This SoundField gear is just like the old Jaguars. When they ran right they were wonderful. They just did not run right very often. Ford bought the company, switched SU to Bosch and Lucas to Bosch and the damned cars were great. Every time you would turn the key they would start and run right.
SoundField needs the project taken from them and sent to Germany. You can believe I would not touch their gear with, as the Brits say, a bargepole. Their gear is a heart breaker, and the company support is not good. All around bummer. How far would you walk with a stone in your shoe???
You're basing all of this on one person's experience? 
The Soundfield/Jaguar analogy is way off. Folks have issues with German mics too, you know. In fact I know of more problems people have had with Neumanns than I do people who've had problems with Soundfield.
I would have no problem buying Soundfield now or in the future, if the project I was working on called for it.
I think there must be an issue with the mic and a potential swap with SPS200 is a good option. Good luck!
TNJ - Well, this is a matter of opinion. Maybe Neumann does fail as often as SF, but I doubt it. If you know of more failures is that failures of percentage of mics sold. I doubt SF sells anywhere near as many mics as Sennheiser/Neumann. They fail, sure. But I would like to know any other company who has jerked a client/customer around as long as SF has this poor guy. If they were smart, even a little bit smart, they would have swapped him out right away. They dithered around and got a lot of bad press for their dithering. The right thing was to fix it right away.
I had trouble with an SD 722. The overnighted me a new one and said to send back the faulty one when I could. That is the kind of service I expect in this price range. I do not know what Schoeps or DPA would have done with a nosebleed like this one, but I am pretty sure they would have handled it better.
I do not dislike British products. But I am very wary. Even before F0cker's problems I would pause a long time, and talk to a few other owners before I
risked my money on a British product. Now you may have had way better luck with British mics than German, I do not know. I am just saying I do not trust British products before I see them proven. The SF story is an example I will not forget. The new SPS200 looks good. I think much of its sound quality come from phase coherence as the mics are all so close to each other. Just a guess. But I will first try the Schoeps DMS of 2 Mk4's and a Mk8.
To carry the unfair car analogy further, the old MB 300SLR, with a straight 8, nine main bearing engine, was a world beater. Several had on their rear fenders, "This car has never lost a race nor dropped out due to mechanical failure." I do believe German QC is a higher standard. At least better than an Edsel. And you remember the theory of oil in British motorcycles: "If there is oil on the outside, there is oil on the inside." Been there, done that, etc., etc., etc.
Cheers, all.
