I can't seem to get my condenser mic to work. Help?

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Deadseid

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Hi. I am running a small studio in my home. At the heart of it, is my computer, powering an E-MU 1616m sound card. (http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=505&subcategory=491&product=15189) I have recently upgraded my crappy dynamic mic to an AKG Perception 200 Condenser mic. (I don't have a link for that, as it has been discontinued. Anyone know why, by the way?) The AKG requires phantom power, and the sound card's dock supplies 48v phantom power. I am using a Balanced XLR to TRS cable so the phantom power can reach the mic. (As opposed to an unbalanced cable) But the mic will not work. I can not get the VU Meter on my sound cards mixer software to budge. Every other dynamic mic that i have tried works fine. What am i doing wrong?

(apologies if this is the wrong place for this post, im new to the forum, and this is my first post)
 
So it's XLR at the mic and TRS at the card?
I'm not sure that phantom comes out of the TRS output. Since I don't record on a 'puter I'm not positive but I know on my hardware mixer the phantom ONLY comes thru the XLR jack and not the TRS.
I could easily be way wrong here so let's see what some recording gurus have to say but my guess is that for some reason you're not getting phantom to the mic.
 
yes female xlr at the mic, and trs on the card's dock. the mic's instruction manual says i can use a balanced cable in this manner, (balanced meaning the trs end has 3 segments instead of 2 to match wire for wire with the xlr end) and the 48v dc phantom power charge will run along the third lead. I would try a true xlr cable, but there are no xlr ports on the dock.
 
yes female xlr at the mic, and trs on the card's dock. the mic's instruction manual says i can use a balanced cable in this manner, (balanced meaning the trs end has 3 segments instead of 2 to match wire for wire with the xlr end) and the 48v dc phantom power charge will run along the third lead. I would try a true xlr cable, but there are no xlr ports on the dock.
well if the manual says it sends poower oput the TRS then that settles that.
So my next thoughts would be either the phantom power isn't working (possible .... do you have something else that needs phantom just to check?) or possibly the TRS/XLR you're using is sending phantom to the wrong pin for that mic.
 
i wish i had something else that ran on phantom so i could test it on the card. the 48v dc is controlled by a toggle switch that lights up when its flipped on. My guess was that it is not getting phantom power too, and i had to make the cable i used. i tried wiring it both different ways and each way i wired it, a dynamic mic would work, but akg would not. I think ill just have to get a phantom power supply, and run the mic to a mixer, and the mixer to the sound dock. Thanks for your insight.
 
The + 48VDC should appear at the tip AND the ring of the TRS jack. If it's not done that way, you won't get any signal.
 
The phantom is only available through the XLR inputs.

See page 20 of the manual and also page 98.

Also, using the mic input will give you more gain.

What you need is an XLR > XLR mic cable.
 
Typically phantom power is NOT sent through any TRS connections. (there is probably a rare exception somewhere). You need an XLR to XLR cable to use phantom power if your device supplies it. Check your manual for your soundcard. Even those devices with a combo jack (XLR+TRS in one) keep to that difference.

It works(XLR->TRS) with the dynamic because the signal sent generates it's own power of sorts. Although you probably have the gain cranked pretty high to compensate for the weak signal. With a phantom powered mic, you'll typically need very little gain. You might even need attenuation to compensate for the very strong signal.
 
A $35 audio buddy preamp will power this mic...its not the nicest pre...but alot less noisy than other stuff at that price...I have to assume that since a perception 200 was chosen that budget was a factor.
 
Listen to the nice C7sus. The E-MU has 2 combi-jacks. They accept 1/4" and XLR inputs. The phantom power only works on the XLR jack. You *do* have XLR inputs, 2 of them. Wrong cable, dude.-Richie
 
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