There are a few other factors that go into the calculus. Customer service is one of them. I dropped a Gefell capsule once and had to have it serviced. I could not send it anywhere in the U.S. so I had to send it back to Germany for a rebuild at a cost of 400 Euros. Expensive mistake to be sure, but you may want to investigate whether you can have AKGs serviced for lower cost or in the U.S. On the other hand, Gefell customer service is incredible and they were able to take me through every step of the process, including locating the proper shipping method to send the capsule in and return it to Mali, which is where I was posted at the time.
I have always preferred to have a microphone fixed by the manufacturer, whoever it is.
With Gefell microphones, I always recommend sending them back to Germany (the national distributor will help) as, after repair, they go back in the anechoic chamber and are checked to make sure they comply to the original spec., which Gefell keeps on file. So you *know* it's done properly. Also - if Gefell damage a capsule while in repair, it's replaced free of charge (I'm not sure what an independent repairer would do in this case).
John: How was the Gefell 85th celebration? I received an invite but could not make it. I need to plan a pilgrimage up there one day.
Excellent - even though I missed the flight due to massive traffic jams due to accidents on the M40 and M25 and decided to drive instead - round trip of 1,400 miles!
The event was great and the opening of the Georg Neumann Museum was extremely interesting with samples of the very early Neumann microphones back to 1928 - including the famous CMV3 bottle mic.
Jörg Wuttke (recently retired from Schoeps) was there and we had a great chat, I have known him for many years.
Interesting speeches during the dinner and I learned how Gefell kept in touch with Georg Neumann in Berlin after the end of the war; still working close until, finally the Iron Curtain and the Stasi put an end to the contact until 1989 when the wall came down.
Yes, an excellent time.