I'm sure Neumann feels the heat of a changing market to some extent, but they don't worry too much (not only because they are a fat-ass company and because they might be arrogant). After all, their main market is broadcast (radio, tv), pro recording facilities, etc. Also, I'm sure that Neumann has a product range we are all not even aware of, like industry applications (in the vein that Gefell, for example, still produces lasers for the industry, and measurement mics, etc).
They never seriously tried to enter the "home recording market", and they better don't coz they couldn't possibly compete with knock-off Chinese mics (price wise). Given their overhead, they will never be able to compete, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
But then again, their prime target market is likely not gonna switch to those "cheap Chinese-made mics" either. Could you imagine a 797 logo on German tv during their 8PM prime news? I don't think so. In fact, the German broadcast industry supports companies like Neumann by awarding them research contracts for the development of new ideas & technologies. And that's exactly where the real values is: in decades of experience and pushing the technology.
On a personal side, I always tried to "support" companies who invested a large amount of resources & capital in the development of "new things". You have to give them credit for that. Without the early-day German companies like Telefunken & Neumann, where would the recording industry be?? And hey, they never rested on their laurels, and are still a fairly "modern" 21st century company. For that reason, my mic locker will never see a Chinese-made capsule, who originally just acted like copy cats. Sure, these days many other companies come out with a fine product range at an insane price (cheap, that is), but only coz they could capitalize on years of research of other companies.
I keep wondering: why on earth does every Chinese-made mic wanna sound like having an M7 capsule -- which was developed decades ago, under rather different economical & technical circumstances (after two WWs in Europe)??? They should get their act together and develop something NEW and BETTER (in such a booming market & economy) if they wanna established themselves as a serious mic manufacturing company, don't you think? As long as these copy cat companies are not willing & capable of doing so, they won't see a penny of my hard-earned money. Why would I want to support such a business strategy??
I don't wanna sound like a Neumann spokes person, but it sometimes upsets me that companies like Neumann are always getting bashed on this and on other forums (when was the last time someone said something positive on this forum?), and that many guys on this forum support the hype about cheapo mics and technology from countries where labor costs are way down, without keeping things in perspective. I wonder what would happen if pro recording and broadcast facilities would also lose their perspective and far-sight, and by doing so put companies like Neumann (and others) eventually out of business.
See, when I was on the market for an "OK-sounding" vocal mic last year, I finally ended getting a Gefell. Sure, it cost me maybe twice as much compared to other brands. But hey: they invented the M7 capsule, its still a hand-built mic, has one of the lowest self-noises, optical de-coupling of the capsule amplifier circuit (pretty innovative for a company who is on the market for 75 years, huh?) -- and know what? The mic sure sounds fine and I feel good about my decision because the bucks I've spent ended up in the right hands.
