All the pieces you mentioned are top shelf ... and the choice between them is subjective.

It's hard to say that the AEA is better or worse than the Royer and that the GR is "darker" than the Vintech ...

My advice is to listen for yourself, make your desicions from your own obsevations rather than those of a sales person, who may be motivated by better mark up margins or availability of a product.

Remember sales people are always looking forward to the sales that will go to the next paycheck.

The Vintech is real good stuff as is the GR. Keep in mind that GR now offers an 1/2 rack eq based on the Neve 1081 4-band eq that is designed to work with the GRNV mic pre.

I like and have used the Royer 121's. Not yet got to use AEA, but it has gotten positive praise in my circles.

Hey thanks for the info. Man if I could only get my hands on some of this gear and test it before I buy it. Nathan Eldrige at Atlas Pro Audio is the guy that turned me on to the Vintech x73i and AEA R84 mic. He said if I wasn't happy with what I got that we'd keep working on it untill I am satisfied....pretty cool. I guess at this point its just a matter of deciding what to get then buying it and checking it out...if it's not what I want send it back and try something different. Right now I'm thinking

X73i and R84 like he suggested or
just two X73i's or
X73i and a tube pre of some sorts or
X73i and a tube mic.

Any thoghts on what would be the best combination for a project studio doing rock, pop/rock, country/rock?? My other mics are TLM 103 and MK-012's, 57's etc. Thanks for your insight guys.

the AEA is supposed to be a recreation of the RCA D77 or D77 DX. I am not sure what your intended use for it is but I do have the RCA D77 and is real good for micing guitar cabs (I like the sound much better than a 57- also a killer for clean guitar) and all kind of brass instruments. It is especially sweet for micing clean guitar amps, the detail and roundess of the tone is just amazing.

For vocals is very smooth, (like butter) though lacking a bit of hi end, which is great to add substance and quality to a female vocalist. for a male vocalist you might find the mic a bit dark, unless you are going for a bing crosby type sound, then it is without equal. In other words, this mic has a very vintage sound, especially when paired with a tube pre. If you are looking for a more 'modern" type vocal sound, you won't find the "D" type ribbon mics to be your cuppa tea. Otherwise and for so many apps is "D" mic to use.

Nathan Eldrige at Atlas Pro Audio is the guy that turned me on to the Vintech x73i and AEA R84 mic. He said if I wasn't happy with what I got that we'd keep working on it untill I am satisfied....

It's hard for either of you to go wrong with that type of deal .. you can return something if you hate it and he knows very well, that all the items you have been considering are top shelf and will more than likley please you ..

Really the only way you are going to be able to make the desicion that benifits you the most, is to hear all the items side by side and to perhaps use them for a bit. I don't know if you can swing it but perhaps you can purchase both the Royer and the AEA with a pre and then return for a refund the one that you like the least. The only problem with this is that if you are like me, once you have both of those mics in your grubby little hands, you won't want to let them go and you will end up paying for both of them .... hee hee hee hee ...