Telefunken U-47M
A modern reissue that carries the U-47 name, a genuine New Old Stock tube, and a high price tag.
Overview
The U-47M is the model Telefunken North America built as a faithful reproduction of the original U-47. The price tells you what kind of microphone it is. EQ Magazine (September 2005, p.15) reported an MSRP of $7,495 for the version with a New Old Stock VF14 tube, a very faithful reproduction of the original BV8 transformer, and what the company described as an original Neumann M7 capsule reskinned with a Mylar diaphragm.
Start with the tube. The VF14 is the heart of the original U-47 design, and New Old Stock examples are neither cheap nor easy to find. EQ (September 2005, p.15) noted that NOS VF14 tubes alone cost about $1,200. Telefunken North America also offered a cheaper version with a NOS EF14 tube, or even a NOS Nuvistor tube version, for $1,000 less. The reviewer's candid opinion was that neither of those would sound as good as a real VF14. So the version people actually want is the expensive one, and the cost is dominated by a single component that is no longer being made.
The capsule story is more complicated than the marketing suggests. The M7 is the original U-47 capsule type. The only people currently making M7s with the original PVC material are Microtech Gefell, which the review describes as a historical descendent of the original Georg Neumann company. Gefell does not sell those capsules to outside parties unless they are replacing an original Gefell-made capsule. So the U-47M's M7 is a reskinned original Neumann M7 with a Mylar diaphragm rather than PVC. The advantage of Mylar, per EQ (September 2005, p.15), is that the capsule should last longer and retain its characteristics. The disadvantage showed up in testing. The reviewer tried the Telefunken USA M7 capsule on the same mic body against K47 capsules, and it came across as dark. An original M7 should in fact be brighter than a K47, due to the lack of elasticity of the PVC material. Telefunken North America does offer K47 capsules as an alternative. K47s tend to vary in tone from one to the next, so auditioning a few before settling on one makes sense.
In a shootout against vintage U-47s and a field of U-47-inspired mics, the U-47M held its own, in a slightly reserved way. This particular U-47M didn't totally wow the reviewer, but it sure sounded like a real U-47, and it sounded more like the real U-47s than any of the other mics in the comparison. The reviewer suspected the body didn't completely sonically match up with the vintage U-47s, possibly because of aging capacitors or factors with the vintage transformers or tubes. That's a fair caveat, since a brand-new mic is being compared against decades-old originals whose components have drifted.
If money were no object and the goal was a brand-new mic, the reviewer could find no fault with choosing the U-47M. But given the choice, the same reviewer would look for a vintage U-47 instead. The U-47M is the only true clone in that comparison group. The others were U-47-inspired rather than reproductions. For a commercial studio, the calculus is different from a home recordist's: clients generally want the real thing, and a vintage U-47 is both a tool and an investment. The U-47M trades some of that appreciation potential for the convenience of knowing the mic will likely be functioning properly and covered under warranty if something goes wrong.
The U-47M has also turned up in professional facility inventories. One broadcast/recording equipment manifest lists it as running an EF14 tube rather than the VF14. That is consistent with the cheaper EF14 option Telefunken North America offered, and it suggests at least some working studios chose the lower-cost tube variant. Whether that was a budget decision or a deliberate tonal preference is not documented.
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