WOB said:
No, I'm not kidding!
I'll bet If I had a couple of million dollars ,I could put together a team of various profesionals and produce an EXACT copy of say a Neuwman
(The raw materials of the most expensive mic in the world ,amount to about 5 or 6 dollars...thats including the gold sputer)
I could then sell them to the 100s of thousands of guy's with home digital recording studios.... and I could make a fortune.
Oh... that's right ADK has already done that , the Hamburg.
By a Neumann.... pay for the name.
(I worked at a Brewery... Every one hated that cheap beer we sold but they all loved the expensive stuff.... It was all out of the same Vat) They were happy to pay the price for the name.
A Neumann U47 sold for $600 when it was first introduced. It now holds a purchase price from $6000 to $9000, depending on it's condition. It is still considered an amazing sound and engineering achievement as well as the Grandpappy of all mics. It is also a benchmark for all others by virtue of it's astounding performance. The performance is a result of the refined components that make up the mic.
Let's examine these for a moment?
First, buy the production facility. It will need a clean room.
The capsule: The M7 capsule has a specific arrangement of drilled holes and vents. The depth of the vents are just as important as the sizes and arragement. You would have to purchase an automated drilling system and blocks to hold capsule backplates. You also have to mill said backplates from brass to specific tollerances, as much as 40 microns. (a human hair is about 50 microns) Then you have to measure these tollerances to make sure they are in spec. This requires a highly trained operator who will demand to be paid well.
Now the M7 capsule doesn't use Mylar, it uses PVC, which is liquified and poured onto glass to make the diaphragms. It is poured to 6 microns thick. The glass must be perfectly level so the pour doesn't thicken at one side and thin out at the other. The operator will need to be very skilled and will want to be well paid.
Now you have to have an evaporator and a vacuum pump. That's the way Neumann did it. Not sputtered, but actually evaporated the gold and pumped to the diaphragm. Nice even gold coating that way. No grain in the PVC and very even coating of gold. This requires a highly trained operator who will demand to be paid well.
Then you have to glue the diaphragm to the backplate and it has to be tensioned to an exact frequency for the capsule to produce that Neumann sound. Can't get the glue anywhere but the capsule edge or you ruin it and have to throw it away. Someone has to do this and attach the leads gingerly or the will damage the capsule. This requires a highly trained operator who will demand to be paid well.
The transformer: You can't use cheap, off the shelf trafos or it won't sound like a u47. You have to build your own or OEM them. Cinemag makes one, but it's $107, so your mic is gonna cost more tha $100 right there!
Twin bobbin transformer with multi-metal laminates in a mixture designed to give a specific color. Neumann had to have a full R&D team to develop this, but you'll have the advantage of a chemist analysis. You still have to insulate and wind the bobbins. You'll have to purchase the machine that does the winding and train the operator. Trafos must be checked for performance. They also have to be sealed to prevent corrosion. This requires a highly trained operator who will demand to be paid well.
The Tube: Ah.. The famed VF17 vacuum tube!! It isn't made anymore! They are $1200 each if you can find one, so now were at $1300 cost just between the trafo OEM and the tube purchases.
You could buy up EF14's, but they are also getting very rare and expensive then you have to wire the mic differently for the 6.3v filament.
I guess the only alternative is to make your own VF14 tubes.
No, to make it sound just like a Neumann it HAS to be a VF14. So now we have to set up a vacuum tube factory. That's a hard one! Before you do that, you have to buy a VF14 (several for accuracy) and reverse engineer it. Find the exact materials for the filaments, the cathode, the plates, the anode, how the grid is wound. This requires a highly trained engineer who will demand to be paid well. That's before you begin assembly in a clean room and have the system set up to move the components into the tube, seal it a suck out all the air.
Now you've got to machine the body and connectors. AND THE GRILL! It needs to be the right angle, right guage and mesh and then chrome plated!
We've gotta get this mic wired, but we can't use off the shelf Radio Shack parts. Those will make the mic sound like crap! We need resistors of the right values and high-end audiophyle capacitors. Those are $10 to $250 a peice.
You also have to vacuum plastic former for the switch and capsule mount assembly and add the metal connectors. Now we can wire this mic, that should be easy, and IS! It goes together quickly because all the supports are bent and shaped to the right angles in the specks and the holes a precision drilled. Hell, this mic is almost complete!
Glad the power supply department is on the job. They've machined and painted the housing, mounted all the resistors and caps, wired it point-to-point and installed that huge transformer. They punched the holes for the connectors and installed them. They've tested the output voltage and cables, switches, lights, fuses.
Wow! It's done! We did it!! The first $100 off the shelf Telefunken U47 clone!
That wasn't so bad, was it??
Should I write you a check right now? How soon before delivery?
I've always wanted a say a Neuwman.