Actually, my gear history seems to be that if I find a mic I love, I usually end up getting a second one. This is the third strike on the R44c. If I can't afford one, I'll never manage two! 
 
Cindy

First - that's a really lovely recording!! Wow!!

Second, the AEA and Royer microphones are all great. I ended up getting a pair of the R101s because I think they are a little more flexible, where the R84 sounds a LOT like a good old RCA ribbon - which is always a good thing, and sometimes exactly what you want. The Royer microphones, to my ears, are a little more present, some might even say brighter, although I think it is more that they just extend a little further or more smoothly or who the heck tries to describe sound<G>?
 
Oh yeah, they were also more affordable. I use a Millenia Media HV-37 as my main preamplifier, so I can't comment on the AEA, but I can comment on the Great River gear - it is fantastic, a little more colorful than the HV-37, but again, sometimes that is what you want.

And the folks at Royer might complain, but I can't hear the difference between an R-101 and an R-121. Could be my monitors, could be my ears, but I couldn't pick one from the other. I think the R-121 is going to be easier to position, but I'll wrestle a little for the savings<G>!

The combination of the R84 and the R-121 is clearly awesome, so that's another option (for those of us who like to spend other people's money!)
 
Bottom line - I don't think you can make a bad choice...

OK, things just got a lot more complicated.
I emailed Sammy Rothman at AEA and we had a nice exchange during which he asked if I'd considered their N22 or N8 mics. Of course I hadn't, mostly because the R84 just looks so wicked cool. Setting that aside, I stared pouring over the specs and reviews and now I'm thinking their N8 may be the mic of my dreams. In addition, since it uses phantom power, I wouldn't need the specialized preamp and could afford the stereo pair.
 
So now I'm *really* confused. Has anyone tried either of these mics? I'd sure appreciate some feedbackind. The magazines seem to love them, but they seem to love everything.
 
Cindy

one person's opinion!!!

I'm not fond of microphones with built in preamplifiers, it limits (at least a little) my choices. Note that a built in preamplifier is not the same as the built in buffer/head amplifier one finds in condenser microphones.

I really like the Royer "Active" ribbon microphones, and I'd probably never feel the need to use a different preamplifer, but on off chance that I might, well, I ended up with the passive version.

I've also never heard an AES microphone I didn't like and I'd expect that the same would be true for their active microphones. But I'd probably still choose a passive ribbon just for the extra flexibility.

One last observation... while ribbon microphones have, generally speaking, a lower output level than their moving magnet cousins, there aren't a lot of occasions when one is going to run into problems. It depends, of course, on what you are recording, but I very seldom use 60 dB of gain with any of my ribbon microphones, so the extra 10 dB that a preamplifier might provide in "ribbon mode" is not always necessary. Disconnecting the phantom power entirely is a very nice feature, but that is an easy modification should you be so inclined.

I use a Grace m101 preamp with my R84.
 
I only do vocals with it.
 

I went up to Pasadena to visit AEA and talk about mics & preamps. I got a couple of mics to evaluate and I'll report back on that. While I was there, I saw these...