The U87 with the 'battery compartment' and little window in the back of the body to see the battery meter is a fuller, richer, and in my opinion far more opulent sounding example of a U87 than the contemporary U87Ai... though the U87Ai has far better noise specs and an amplifier [same as used in the U-89] that is less expensive for Sennheiser to manufacture.

The problem being that finding an original U87 in really good condition is pretty difficult... so you should probably plan on dropping another $800 to $1,000 into one when you find one .

In my opinion, the Soundelux "[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.soundelu…"]iFet-7[/]="http://www.soundelu…"]iFet-7[/] is probably a better choice as you have an option between an amplifier that is similar to the amplifier in the older U87's, a capsule that is similar to the capsules in the old U87, the far more open sounding grill assembly of the venerable Neuamnn U-47fet and the availability at the flick of a switch for an amplifier that is close to the amplifier design of the U-47fet.

I have found this mic to be far more versatile than an old [and especially a new] U87... but as always... YMMV.

Best of luck with the search.

Thank you Fletcher for your reply. I have yet to hear a bad word spoken about Soundelux. I think their whole collection seems rather enticing.

I suppose we should be thankful that Sennheiser didn't get their hands on Microtech Gefell!

Thanks again,
John Stafford

John Stafford wrote: I suppose we should be thankful that Sennheiser didn't get their hands on Microtech Gefell!

Indeed