Condenser mic volume very low, please help

  • Thread starter Thread starter El Baroda
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El Baroda

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Hi. Last week, I bought a Behringer C-1 studio condenser mic and a Samson S mini mixer with built-in phantom power to go with it . Only yesterday did I find time to try them out for recording. For some reason, the C-1was very quiet even if I turned the volume knob up on the mixer. There is nothing wrong with the mixer as it worked very well with my old Sennheiser E835. Can someone assist please? Thank you very much.
 
Time for process of elimination. Get another condenser and plug it in, maybe the phantom power is faulty?
 
Hi Tomm. Thanks for your suggestion. Finding another condenser mic might be a bit tricky since everyone I know uses a dynamic mic. Worse comes to worst, I'll do my recording with my dynamic. Regards.
 
If other dynamic mics work, either the phantom power voltage/current is insufficient, the mic is defective, or the cable is bad. My bet would be on the mic.
 
Well, first off, the E835 is a dynamic, so that doesn't eliminate the fact that the phantom power level could be at fault.

The Behri C1 requires +48v DC phantom power. I am curious as to the phantom power output of the S Mix interface. It's specs do not say. It uses a 18v DC power supply, so how would it be able to send 48v DC to the mic?
 
All equipment (Behringer C-1 condenser mic, Samson S-mini Mixer, and XLR cable) are brand new and from reputable online stores. Since both my dynamic mics work very well with the mixer and the cable, you are probably correct that the mic is defective. Any further test to confirm this, without getting another condenser mic? Thanks.
 
Test the output voltage of the Samson S-mini at the end of a mic cable first. It may just not have enough power to run the C-1.
 
So, I did find that the S-mini is supposed to supply 48v phantom power. I would definitely check this first though, before blaming the mic. Do you know anyone who has another mixer that you could check the mic with? Guitar Center or something?
 
Hi Jimmy. I've read the specs again and you are right about them being silent re the phantom power rating. I always thought phantom power was something standard. Please tell me how I can "test the output voltage of the Samson S-mini at the end of a mic cable" as you mentioned. And if it's not enough, how do I solve the problem? Thanks a lot.
 
This should get you that answer. Just need a cheap voltage meter. Maybe $5 at a auto parts store, Home Depot, or Radio shack.

And no, it is not always standard. Typically so with newer units though. Best to eliminate that first, before dealing with trying to return the mic though.
 
Thanks a lot, Jimmy. Hopefully, I can do the test over Christmas. Will let you know. Merry Christmas!
 
No problem man. Hope you get it figured out. Nothing worse than buying new gear, and something not right.

Happy holidays to you and yours. :)
 
I double-checked the Samson S-mini specs and found no reference to 48v phantom power. However, Samson does sell a 48v phantom power unit separately. They look the same. I guess if they included a 48v phantom power in the mixer, they would have highlighted the fact. Just wondering.
 
jimmys69 said:
Well, first off, the E835 is a dynamic, so that doesn't eliminate the fact that the phantom power level could be at fault.

The Behri C1 requires +48v DC phantom power. I am curious as to the phantom power output of the S Mix interface. It's specs do not say. It uses a 18v DC power supply, so how would it be able to send 48v DC to the mic?
Click to expand...

There are phantom power supplies out there that run off 9 volt batteries.... I don't know if you were joking or not, but it would typically involve some kind of step up transformer....
 
Yeah, who knows man. I'm no electronics technician by any means, but it seems strange that the unit runs off a 18v power supply, yet is supposed to supply more than double that voltage to two input channels? I could totally be wrong here, but it doesn't sound right.

The unit has 48v phantom printed on the front right?

Test it and we will know. :)
 
jimmys69 said:
This should get you that answer. Just need a cheap voltage meter. Maybe $5 at a auto parts store, Home Depot, or Radio shack.

And no, it is not always standard. Typically so with newer units though. Best to eliminate that first, before dealing with trying to return the mic though.
Click to expand...

Well, phantom power SHOULD be a standard but a great many mics will work happily at voltages way below the nominal 48 volts--10 or 12 volts is often enough to get things working. For this reason, it's not unknown for makers of low end gear to cheat a bit and put out less than 48 volts.

That said, it's not really the case that a lower voltage means a lower output. Generally either there's not enough voltage to polarise the condenser plates so things stay silent--or there's enough and you get normal output even if the voltage is low.

As others have said, the only way to know for sure is to experiment with the mic on a different interface/mixer. Plugging a different condenser into the Samson would be less telling since, as I mentioned before, many mics will work happily at voltages less than 48.

If you bought the gear at a local shop I'd just take it back while everything is still in warranty. If not, it's time to beg/borrow/steal another set up to plug your mic into.
 
Hi Bobbsy. I bought both mic and mixer on line so it's would be difficult to take them back to the shops. Anyway, as you suggested, I'll beg/borrow (but not steal...LOL) another mixer to plug my mic into. BTW, will getting a separate 48 volts phantom power supply be a good option? If so, can I safely plug it into the mixer? Thanks for your reply.
 
To get 48 vdc out of a lower dc voltage, the manufacturer would use DC-DC converters, also called switching power supplies. Pretty common and they are used to increase dc voltage.

For the OP, you should be more specific about which model samson you have. There seems to be several different, but similar models of the S-mini. Read the manual and see waht it says about phantom power.
 
El Baroda said:
Hi Bobbsy. I bought both mic and mixer on line so it's would be difficult to take them back to the shops. Anyway, as you suggested, I'll beg/borrow (but not steal...LOL) another mixer to plug my mic into. BTW, will getting a separate 48 volts phantom power supply be a good option? If so, can I safely plug it into the mixer? Thanks for your reply.
Click to expand...


My suspicion...and until you can experiment it's only that--is a faulty mic. This is based on a couple of things--first, I've heard of exactly this fault with Behringer mics before and, second, as I said earlier, even with low power, generally a mic will either work perfectly or not have any output at all. Low output is rare to unheard of. Anyway, if my suspicions are correct then a separate phantom supply would just be a waste of money.
 
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