My eBay bargain with K2-U powering module and MZF 802-U 100Hz filter.
Below, page from ‘Telemike’ manual.
Sennheiser’s ‘Telemike’ is an extremely versatile, high quality, modular, electret microphone system originally designed for reporters and film makers. It consists of a powering module K1, K2 or K3, a metre long telescopic boom arm MZS 802, (how cool is that?) and a choice of 3 interchangeable microphone modules (ME-20 Omni, ME-40 Super-Cardioid or ME-80 Shotgun) There were also a number of accessories such as the 100Hz filter, windscreens and various clip mounts and table stands.
Unlike all of the other Sennheiser microphones in my collection ‘Telemike’ is extremely light. Even with the ME80 attached to the telescopic boom it adds very little weight to a camera or portable tape machine, making it an attractive tool for location recording. Back in the 70’s an additional benefit of the telescopic boom was that it kept the microphone at a distance from the motor noise of the camera or tape machine.
Apart from professional users ‘Telemike’ also attracted an army of amateur video camera owners and tape recording enthusiasts. It was easy to use and came with a handy booklet of instructions on how to connect Sennheiser mics to a huge range of tape recorders from 51 different manufacturers!! (No that isn’t a typo!) My Dad was a tape enthusiast with an interest in local history, and so when I was a child we always had at least 2 tape recorders in the house! The microphones that were supplied with domestic machines were usually of poor quality. These Sennheiser mics offered the keen amateur a huge improvement in sound quality. They also produced excellent results with more professional machines such as the Revox A77 and B77 which did not provide on board phantom power.
CLICK HERE for a short voice demo of ”Telemike” featuring all 3 capsules.
Original Users guide and Technical Specifications
Sennheiser MKE 202. (with K2pre-amp)
Sennheiser MKE803 (K3 pre-amp with 3 position bass roll-off)
These versatile modules can also be simply used either hand held or stand mounted. All in all, a very useful set of microphones!
Martin Mitchell's Microphones 
I bought an old M80 (shotgun) on the end of what must have been the battery-only-powered K1 pre-amp (with a 3.5mm jack plug on the end) back around the mid nineties ..for peanuts in a camera shop in Munich. But it never impressed me, and I hardly ever used it ..maybe even a new PX23(?) battery didn’t have enough oomph to properly drive it.
Then last year I saw a second-hand M40 ‘nozzle’ on a K3 (phantom-powered) handle and bought that for next to nothing. Wow ..what a difference! This was a seriously solid-sounding, definitely directional mic ..and so I put the old M80 nozzle on it ..and then the M80 really came into its own!
Since then I’ve bought a couple of other K2 and K3 (phantom-powered) pre-amp ‘handles’, and a couple more nozzles (..but not the omni M20, though). The M40 capsule is, I think, a seriously-under-rated general purpose narrow-ish cardioid condenser with a great solid sound and unintrusive appearance which belies its great capability ..rather like a minimalist, but very solid sounding (phantom-powered) 224 or an sE1a! ..A very handy general speech mic.
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The M40 and M80 are certainly very good. I have used mine a lot. The M20 is fine but I don’t have so much use for it.
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