Heil Sound PRSM-B Shock Mount Review Guide
I unboxed the Heil Sound PRSM-B shock mount, tapped my desk on mic, and walked through how the suspension bands actually work.
Reviewed by
Scott Ayres
Welcome to the Product Demo lab where I (Scott) demo products so you can make an educated buying decision. I keep it real, honest and laid back.
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That desk tap is the whole argument. Without a shock mount, if I just mount the microphone to a scissor arm and knock the desk, that vibration rides up the arm and into the capsule. It shows up in the recording as a low thud you can’t EQ out cleanly. So I unboxed the Heil Sound 366187 Black Shock Mount, the PRSM-B, which the guys at Heil Sound sent me to take a look at and show you.
Quick Verdict
I tapped my desk on mic with the microphone hard-mounted and you hear the thud travel straight through. Suspend that same mic in the PRSM-B and the thud mostly stops existing. I’ve run their shock mount for quite a while, and this one is identical to the one already on my arm.
Buy if you:
- run a Heil PR series mic on a scissor arm and keep bumping the desk
- type or click during recording and hear it in playback
- want a suspension frame, not a foam ring, holding the mic
- need to lock the mic at a set angle and leave it there
Skip if you:
- have a mic body that won’t slide through the bottom hole, because fit is the whole gate here
- expected the box itself to hold anything else, it’s a frame and that’s it
- already own this exact mount, the PRSM-B is unchanged from the older one I’ve been using
| Model | PRSM (part 366187) |
|---|---|
| Width | 5 in |
| Length | 5.5 in |
| Color | Black |
| Designed for | Heil Sound PR series microphones |
Heil Sound Shock Mount Stops Desk Tapping Noise
I’ve used their shock mount for quite a while already. So going in I was curious if this one’s a little bit different than mine or not. Short answer, it isn’t. Same frame, same bands, same feel in the hand.
The box holds exactly one thing: the frame. No adapter, no spare bands, no instructions, because there’s nothing to instruct. If you were expecting anything else in the package, adjust that expectation before it ships.
The Bands Do All The Work
Two sets of elastic bands, one across the top corners and one across the bottom, suspend the mic inside the frame. That’s the mechanism. There’s a band on the top that connects the four sides and another on the bottom connecting the four sides, so the microphone hangs in the middle of a square with nothing rigid touching it. Push it and you can watch the whole thing float.
That’s the difference between this and a cheap foam-collar mount. Foam compresses and then transmits. Bands stretch and dissipate. Any energy coming up the scissor arm has to move through that stretch before it reaches the capsule, and most of it doesn’t make it.
The frame itself measures 5 in wide by 5.5 in long, which matters more than it sounds like it should. That’s a compact footprint on a boom arm and it doesn’t crowd a camera framing shot the way an oversized cage does.
The listing spec sheet reads Heil Sound 366187 Black Shock Mount for PR Series Microphones, model PRSM, and the B on the end of what I call it is just because mine’s black.
Screw It In, Set The Angle, Slide The Mic
Three steps, no tools, no app. The frame screws into the thread on your scissor arm. Then you tighten down the pivot point at whatever angle you end up wanting it at, which is the step most people rush and then fight with later. Then the microphone slides in from below and you tighten it down there.
There’s nothing to pair, nothing to charge, no firmware. It’s mechanical hardware, which is part of why I trust it more than most things I review. The only thing that can go wrong is the angle knob being loose, and that’s a hand-tighten fix.
One thing on the angle. Set it with the mic already in the frame, not empty. The weight of a PR body changes how much droop you get, so if you dial the tilt in on an empty frame you’re going to redo it. I did that once and now I don’t.
My Gain Was Up, And You Might Hear It
Here’s the papercut. I think I do have my gain turned up a little bit on my mic, so in the demo you might still hear a hint of that desk tap, and that’s on my setup, not the mount. A shock mount kills mechanical vibration coming up the stand. It does not stop airborne noise, and it does not compensate for a preamp cranked past where it should be.
So if you buy this expecting total silence from a hot channel, you’ll be a little let down. The rumble drops out. The room doesn’t. I don’t know how else to say it other than the mount fixes one problem very well and has zero opinions about the other ones.
Before it arrives: the box contains the frame and nothing else. No adapter thread, no spare bands, no pop filter. That’s fine, but if you were counting on a spare band set in the package, plan on sourcing that separately.
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Will It Hold A Non-Heil Mic?
The only compatibility test is whether your mic barrel clears the bottom hole, that’s it. Heil’s own PR series passes; anything else needs a tape measure first. Heil doesn’t publish the clearance diameter on the listing, which is annoying, so if you’re running a non-Heil body, email them before you order rather than guessing and returning.
Who This Is For
Anyone recording at the same desk they type on. That’s the core buyer. If you stream, podcast, do voiceover, or run a ham shack off a PR series mic on a boom arm, every keystroke and every elbow bump is currently making it into your audio and you’ve probably stopped noticing because you’re used to it.
It also matters more than you’d think for people on hollow-core or laminate desks, the kind that act like a drum head. Solid butcher block absorbs some of that. A cheap particleboard top amplifies it straight up the stand.
Less useful if your mic lives on a heavy floor stand away from the desk, on a carpeted floor, and you never touch it while recording. The transmission path is already broken in that setup.
