Yeah, the reference to Phoenix Audio is what originally piqued my interest in the mics and what prompted my query to the Karma sales rep. You may be on to something with the trademark conflict. Actually, I already have the mics here but if I'm going to give them as a gift, I don't want to open the packaging and mess around with them. The drummer's sitting in with us for New Year's Eve. We'll try 'em out then---see what he thinks (He records via FirePod/Sonar with D112/NTK on kick, 57s on snare/toms, MK012s for overheads but none of the mics are his). After that, when I get time, I'll rig up one of the snare mics in a radial spread (with an SM57, GXL57 and e609s) on a guitar amp and get a comparison.
Thanks for the input; opinions/insights are still welcome.
Paj
8^)
P.S.: I got to visit the home studio of an engineer who has a couple of recent main-stream pop platinums hanging on his wall. His choices for drums were generally no surprise except for the overheads: D112/RE20 (kick), SM57 (snare), MD421 (toms), CS1000s (overheads). Vocals: U87 (lead), 414 (background). Favorite preamps: Avalons.