What is the current situation with the distribution of Oktava mics?

Their one time distributor A&F Mckay Audio Limited is listed on
www.ukdata.com as in liquidation. Their web site has dissapeared.

Oktava themselves seem very much in business, and the Russian language site
oktava.tula.net lists several interesting new models I've not seen befo
the tube model MKL4000, and the MKL319A, which looks like a tube version of
the 319 condenser.

The best source of the mics here in Europe seems to be oktava-online who
only sell on ebay, but display authorized dealer credentials on their web
site, or the German mail order giant, Thomann. I recently bought a pair of
ML012s from Thomann (perfectly good quality) and noticed the were both
labeled ASM - formerly a sign they were sourced from McKay.

After a recent bid for an Oktava-online auction on Ebay I received a weird
legalese letter from Ebay about trade mark infringement in the UK. All very
interesting since I don't live there, I only bid on the mic, I didn't even
win it.

Anyone have the facts?

A

Aiden Humphreys wrote:
What is the current situation with the distribution of Oktava mics?

Their one time distributor A&F Mckay Audio Limited is listed on
www.ukdata.com as in liquidation. Their web site has dissapeared.

I had not heard this, but I would not be surprised if they had
litigated themselves into bankruptcy. They were definitely around
six months ago, though, but we've been having trouble getting information
out of them for a while.

Oktava themselves seem very much in business, and the Russian language site
oktava.tula.net lists several interesting new models I've not seen befo
the tube model MKL4000, and the MKL319A, which looks like a tube version of
the 319 condenser.

Yes. I have not tried the MKL4000, but the MKL319A still has all of the
319 resonance problems.

The best source of the mics here in Europe seems to be oktava-online who
only sell on ebay, but display authorized dealer credentials on their web
site, or the German mail order giant, Thomann. I recently bought a pair of
ML012s from Thomann (perfectly good quality) and noticed the were both
labeled ASM - formerly a sign they were sourced from McKay.

I do not know oktava-online. I know that Vladimir, who used to post here
now and then, will ship mikes directly from Russia and seems to be a good
fellow.

In the US, the main vendor of the Oktava mikes was Guitar Center, which
was getting them from McKay. As far as I can tell, GC seemed to be getting
worse than normal production, so McKay may have been using them as a dumping
ground as well. In any event, GC went for about six months without any
new Oktava mikes and claimed a "factory shortage." They now have most of
the usual models back in stock, so I am assuming that they are now sourcing
them from some place other than McKay. All of this is just surmise.

After a recent bid for an Oktava-online auction on Ebay I received a weird
legalese letter from Ebay about trade mark infringement in the UK. All very
interesting since I don't live there, I only bid on the mic, I didn't even
win it.

Yes, probably because one of the suits that McKey brought against Ebay.
The guys at McKay like to threaten lawsuits all the time. They claim
exclusive use to the name in the UK, but they are unable to do so in the
US because other folks got there first. (The Sound Room even managed to
grab up oktava.com before they had a chance... and they threatened to sue
of course.)
--scott

Anyone have the facts?

A


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Scott Dorsey wrote:

Their one time distributor A&F Mckay Audio Limited is listed on
www.ukdata.com as in liquidation. Their web site has dissapeared.

I had not heard this, but I would not be surprised if they had
litigated themselves into bankruptcy. They were definitely around
six months ago, though, but we've been having trouble getting information
out of them for a while.

Hi Scott, here is the link:

http://www.ukdata.com/creditreports/...anyId=03070756

But this gets stranger and stranger, I've been surfing since I posted and
found this story about fake Chinese Oktavas mk012s. Is this already well
known here? Maybe its old news.

http://debris.com/journal/1274

here is the link to the official Oktava web site fake warning

http://oktava.tula.net/fake/

Well downer!

Looks like I'm going to be returning my pair of MK012s to the mail order
supplier in Germany as they look identical to the fakes on the Oktava site
and totally unlike the genuine photos. They also lack the 10db pad. I
thought they sounded a bit harsh in the upper mids, which I associate low
end Chinese made capsules.

My pair didn't come from Oktava online or Oktava USA who I'm now pretty
convinced are offical distributers. So much for my wisdom in buying from a
"name" company. Shame I found this out 4 days after the easy return period
expired.

