I'll try my best to answer your questions...
For starters, The two retail price points are as follows: <br>
Ela M251 (E) Platinum Ed.=$7500.00 <br><br>
Ela M251 (F) No Frills Ed.=$4995.00 <br>
The main two differences between the two systems are:
The (E) Package comes with 5 Year Warranty, Flight Case & a Hand Built Power supply that is historically correct...<br>
The (F) Package comes with a 1 Year Warranty, No Flight Case & A Modern PC board Based Power Supply...<br>
Both Microphones are "Exactly the same in every way." Except for the Power Supplies. <br>
Capsule Selection & Studio Testing: <br>
All Telefunken Microphones are tested at "Telefunken Studio" under a series of real world recording demands. So it's not just looking at a Line Graph Freq. Plot......& shipping off the microphone.... We actually test & evaluate every microphone. We record using matched set of mic pre's. We use Martinsound MMS10's that are tweaked by the crew at Martinsound & Toby Foster.) We also use Grace 201 from time to time. We find these two Brands of Mic Pres to be very transparent and clean. During the tests we record to Protools snap shots of Drums, Tambourine, Glockenspiel, Acoustic Guitar & Vocals.... <br>
These tracks are then compared to every Vintage 251 & New 251 microphone we have Manufactured, Serviced or Owned. There are over 30 originals and 220 new microphones we compare too. <br>
The process takes us a lot of time & we are willing to spend that time grade our capsules. <br>
We pick capsules that perform to our standards for both microphone systems.
All we wish to do during the selection process is to pick out the bad capsules....<br>
Mostly all of our capsule pass for either (E) or (F) packages. Out of 10 there's often one or two that get matched for Stereo Ela M270's..... There a few we pick for (E)'s... There a few we pick for (F)'s One or two that get discarded or reused for parts. <br>
So the answer is: We don't put less desirable capsules in the (F) microphones.....
Rather we select what we feel passes for both systems & discard what doesn't make the grade.
I hope you all understand and will not read this in the incorrect light. I'm not very good at typing, nor am I an English Major.....
Team Telefunken & Elektroakustik Mikrofon
