Leaving Shure SM58 Plugged in Focusrite Audio Interface

derekp

derekp

Member
Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but I've been wondering about this for a few weeks. I use my Focursite Scarlett audio interface for all sounds coming from my desktop, and also always have my Shure SM58 plugged into it. Is that going to wear the mic down to have it plugged in all the time? I usually have it pushed to the back of my desk, so it's not like it's picking up sounds all the time because it is an amazingly quiet mic, but just wondering what everybody thinks. Also, since it's an analog mic and doesn't require phantom power, I was just curious.
 
I look after a seasonal, large theatre, on the end of a pier. It was built in 1957, opened in 1958. Pulling an old panel off a wall revealed a set of cue lights, that had been plugged in and working unseen since then. The dimmers have been powered up 24/7 for years now - and the warmth keeps them going. Dynamic mics and speakers are magnets and coils of wire. There is nothing in them that can wear. The coils could go rusty, the gaps fill up with dust but they'd still work. In fact - thinking about it, very few components of anything wear - capacitors can dry out, or even expand and burst in some styles, but pretty well everything else is age-resistant.
 
The diaphragm is going to be moving in reaction to the sounds it hears no matter what you do, connected or not.
 
Most electronic devices are essentially immortal. We read about "re cappin" but in most cases it is not really necessary. VERY old amplifiers, over 25-30 years say, might need the HT filter caps replaced and there were some types of electrolytic caps that always seemed to die early. A Mullard plastic cased cap is one but not seen in 40 years! Any Blue Tantalum 'bead' caps should be immediately ejected and replaced with Aluminium types. Modern Al caps are just as good.

Transistors and op amps will live forever if used well inside their ratings. There is one failure mode for power transistors where they are repeatedly run at a high (but in spec) temperature then cold and rinse and repeat. Even so we are talking decades.

'Wound' components, transformers, inductors (e.g mic and speaker coils) can last a century or more. I recently finished a project, a 1950s radio turned into a Bluetooth player and guitar amp. The original mains traff and elliptical speaker were still perfectly operational as were the majority of resistors and caps.

Dave.
 
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