(The Sound Room even managed to
grab up oktava.com before they had a chance... and they threatened to sue
of course.)

Hmmm. Sounds like McKay were totally out of their depth. I like Oktavas, I
have a MKL2500 and a pair of modified ML52s. I think the manufacturer
deserves better than this.

Aiden

how restocked is guitar center on oktava mics? i tried buying the
mk012s from them a couple months ago and they had only a handful of
matched pairs in the entire chain. i wasnt prepared to buy them
without hearing them first so i found a store near me that had one
single mic left and it looked just like the one on the counterfeit site
and didnt pass signal. i picked up nt-5's.

jake

The link to :

http://oktava.tula.net/fake

is pretty interesting. I bought a pair (not matched) of MK012's from GC in
September 2001. They came in the gray plastic (Russian) boxes, each one has
all three capsules, plus the -10dB pad, neither has a TEF, both had the
cheap satin finish metal (Russian) mic clasp, Both are badged with Oktava
and A.S.M. and neither has a serial # so in this respect they are exactly
like the pictured Chinese mic, but both have the white screws like the
Russian mic, both have a silver sputtered contact dimple like the Russian
mic, both have a silver sputtered contact pin like the Russian mic and they
both sound extremely good. Since I only paid $100.00 each for them at the
time, I was pretty shocked. It appears that due to their age and other
characteristics, they may be Russian built with shells similar to the ones
represented as being Chinese knockoffs. I've never really had a problem with
their sonics, so considering what I paid and what I got for the $$$, I guess
it's a non-issue with me.

DJ

"Aiden Humphreys" wrote in message
...
Scott Dorsey wrote:

Their one time distributor A&F Mckay Audio Limited is listed on
www.ukdata.com as in liquidation. Their web site has dissapeared.

I had not heard this, but I would not be surprised if they had
litigated themselves into bankruptcy. They were definitely around
six months ago, though, but we've been having trouble getting
information
out of them for a while.

Hi Scott, here is the link:


http://www.ukdata.com/creditreports/...anyId=03070756

But this gets stranger and stranger, I've been surfing since I posted and
found this story about fake Chinese Oktavas mk012s. Is this already well
known here? Maybe its old news.

http://debris.com/journal/1274

here is the link to the official Oktava web site fake warning

http://oktava.tula.net/fake/

Well downer!

Looks like I'm going to be returning my pair of MK012s to the mail order
supplier in Germany as they look identical to the fakes on the Oktava site
and totally unlike the genuine photos. They also lack the 10db pad. I
thought they sounded a bit harsh in the upper mids, which I associate low
end Chinese made capsules.

My pair didn't come from Oktava online or Oktava USA who I'm now pretty
convinced are offical distributers. So much for my wisdom in buying from a
"name" company. Shame I found this out 4 days after the easy return period
expired.

(The Sound Room even managed to
grab up oktava.com before they had a chance... and they threatened to
sue
of course.)

Hmmm. Sounds like McKay were totally out of their depth. I like Oktavas, I
have a MKL2500 and a pair of modified ML52s. I think the manufacturer
deserves better than this.

Aiden

Animix wrote:

the cheap satin finish metal (Russian) mic clasp, Both are badged with
Oktava and A.S.M. and neither has a serial # so in this respect they are
exactly like the pictured Chinese mic,

Does it say Oktava or OktaBa on the mic?

I'd be pretty confident you have the genuine article from your description
of the box etc. My Oktava mics are identical in every respect to the
Chinese "fakes" in the picture, down to the screws, rubber clasp, missing
pad and block polythene box.

A

The name is spelled Oktava on mine.

DJ

"Aiden Humphreys" wrote in message
...
Animix wrote:

the cheap satin finish metal (Russian) mic clasp, Both are badged with
Oktava and A.S.M. and neither has a serial # so in this respect they are
exactly like the pictured Chinese mic,

Does it say Oktava or OktaBa on the mic?

I'd be pretty confident you have the genuine article from your description
of the box etc. My Oktava mics are identical in every respect to the
Chinese "fakes" in the picture, down to the screws, rubber clasp, missing
pad and block polythene box.

