I just purchased the lawson L251 tube mic to replace my Neumann TL103. I have a ten day trial on this mic. Out of the box, i have to say that i am not reallying hearing a huge difference between the two mics. and i might even say that i am really disappointed. My signal path is the mic directly into an Avalon M5 then into my MOTU 2408.

Which one would you buy?

Fletcher, maybe you can shed some light on this for me. I'd like to know what the differences may be between the telefunken elam 251 and the lawson and sounddelux "replicas" I'm not looking for a "which one sounds better" comparison but what might some of the electrical or mechanical differences be. are these new ones exact copies ? are they improved ? ya know, what gives?