Anyone try Blue's new SPARK mic yet...

YIKES! Blood letting unstable hydrogen tipped microphone wars. And on a Sunday at that. Why can't they do this stuff during the week instead of messing up my weekend?

Come to think of it, has anyone ever checked the paint on these Chinese microphones for their lead content? I bet we all would be very surprised!!!
 
Lead paint?
Even I found that funny.
Richard: You come at this with an informed point of view. That's refreshing. Putting down Chinese products without even knowing who the manufacturer is, is totally absurd and is what gets me up.
I loved the Perception mics for a while and am fairly familiar with the high mid range and overall sound of them.
The Nady RSM 2 also have a sound that I love and I found all of their ribbons to be good value. Behringer, who also manufacture in China, can be a little more hit and miss with their LDCs and pretty well spot on with their pencil mics.
And all of this has everything to do with the design of the microphone and very, very little to do with the country of origin.
Of course, I was joking when I said "I avoid American".
I just think that writing off a whole country is all a bit too much "Lou Dobbs" for me.
 
WTF is absurd about not wanting to encourage more outsourcing and sending more hard-earned dollars to a country with a shit human rights record and no workers' rights at all???

Excuse me for not wanting to buy stuff built by folks wearing diapers to work.
 
There's also that whole supporting communism thing. And as one comedian put it, if it came to a point of war between the US and China, they could kayak over and still put up a good fight.

Lead paint for toys is confirmed. On at least a toy. But aren't all of these cheap mics toys? If they were expensive, we probably wouldn't even give them a second look.

And then there's that warranty thing. If you need to get an American mic repaired and you live in the US. As opposed to shipping plus customs to ship a mic back to china. And legal woes should they stiff you, as in have to sue them in China with a chinese lawyer? Not that that is how it currently works, but if things get much tougher, you know that they'll be changing policies on you. Having been stiffed by a few out of state companies in country. And the cost of legal action well exceeding the cost of the product. Even in the case of a blown engine from bad oil change out of state.... Grrrrr.... At least guns are still legal my country. Some incentive for those types to at least think about being honest.
 
This
WTF is absurd about not wanting to encourage more outsourcing and sending more hard-earned dollars to a country with a shit human rights record and no workers' rights at all???

Excuse me for not wanting to buy stuff built by folks wearing diapers to work.
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And this
There's also that whole supporting communism thing. And as one comedian put it, if it came to a point of war between the US and China, they could kayak over and still put up a good fight.

Lead paint for toys is confirmed. On at least a toy. But aren't all of these cheap mics toys? If they were expensive, we probably wouldn't even give them a second look.

And then there's that warranty thing. If you need to get an American mic repaired and you live in the US. As opposed to shipping plus customs to ship a mic back to china. And legal woes should they stiff you, as in have to sue them in China with a chinese lawyer? Not that that is how it currently works, but if things get much tougher, you know that they'll be changing policies on you. Having been stiffed by a few out of state companies in country. And the cost of legal action well exceeding the cost of the product. Even in the case of a blown engine from bad oil change out of state.... Grrrrr.... At least guns are still legal my country. Some incentive for those types to at least think about being honest.
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How does one even respond to such statements?
We are discussing microphones on the World Wide Web and these two come in with this sort of nonsense.
Nothing at all to do with microphones.
 
Yes it does have something to do with mics. Shipping to China costs more if you don't live there. To have your mic fixed. Or restored to factory specs. Warranty and other things. It's not just a mic. And $100 to some people is a small fortune. These mics are NOT disposable cameras, toilet paper, or other too cheap to care items. And some of the models can be quite costly. Is that money thrown away if you can't get it fixed ANYWHERE? As a brass player, there's a whole junkyard of made in China metal instruments that cannot be repaired, because the metal melts are roughly the same temperature as the solder. Not that some of them aren't good values. It's not all junk. But one little change in politics could cut your off from ever having a new one, or a mic repaired or serviced. There's advantages to buying from a manufacturer close to home.

Not that I expect my .gov to consider made in china items equivalent to cuban cigars. But they could, arguably would. And might economically be forced to at some point.
 
Not that any of that applies to Baltic Latvia aka BLUE. Unless they outsource. Or piss off my .gov. But the world is a lot more hostile than it was ten years ago. And quite literally anything is possible these days. (except for unemployment to get below 5% nationally any time soon / unless they redefine how they count the numbers again)
 
Good grief!
Fortunately, I have dealt with enough Americans to know that opinions like yours are in the minority but to think that there is a climate whereby statements like these can be deemed acceptable to even a few, is worrisome.
I'm done with this thread.
 
Is it? Ever been unemployed? Without unemployment benefits and no prospects. Noting a yahoo article just today about a certain city that's at 90% unemployment during the winter. And the nationwide average being 10%+, or 30+ million people between jobs. But don't let the facts get in the way of your opinions. Along with certain cities filing bankruptcy to weasel out of paying city employees retirement benefits / pensions. Enron, worldcom, fanny mae, freddie mac, and literally dozens of others. But by all means let the politicians lie to you. God is good, the world is perfect, the 50+ people living in a shanty town on your front yard are just really big fans of yours. And that $20 bicycle pump from china that doesn't pump air was just damaged in shipment, not defective from the factory.
 
Jim Lad said:
Good grief!
Fortunately, I have dealt with enough Americans to know that opinions like yours are in the minority but to think that there is a climate whereby statements like these can be deemed acceptable to even a few, is worrisome.
I'm done with this thread.
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You're pretty damned cheeky for somebody living in one of the most protectionist countries on the face of the planet.

I know plenty more Canadians that got a damned good union job down here in the states than Americans that got a job up there shoveling shit for the focking Queen.

I personally know union brothers that have been turned away at the border simply because they had HAND TOOLS in their rig. The border agents asked them where they thought they were going with A GODDAMNED BAG OF TOOLS!!!
 
Will not hijack thread. *Will not hijack thread* - I'm sure that we could have lots of fun discussing international politics and commerce in the cave, but this is still about SPARK. In this context, some of the stuff (customer support) is relevant to the general run of Chinese-made gear, but not in the case of B.L.U.E. If your mic breaks, they'll deal with it. I've had very good dealings with their customer support. I apologize for mentioning the issue. All I was saying is- if you think it doesn't matter where the things you use are made, you are wrong.
Move along, nothin' to see here.- Richie
 
I second c7sus in a major manner. People shouldn't have to suffer in the east so we can have good mics in the west. Also, Richard Monroe has it right when he says western complacency will end in tears. There'll either be war when the Chinese factory owners realise they have us by the balls and try to raise their prices ... or western mic brands will keep undercutting each other to stay in the game (relying further on cheap Chinese labour). As the retail price drops, eventually it will become unprofitable to build a decent mic, and they will simply stop selling them.
 
I don't know. The third Reich kept Neumann in business for years. Mics won't go away. Both sides need them for propaganda. And you can't have a decent protest song without'em The imbedded news media needs them to report on the war of the week. Even "Big Brother" needed a mic. As long as they have existed, mics have been a protected part of military technology. That's why we have so many good Russian mics. Not just for recording Bolshoi ballet, thank you. I think we pulled 50 or so MK-012's out of the walls of the Americam embassy in Moscow, which they kindly built for us.-Richie
 
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