A

In article ,
"Animix" wrote:

The link to :

http://oktava.tula.net/fake

is pretty interesting. I bought a pair (not matched) of MK012's from GC in
September 2001. They came in the gray plastic (Russian) boxes, each one has
all three capsules, plus the -10dB pad, neither has a TEF, both had the
cheap satin finish metal (Russian) mic clasp, Both are badged with Oktava
and A.S.M. and neither has a serial # so in this respect they are exactly
like the pictured Chinese mic, but both have the white screws like the
Russian mic, both have a silver sputtered contact dimple like the Russian
mic, both have a silver sputtered contact pin like the Russian mic and they
both sound extremely good.

This is going to get stranger and stranger. I got mine used, so I don't
know where they were from originally. I've had them for several years
now and are as described above, but in black boxes, of the russian
style. One clip was missing of the pair.

----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

Aiden Humphreys wrote:

But this gets stranger and stranger, I've been surfing since I posted and
found this story about fake Chinese Oktavas mk012s. Is this already well
known here? Maybe its old news.

http://debris.com/journal/1274

here is the link to the official Oktava web site fake warning

http://oktava.tula.net/fake/

Well downer!

Looks like I'm going to be returning my pair of MK012s to the mail order
supplier in Germany as they look identical to the fakes on the Oktava site
and totally unlike the genuine photos.

Would that be Thomanns? They sell Oktava with pictures matching the
"original", but are "new revised series". I'm interested in those
Oktavas. I sincerely doubt Thomanns would knowingly mislead its
customers.

So where is the real Oktava website? If you go to oktava.tula.net as you
suggest you end up in a german site (http://www.oktava-online.de/), not
a russian site. How do you know that this is the real Oktava site? How
do we know what site is the russian Oktava site? How does one get in
direct contact with the russian manufacturer without using their foreign
distributors?

It could also be that Oktava actually did revise their mics... How do we
know?

Lars


--
lars farm // http://www.farm.se
lars is also a mail-account on the server farm.se
aim:

Lars Farm wrote:

Would that be Thomanns? They sell Oktava with pictures matching the
"original", but are "new revised series". I'm interested in those
Oktavainfringementttely doubt Thomanns would knowingly mislead its
customers.

I'd rather not mention the supplier until I phone them in the morning. I
think you can figure it out.

In any case my understanding of the allegations is not that retailers are
misleading their customers, but rather the official distributor started
delivering mics under the transliterated trade name Oktava, a trademark
which he owned. There mics were actually not manufactured by the Russian
OktaBa company by rather someone in China. How was the retailer to know the
source of manufacture if they came through the official distributor?

Similarly how are we to know if the distributor did something wrong? There
were plenty of complaints about QA. May be his contract allowed him to
offshore manufacture of parts of the mic in order to ensure quality.

So where is the real Oktava website?
If you go to oktava.tula.net as you
suggest you end up in a german site (http://www.oktava-online.de/), not
a russian site. How do you know that this is the real Oktava site?

Goto

www.oktava.tula.net

and click on the Russian links. This was always the address of the Oktava
site AFAIK. I can't read much Russian but enough to figure out Novoste,
Produktua, Kontakt, Historea and so on. Looks pretty genuine to me.

do we know what site is the russian Oktava site? How does one get in
direct contact with the russian manufacturer without using their foreign
distributors?

It could also be that Oktava actually did revise their mics... How do we
know?

Good point. Well, "Kohtaktbl" (Contact) leads to their email address and
phone number. You could ask them in English and see if they reply.

But to be honest, I believe them. A few weeks ago I saw the notice on their
site about breaking their relationship with Oktava Ltd (McKay I guess) due
to copyright infringment, and now they have a page on the site showing the
copies. My mikes are def. those cited as copies and they are branded with
the Oktava ASM marks indicating an origin of McKay Audio. Conclusive for
me.

Similarly Oktava USA have this on their site ( www.oktavausa.com )

We carry the complete line of genuine Oktava microphones. Don't be fooled
by the Chinese Manufactured Nock-Offs being passed off as "real" Oktava
Microphones by a large national music store chain!

How does it look to you? I would certainly like to hear Mr McKay's version
of events.

A

Aiden Humphreys wrote:

How does it look to you? I

.... interesting ... that's how it looks to me! I looked at
oktava.tula.net english and russian (no I don't speak russian) and can't
find any link to the http://oktava.tula.net/fake/ page. It's clearly
there, but how was it found?

would certainly like to hear Mr McKay's version of events.

