product width (with laser): 36 mm / 1.42 in

Product width (without laser): 26 mm / 1.02 in

Product weight: 251 g / 0.55 lb