Thanks again Chris... I really don't dispute the quality or service you offer - and that has been amplified (sic) by the people I've been in contact with today who use your gear. What I still have a problem with is that having listened to several sample recordings today, I am honestly struggling to hear anything that makes me go 'woah- mine wouldn't record like that' - I know, I know- unless you could put 2 versions of the same show side by side recorded on the same equipment and in the same position, that's always going to be an issue.
I do understand the 'value' in things- as a sales manager myself working for a company who aren't the cheapest at what we do, I'm forever selling on 'features and benefits' and on the service we offer to back our product up, but sometimes, all of my 'ammunition' just doesn't matter- like the guy who's cheap set of spanners have outlasted the four sets of expensive ones I've sold him - I can prove to him that ours are technically superior, but the proof of the pudding is there every time I try and sell him on the idea of paying more for his spanners!!! Bringing that analogy back to topic- the $50 mics I've got work great with my battery box- I can record at the loudest shows without any distortion and get a well balanced recording with plenty of 'space' in it. Maybe I've got lucky, maybe I got the one really well matched pair of these, maybe it's all down to the scale of economics.
Don't get me wrong here Chris- I'm not ruling this out, but I hope you can see my point here. If this was a coat I was buying I could try it on to make sure it fit better than my current one - then there couldn't be any doubt- I can't do this in this case. One thought though- I assume you keep records of people who've bought these from you? If so, have you sold any to anyone from around where I am located (Manchester/North West England- though I do regfularly fgo further afield for gigs)? If so, assuming they too are gig tapers, I could arrange to go to the same show as them to make a 'side by side' comparison.