I'm more interested in what Oktava themselfs have to say - that is the
russian manufacurer not any distributer or other that consider the name
theirs regardless of what rights they think they have or even have...

Lars


--
lars farm // http://www.farm.se
lars is also a mail-account on the server farm.se
aim:

Aiden Humphreys wrote:

Lars Farm wrote:

doubt they would knowingly mislead its
customers.

I'd rather not mention the supplier until I phone them in the morning. I
think you can figure it out.

Well, I called them. I don't speak german and the person in the other
end does not speak swedish so it had to be in some kind of english with
all the potential for confusion that brings...

They have recently become aware of the situation. The MK012 they sell is
from "the english guys", "clearly marked as MKII" and "new and
revised"... He confirms that they are NOT manufactured in russia. They
are from China. The english firm claims the name Oktava is theirs so
i'ts all right... The russian manufacturer has recently made them aware
of the conflict. They are in contact with the Russian firm trying to
find a solution. We'll see what happens. As of right now they think they
are not missleading anyone...

I've tried to call the russian telefone numbers on their web site, but
got no reply (almost thankfully i don't speak russian either...:-). I
tried e-mail, no reply...

Anyway, I have confirmation that the MK012 sold there TODAY are indeed
chineese by way of the english Oktava-nameholder and have nothing to do
with the russian microphone manufacturer.

I asked them to make their advertising clearer on this point...

Lars


--
lars farm // http://www.farm.se
lars is also a mail-account on the server farm.se
aim:

Aiden Humphreys wrote:

here is the link to the official Oktava web site fake warning

http://oktava.tula.net/fake/


Eek! Just saw this and checked out my five.

2 of them (the first pair I bought) are marked Oktava MC-012 (ASM), and
have no serial number on them. They didn't come with any documents
(certainly not a plot!). But they did come with pads, and the proper
clip, and have silver screws etc..

So which is it? They seem to have properties of both the originals and
the 'fakes'!

Cheers,
Ben.

"Ben Bayliss" wrote in message
...
Aiden Humphreys wrote:

here is the link to the official Oktava web site fake warning

http://oktava.tula.net/fake/


Eek! Just saw this and checked out my five.

2 of them (the first pair I bought) are marked Oktava MC-012 (ASM), and
have no serial number on them. They didn't come with any documents
(certainly not a plot!). But they did come with pads, and the proper
clip, and have silver screws etc..

So which is it? They seem to have properties of both the originals and
the 'fakes'!

Mine are the same, and I bought them from GC some years ago so I'm pretty
confident that they are the real thing. They sound good, so I don't care
anyway.

Sean

"Sean Conolly" wrote in message

Mine are the same, and I bought them from GC some years ago so I'm pretty
confident that they are the real thing. They sound good, so I don't care
anyway.


So maybe this 'fake' story is a crock of **** , and all the variations are
valid ?

geoff

Ben Bayliss wrote:

Eek! Just saw this and checked out my five.

2 of them (the first pair I bought) are marked Oktava MC-012 (ASM), and
have no serial number on them. They didn't come with any documents
(certainly not a plot!). But they did come with pads, and the proper
clip, and have silver screws etc..

So which is it? They seem to have properties of both the originals and
the 'fakes'!

I think you are okay if the contacts look right. McKay did not always
supply the mikes with the proper documentation and not all the McKay
mikes had serial numbers.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

These sound identical to the ones I bought in 2001. I'm pretty sure mine are
Russian made as the Chinese were just getting tooled up back then so I doubt
seriously they were copying cheap Russian mics. Even if they are Chinese, if
you got them at a good price and they sound good, is it really going to be
worth the hassle to worry about this?

DJ

"Ben Bayliss" wrote in message
...
Aiden Humphreys wrote:

here is the link to the official Oktava web site fake warning

http://oktava.tula.net/fake/


Eek! Just saw this and checked out my five.

2 of them (the first pair I bought) are marked Oktava MC-012 (ASM), and
have no serial number on them. They didn't come with any documents
(certainly not a plot!). But they did come with pads, and the proper
clip, and have silver screws etc..

So which is it? They seem to have properties of both the originals and
the 'fakes'!

