SOUND ROOM Oktavas
In light of past internet discussion of the fake "Oktava" microphones from China, The Sound Room is happy to, once again, state its policy regarding acquisition, testing, quality control, warranty and service.
Since its inception in 1998, The Sound Room has ONLY sold microphones acquired direct from the Oktava plant in Tula, Russia and inspected and tested through our own engineering partners in Russia.
The original mission of The Sound Room was to supply Oktava microphones that were tested, matched, warranted and guaranteed (with full service backing) to be used by professional engineers anywhere in the world. We felt that a full complement (of capsules) matched pair set - provided by The Sound Room with all of the guarantees and quality control expected by Western engineers - priced at below $700, was a great product offering and our business was originally built around this product.
Before we started to offer the Oktava microphone, Harris Electronics (U.S.A.) carried the Oktava brand and later dropped it due to poor quality control, lack of parts, service and support from the original western distribution company. At that time, Oktava seemed to suffer a loss of reputation as a "professional tool."
Later, The Guitar Center stores (and their Internet arm - Musician's Friend) offered Oktava products from the same distribution company. However, the same problems with quality control, service, warranty, returns, etc. soon reared their head. Also, at this time it was impossible to order "matched" sets through The Guitar Center - or to have warranty service performed or have warranty replacements made available.
When the Sound Room stepped in to create a product that was professionally inspected, warranted, backed and certified with our OWN quality systems we received threatening phone calls, e-mails and faxes from the "official" world-wide distributors, but we still continued to offer our products, plus other Russian products from Elation, Astor/RTT, etc. - all subject to our own QC and service plans.
It is our understanding that the original distributors (in England) have had a new microphone made in China that is a basic copy of the old Oktava series. Since these distributors had licensed the English version of the Russian (Cyrillic printing) "Oktaba" as "Oktava", the new Chinese mics are sold under the "Oktava" name and may include the symbol of the Russian bear. The identification process is further confused by the following facts:
1) The Russian factory produces mics marked for both the domestic market in Russia and Western markets - with different markings for each. "Oktava" and (Cyrillic) "Oktaba" markings come off the Russian manufacturing line weekly.
2) The web-site domain name www.oktava.com was purchased by the Sound Room in in 1997.
3) It is currently possible to buy microphones manufactured in two different locations with different technical specifications, yet having basically, the same markings.
(For those of you that are interested, there is a new page on the Oktava corporate website that shows in pictures and descriptions, how to spot a fake Oktava microphone.)
The Sound Room STILL offers the same Russian products. In our experience, and to our knowledge, no other source for "Oktava" mics offers anything like our quality control, return policy (within 21 days for full refund), service bench, or experience. As many, many satisfied customers will tell you - The Sound Room ONLY sells items that our own engineers and staff use in their personal recording projects. We believe that you should have the opportunity to test ANY of these products for at least 2-3 weeks in your own environment to see if it is a good match for your style of engineering. We believe that you should be able to return, change, test, and talk about new products with knowledgeable staff.
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