Dear Mr. Renner,

the CMV3 is pre-1945, and it is a bit noisy by todays standards. Most available capsules will most probably not work properly anymore.

CMV563 is post-1945, and was made by Microtech Gefell, not by Neumann Berlin. For more info please contact their website.
For a tube microphone of that age, I guess it's o.k. Usage depends on the capsule you have, of course.

Best regards,
Martin Schneider
Neumann Mic. Development  

I Have spent the day learner about this mic, I will have the m7,m9 and mk55. It is made in 1967. Was this mic an origonal Neumann or a Microtech idea. The mic has the Neumann trade mark. What kind of sound should i expect  

Paul, there cannot be any one answer to your questions that would be both truthful and simple at the same time, because the history of the (one? two?) Neumann company/companies is "simply complicated."

However, one thing is for certain: The company that sponsors this board never made a CMV 563 microphone. It was made by the company that at one time called itself Georg Neumann & Co. (back when there was an East and a West Germany) and now is called Microtech Gefell. Their Web site is www.microtechgefell.de ; they can give you good information and support, but please understand that they are a separate company from the Georg Neumann GmbH on whose site we are here.  

David, Thank you for helping me. One last question on this subject. How does this mic compare to the newer models that are being produced today? Is there a sertain mic that it could be compared to?  

When used with the M 7 capsule head (if your M 7's membranes are still in good condition--not something to take for granted, given their PVC base material), there should be some audible commonality between your microphone and a U 47. Microtech Gefell has several models which use this same capsule design, while Neumann's most closely related current model would be the M 147 Tube and/or M 149 Tube.  

the capsule is most important for the sound, yet different electronics in a mic can make a difference, too. that said, the cmv563 with m7 capsule basically resembles the um57, which is identical in circuit design (except for that it's pattern switchable), but there should be a small sonic difference in the upper mids due to the different head grille. microtech gefell recently re-issued the um57 as um75, plus, they've had the um92.1 and m92.1 in their regular range for a while, all with the same capsule and head grille arrangement, and basically with the same circuit, except for different tube and a few minor changes.

i doubt that u47 and m147/149 will sound really similar (sorry david ;-), since the u47 has a very special circuit involving a tube considerably operated out of specs (underheating, low plate voltage) and thus - as is frequently mentioned by many - yielding a very special distortion behaviour which obviously is unique to the mic. the m147/49 have an entirely different circuit topology; instead of an output transformer, the signal passes through a solid state output stage. the resulting very low source impedance differs from the standard 200 ohms of older mic's. the resulting different relation to the input impedance of the following pre-amp can also make a sonic difference.

hope this helps more than it confuses ;-)