Cheers,
Ben.

"Animix" wrote in message
...
Even if they are Chinese, if
you got them at a good price and they sound good, is it really going to be
worth the hassle to worry about this?

I'm wondering this myself, except for the missing -10db pad.


--
http://www.bobsavage.net

Animix wrote:
These sound identical to the ones I bought in 2001. I'm pretty sure mine are
Russian made as the Chinese were just getting tooled up back then so I doubt
seriously they were copying cheap Russian mics. Even if they are Chinese, if
you got them at a good price and they sound good, is it really going to be
worth the hassle to worry about this?

Yes, I think it will be very much worth the hassle to worry about it.
I've spent my morning making a few phone calls and the story gets more
and more interesting every minute.

If the contacts look the same as the ones in the photo, you're okay.

As far as I know, _all_ of the microphones sold since January or so by
GC are the Chinese clones. Any of the microphones sold as matched pairs
are definitely suspect.

I _think_ the Chinese run was made in November, so any mikes bought before
then are definitely in the clear.

So far there seems to have been only one production run in China. My
worry is that there will probably be another one soon, knowing the Chinese
manufacturing folks.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Aiden Humphreys" wrote in message
...
Looks like I'm going to be returning my pair of MK012s to the mail order
supplier in Germany as they look identical to the fakes on the Oktava site
and totally unlike the genuine photos. They also lack the 10db pad. I
thought they sounded a bit harsh in the upper mids, which I associate low
end Chinese made capsules.

My pair didn't come from Oktava online or Oktava USA who I'm now pretty
convinced are offical distributers. So much for my wisdom in buying from a
"name" company. Shame I found this out 4 days after the easy return period
expired.

I am *so* glad I found this thread. I ordered a couple of "MK012's" from
Guitar Center, since they're listed in the current sale ad. The ad has the
picture of the mic with the metal clip and specifies a -10db pad comes with
the mic. Well, when I showed up today to pick them up, the guy pulled out
two plastic mic carriers. We opened them up and just like indicated on the
site, a plastic clip, no pad, no documentation.

I'm curious about something. I've seen that these mics are referred to as
MK's *and* MC's, but are the MK's the only Russian made version? I really
want to get a pair of these mics, but I can't dish out the money I see them
going for on ebay and sound room.

--
http://www.bobsavage.net

"Bob Savage" writes:

"Aiden Humphreys" wrote in message
...
Looks like I'm going to be returning my pair of MK012s to the mail order
supplier in Germany as they look identical to the fakes on the Oktava site
and totally unlike the genuine photos. They also lack the 10db pad. I
thought they sounded a bit harsh in the upper mids, which I associate low
end Chinese made capsules.

My pair didn't come from Oktava online or Oktava USA who I'm now pretty
convinced are offical distributers. So much for my wisdom in buying from a
"name" company. Shame I found this out 4 days after the easy return period
expired.

I am *so* glad I found this thread. I ordered a couple of "MK012's" from
Guitar Center, since they're listed in the current sale ad. The ad has the
picture of the mic with the metal clip and specifies a -10db pad comes with
the mic. Well, when I showed up today to pick them up, the guy pulled out
two plastic mic carriers. We opened them up and just like indicated on the
site, a plastic clip, no pad, no documentation.

I'm curious about something. I've seen that these mics are referred to as
MK's *and* MC's, but are the MK's the only Russian made version? I really
want to get a pair of these mics, but I can't dish out the money I see them
going for on ebay and sound room.

--
http://www.bobsavage.net

There must be more to this story, right? It just seems strange that a Chinese
company would *independently* clone such a niche product. Popular consumer
products, yes, but these are not even normal mics, they have an unusual
appearance. I'm inclined to believe it is some kind of "inside" job, but
noone is admitting to it, right? Like perhaps someone is getting extra casing
from the Russian factory and inserting Chinese electronics/caps in them?

Richard

wrote in message ...
There must be more to this story, right? It just seems strange that a
Chinese
company would *independently* clone such a niche product. Popular
consumer
products, yes, but these are not even normal mics, they have an unusual
appearance. I'm inclined to believe it is some kind of "inside" job, but
noone is admitting to it, right? Like perhaps someone is getting extra
casing
from the Russian factory and inserting Chinese electronics/caps in them?

