Balanced 1/4'' input, 48V phantom power.

C

Calc

New member
Hi, I have a soundcard with a Balanced 1/4'' input and phantom power.
I want to connect a Shure SM57 to it. I know that the SM57 is dynamic so that I don't need phantom power.
What sort of cable do I need? I have a XLR to balanced jack. At least I think it's balanced, it has those two black circles. It also looks like there is some "gold" material on the tip of the jack.

I am not getting any signal into my DAW when I try recording the mic. Is it possible that the reason is a "wrong" type of jack? I can hear whatever I sing through the headphones, so I'm guessing this isn't the problem...

Thank you.
 
1/4 inch balanced would be 'TRS (tip, ring, sleeve)- normally that would be line level not a mic input -and not be the one with phantom. Could be wrong I suppose.
If it is 'line in you could still get a bit of level, but very low..
What's the box?
 
Sorry about that, the sound card is a ESI U46DJ.

09_29_2005_13_28_esi_u46dj_duze.jpg


The datasheet says that the mic input is 1/4'' balanced with 48V phantom power...Any ideas?

Thank you!
 
Calc said:
Sorry about that, the sound card is a ESI U46DJ.

The datasheet says that the mic input is 1/4'' balanced with 48V phantom power...Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Calc,
You don't see these very often, but it's possible to have phantom passed via a 1/4" jack. It's a TRS (tip, ring, & sleeve) connector, with hot signal, ground signal, and power all passing at once. If your XLR -> TRS cable isn't working, it may have the pins wired differently than what the interface is expecting (possible because powered TRS jacks are rare). Check your manual to see what pin should receive hot, ground, & power; you might need to swap the pin wires on your mic cable.

If you're not handy with a soldering iron, you could also just switch to a mic cable with an unbalanced, TS (tip & sleeve) connection, such as this example.

David
 
If this was the case, would I then be able to hear what I am saying into the mic through my monitors?

Thank you.
 
Calc said:
If this was the case, would I then be able to hear what I am saying into the mic through my monitors?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
If the mic was not wired correctly, you would not hear your own voice through the monitors. If you do hear yourself, then it is a routing/asio driver issue.

You need to go into the DAW software and tell it to 'listen' to the input that you have the mic plugged into.
 
I think I have tried all settings in Sonar known to man! I even tried using different software..I have tried using MME and WDM drivers...I wish there was a way of knowing if the soundcard is sending a signal through the USB cable..

Can it be some USB IRQ sharing problem? I doubt it since I can record guitar just fine...Wierd stuff..

Thanks
 
if that esi card doesnt conform to standards (as it appears it doesn't) get rid of it... why go through changing all your cables because they cant get their shit together... to say nothing of possibly doing harm to some equipment...
 
I just want to make sure that it's the card that is the problem and not something else.
Would suck if I went out to buy another card and I got the same problem..
 
well only an idiot or chinese manufacturer would put phantom on an trs...
phantom NEEDS to get to both the +/- lines equally... the problem being when you want to plug your guitar or keyboard in then you're going to ground one of them if you forget and leave the phantom on... assuming it's even switched... dumb boy designs inc...
 
Hehe, did not know that. I'm looking at the Line 6 toneport UX1 or UX2.. I see that they have XLR plugs for mics, and from your post I guess this is better design?

Weird that pro card manufacturers would make such a mistake...

Thank you
 
As long as the cable you are using is balanced (correctly wired TRS jack) then it should work exactly the same as an XLR would.
 
I am assuming it is correctly wired since I can hear myself in the monitors...
Is this a valid assumption?

Thanks
 
Yes, sorry I missed that, so the problem must lie with the setup on the computer / drivers.
Can you post a screenshot of what you see in the Sonar audio config window? I got myself Sonar 8 today so I'm still learning my way around it, but I should be able to help :)
 
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