Middleman
Professional Amateur
Thought I would relay my experiences around my discovery of two old Nuemann mics I ran across this week.
At first I thought these were CMV 3 bottles with M7 capsules circa 1930. Supposedly these were the first mics invented by George Nuemann. After further inspection however, it turns out they are CMV563 bottles with M7 capsules.
I contacted the Nuemann office here in the states and they hooked me up with one of their experts in mic restoration. He had a very thick German accent so I figured I was talking to the right guy.
After relaying the general condition of the mics, their operability and issues, I asked him to comment on what he knew about the mics. He commented on what might be wrong with them speculating that one of the diaphrams was bad and the other mic had a bad transformer. These mics were originally broadcasting mics and can be seen in many old Nazi movies. He referred to them as the lollipop mics.
He provided details about the Nuemann - Gefell manufacturing practices and how mics from what is now Eastern Germany were mainly built and designed for manufacturing volume and not sound quality. The mics originally came with a variety of capsules M5, M7, M8, M9 in a wooden box.
He referred me to a gentleman in Seattle who is supposed to be one of the top restorers of older Nuemanns in the US. I immediately called this guy who I will call Ollie and he was very excited to talk about old microphones. He had a German accent too and was according to his comments, "getting up there in years." He had some interesting stories to tell about what he called "Socialist Germany" and the development of early mics.
Both of these gentleman were an absolute joy to converse with as you could get a sense of their passion and interest in microphone technology.
Ollie laid out the cost to bring the mics into working condition without violating their ancient value or just gutting them. He indicated that the capsules themselves once restored would yield a sound quality not unlike the U47. He even went as far as to say that side by side it would be difficult to tell their sound apart.
He also commented on the general state of our economy and how older mics such as the U47, U67 etc were at all time lows on ebay and how now was a good time to buy them. The prices have come down almost 50% in the last 3 years. He speculated that prices will skyrocket as the economy improves.
So, I am still debating buying the mics. The risk is that they could cost as much to restore as they are worth. Ollie said one more thing regarding the prices on prepal.com, they are generally wrong as an indicator of prices. They do not track older audio gear all that well and tend to lag behind by months as to trends in prices.
This was all quite a discovery adventure, talking to people that had been around when these mics were invented, hearing them talk about Nuemann, Gefell and Telefunken and knowing they were actually there was quite fun.
Thought I would share the adventure.
At first I thought these were CMV 3 bottles with M7 capsules circa 1930. Supposedly these were the first mics invented by George Nuemann. After further inspection however, it turns out they are CMV563 bottles with M7 capsules.
I contacted the Nuemann office here in the states and they hooked me up with one of their experts in mic restoration. He had a very thick German accent so I figured I was talking to the right guy.
After relaying the general condition of the mics, their operability and issues, I asked him to comment on what he knew about the mics. He commented on what might be wrong with them speculating that one of the diaphrams was bad and the other mic had a bad transformer. These mics were originally broadcasting mics and can be seen in many old Nazi movies. He referred to them as the lollipop mics.
He provided details about the Nuemann - Gefell manufacturing practices and how mics from what is now Eastern Germany were mainly built and designed for manufacturing volume and not sound quality. The mics originally came with a variety of capsules M5, M7, M8, M9 in a wooden box.
He referred me to a gentleman in Seattle who is supposed to be one of the top restorers of older Nuemanns in the US. I immediately called this guy who I will call Ollie and he was very excited to talk about old microphones. He had a German accent too and was according to his comments, "getting up there in years." He had some interesting stories to tell about what he called "Socialist Germany" and the development of early mics.
Both of these gentleman were an absolute joy to converse with as you could get a sense of their passion and interest in microphone technology.
Ollie laid out the cost to bring the mics into working condition without violating their ancient value or just gutting them. He indicated that the capsules themselves once restored would yield a sound quality not unlike the U47. He even went as far as to say that side by side it would be difficult to tell their sound apart.
He also commented on the general state of our economy and how older mics such as the U47, U67 etc were at all time lows on ebay and how now was a good time to buy them. The prices have come down almost 50% in the last 3 years. He speculated that prices will skyrocket as the economy improves.
So, I am still debating buying the mics. The risk is that they could cost as much to restore as they are worth. Ollie said one more thing regarding the prices on prepal.com, they are generally wrong as an indicator of prices. They do not track older audio gear all that well and tend to lag behind by months as to trends in prices.
This was all quite a discovery adventure, talking to people that had been around when these mics were invented, hearing them talk about Nuemann, Gefell and Telefunken and knowing they were actually there was quite fun.
Thought I would share the adventure.
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