It'll be like Lennon and McCartney. It'll be like Turner and Hooch. It'll be like Samson and Delilah... if Samson and Delilah got along, and, you know, designed high-end studio gear.

It's maybe the most exciting news of the nascent year 2008: sE Electronics is collaborating with engineering legend Rupert Neve on a new line of Signature Series microphones that will bear the latter's name and sonic imprint.

The first Signature model is set to be a Ribbon microphone, with sE Electronics designing the body and capsule, and Rupert Neve himself dictating the electronics and transformer specs.

If you're still wondering if this is really the kind of news that you should be calling your friends at 4am and telling them about, why not read a few inspiring words from Mr. Neve himself:

"This association with Siwei Zou and sE will provide an ideal partnership in terms of sE masterly and enthusiastic commitment to innovation and quality that have also been my own hallmarks for more than 50 years."

And here's what Siwei Zou has to say:

"I have, for many years, admired the work of Mr Neve, and now that we have a chance to work together I am able to realise a quality level in microphone technology that no other manufacturer to date has managed to achieve. The excellence we have worked so hard to achieve in production, design and capsule technology at sE, coupled with the best transformers this product area has ever seen, plus new cutting edge circuit board design, which from early tests are already proving to surpass anything I have ever heard before, means we are now able to produce high end mics, at a fraction of the cost of other high end brand models, but which have a sound and performance quality the likes of which this market has never seen before."

Are these two meant for each other or what?