It's certainly quite odd, and it does seem there must be more to the story.
Now I'm sitting here with a $200 (plus or minus $50) budget, and needing
some decent overhead micas. If I can't find a couple Octava's, I may end up
with the Studio Projects C4's, or look into the AT 2020's that TY
recommended.

--
http://www.bobsavage.net

wrote:


There must be more to this story, right? It just seems strange that a
Chinese
company would *independently* clone such a niche product. Popular
consumer products, yes, but these are not even normal mics, they have an
unusual
appearance. I'm inclined to believe it is some kind of "inside" job, but
noone is admitting to it, right? Like perhaps someone is getting extra
casing from the Russian factory and inserting Chinese electronics/caps in
them?

Lets keep poor OktaBa Russia's name clean since they seem to be the victims
here. Take a read of the post at

http://debris.com/journal/1274

the implication is that the former distributor contracted a Chinese firm to
build clone mics and then marketed them under his brand Oktava without
OktaBa (Russia) approval.

Also, these are no mix and match mic. From the case finish I would judge
that the entire mic including caps and body were manufactured at the same
place.

OktaBa are not involved, indeed their "how to spot a fake" web page
identified what was going on.

A.

In article writes:

Am I the only one here bothered by the fact that a CHINESE factory is
cloning a RUSSIAN mic that uses a copy of a GERMAN capsule???

Only in America!


--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

In article znr1115754171k@trad, Mike Rivers wrote:

In article writes:

Am I the only one here bothered by the fact that a CHINESE factory is
cloning a RUSSIAN mic that uses a copy of a GERMAN capsule???

Only in America!

But transshipped through Britain!
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On May 16th I posted the 3rd installment in my series about the
Oktava/McKay conflict. Here are direct links to the three stories:
http://debris.com/journal/1274
http://debris.com/journal/1280
http://debris.com/journal/1285

That said, there's not really any new information there; the 3rd
installment is a press release from OAO Oktava denying some of the
claims made by Andy McKay.

Anyway, I have a question about the application of these mics, as drum
overheads: would omni or cardioid capsules be preferable? My so-called
studio is a smallish bedroom with some acoustic foam to help tame the
sound. The drums are loud. Is there a clear preference for one or
another capsule type, or should I purchase all three and experiment?

wrote:

Anyway, I have a question about the application of these mics, as drum
overheads: would omni or cardioid capsules be preferable? My so-called
studio is a smallish bedroom with some acoustic foam to help tame the
sound. The drums are loud. Is there a clear preference for one or
another capsule type, or should I purchase all three and experiment?

I'd go for all 3 if you have the chance. The omni is the best cap, in my
opinion. I haven't used it seriously with a kit but it sounds very good
when used to add in ambience and presence to another mic.

Of course in a small room you might be fighting resonances and phase
cancellations so a directional mic might be better, but anyway with the
extra caps you have the choice.

A

In article . com,
wrote:
On May 16th I posted the 3rd installment in my series about the
Oktava/McKay conflict. Here are direct links to the three stories:
http://debris.com/journal/1274
http://debris.com/journal/1280
http://debris.com/journal/1285

That said, there's not really any new information there; the 3rd
installment is a press release from OAO Oktava denying some of the
claims made by Andy McKay.

Anyway, I have a question about the application of these mics, as drum
overheads: would omni or cardioid capsules be preferable? My so-called
studio is a smallish bedroom with some acoustic foam to help tame the
sound. The drums are loud. Is there a clear preference for one or
another capsule type, or should I purchase all three and experiment?

The omnis are more consistent than the other capsules. The cardioids are
very, very wide cardioids, so I don't think you really gain all that much
over the omnis in most applications. The hypercardioids are not very
consistent but pretty directional and in a larger room where you can pull
back they could be a great choice for overheads. If your room is tiny
you probably want to try the omnis... the problem is that if your room
sounds like a box and you use the omnis to get more ambient sound, what
you will get is more boxiness.

Let me also deny some of the claims made by Mr. McKay... as far as I
have seen, nobody has asked permission to use any of the modifications
cited in my 2003 Recording Magazine article which he mentions. I do
not approve of my name being used in his description of the new Chinese
microphones as I am not even sure any of the modifications could apply.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."