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Now read what pegleg wrote again.... There was a very long thread a few years back about this mic and the quote below is about how it ended before it was locked. I too have 0 (that is ZERO) respect for them. Sorry.... oh and if money is tight, there are about 5 mics I think I would take a look at before either of these. YMMV.

Originally Posted by pegleg

I would suggest you try to demo a Telefunken, and compare it against something 'known good', before you consider that purchase. I don't want to re-open a can of worms, but it's pretty well known that their original version of the RFT M16 was pretty much a rebadged $200 Apex Chinese tube mic. I demoed one of them myself, and consider the mic worth more or less $200 (not the $1200 that Tele was selling them for). Which is to say - lacking tone, VERY bright/harsh/tinny, and actually noisier than the Apex!

I know they have supposedly made more improvements, but I personally lost all respect for the company then, based on the mic they sold me (which I returned), and what they told me in phone calls and email... I took their high end reproductions off my wish list as well.

Personally, while I agree that the new Neumann line doesn't quite live up to their vintage designs, I think their current mics are all good in their price range. I have found no Chinese (or Australian) mic that equals a TLM103 in that price range. Same for the M147, U87Ai, etc. I hope to try a TLM49 soon. I find their mics to be reliable, consistent, and ultimately, useable. On most everything.