Suspension Frame Versus A Foam Ring Mount
Band suspension isolates better than foam; foam forgives fit mismatches. Pick your trade-off. That’s the split, and it’s the choice most people are actually making when they shop this category.
Generic foam-collar mounts squeeze the mic body inside a soft ring. They’re cheap, they fit a wide range of barrels, and they do reduce some vibration. But foam packs down over months, and once it’s compressed it becomes a fairly direct path from the arm to the capsule. The PRSM-B’s bands are doing a different job. They’re suspending a mass, not cushioning it.
Where the foam ring wins: universal fit. If you own three different mics of three different diameters, a foam mount handles all of them and this frame handles the ones that pass through the bottom hole. If that’s your situation, the generic mount is the more practical buy even though it’s the worse isolator.
Where this one wins is longevity and isolation quality: the metal frame doesn’t flex, the angle lock stays where you set it, and elastic bands under low constant tension outlast compressed foam by years. I’ve run the previous version daily and the bands haven’t gone slack, that’s the actual case for paying more than a foam-collar costs.
Setup Tips And Mistakes To Skip
Tighten the mount to the arm thread first, mic in second. Trying to thread a frame onto a boom with a mic already dangling in it is how you cross-thread something.
Don’t over-crank the mic clamp at the bottom. Snug is enough. The bands are carrying the weight, not the clamp, and the clamp is only there to stop the mic sliding out.
Leave a little slack in your XLR cable and loop it loosely on the arm. A taut cable is a rigid path straight past the suspension bands, which quietly undoes the thing you just bought. That’s the single most common way people install a shock mount correctly and still hear rumble.
And once it’s mounted, go back and re-check your gain. Mine was up a little and it colored the demo. Fix the mechanical problem with the mount, then fix the level at the interface. Two separate jobs.
Pros
- Top and bottom band sets suspend the mic so nothing rigid touches it, which is the reason the desk tap drops out
- Compact 5 in by 5.5 in frame that doesn’t dominate a camera shot on a boom arm
- Angle locks down at whatever tilt you set and stays there
- Three-step install with no tools, no app, no firmware
- Identical to the version I’ve been running for quite a while, so the design isn’t a gamble
Cons
- Doesn’t touch airborne room noise, and a hot gain setting will still let some thud through
- Box holds the frame and nothing else, no spare bands
- Fit depends entirely on your mic barrel clearing the bottom hole, so non-Heil mics need measuring first
- No change from the earlier model, so there’s no upgrade reason if you already own one
What we’d improve
Two things the next version could fix without changing the design:
- No spare suspension bands in the box, bands are the one wear part on the whole thing, and including a replacement set would mean nobody’s mount ever goes out of service waiting on a part order.
- No stated barrel-diameter figure, the compatibility question comes down to whether a mic fits the bottom hole, so printing that clearance measurement on the listing would settle it for every non-Heil buyer instantly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it need an app, account, or subscription?
No. It’s a purely mechanical frame with elastic suspension bands, so there’s no software, no pairing, no account, and nothing to update. Screw it to your arm and it works.
What thread does it use on a boom arm?
It screws directly into a standard scissor arm mount point, which is how I installed mine. If your arm came with a threaded adapter for mic clips, keep it in the drawer just in case, since arms and stands sometimes use different thread standards.
Will the elastic bands wear out, and can they be replaced?
The bands are the part that ages on any suspension mount, since elastic loses tension over years of holding a mic body. Mine has held up over quite a while of daily use. Contact Heil Sound about band replacements rather than improvising with generic elastic, since tension is what sets the isolation.
Can I mount it on a floor stand instead of a boom arm?
Yes, as long as the stand’s top thread matches. The isolation benefit is smaller on a floor stand on carpet because there’s less vibration reaching the mic in the first place, but it still helps if you’re on a hard floor or bumping the stand.
Is a shock mount the same thing as a pop filter?
No, and they solve unrelated problems. A shock mount kills mechanical vibration traveling up the stand. A pop filter stops plosive air blasts from your mouth hitting the capsule. If you have desk-thump and P-pops, you need both.
Will it stop my mechanical keyboard from being heard?
Partly. The vibration your keystrokes send through the desk and up the arm gets cut, which is a real chunk of it. The clack traveling through the air still reaches the mic, so you’d need positioning, a quieter switch, or a noise gate for the rest.
How do I clean it?
Dry cloth on the metal frame, and leave the bands alone. Don’t soak the elastic in cleaners or alcohol, since solvents are what make elastic go brittle and lose tension. Dust is the only thing that really accumulates on it.
Can I use it for a camera-mounted or travel setup?
It’s built for a fixed desk or studio position, not for handheld or run-and-gun work. The frame is 5 in by 5.5 in of rigid cage with a suspended mic inside, which is great sitting still and awkward in a bag. For travel I’d leave the mount at the desk.
What’s the warranty and where do I get support?
Warranty terms come from Heil Sound directly, so check the current listing and the manufacturer’s support page before you buy. Since this is passive hardware with no electronics, the realistic failure mode is band tension over years rather than anything breaking out of the box.
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About the reviewer
Scott Ayres
Welcome to the Product Demo lab where I (Scott) demo products so you can make an educated buying decision. I keep it real, honest and laid back.
