Microphone Question for Mr.Gerst.

[Stefan Elmblad]

Hi Mr Gerst, I have two questions about microphones that me and some other people have been debating over and over on some Swedish BBS and I was hoping that you could set the record straight....here it goes:

1. A mic that can operate on, say 15-48V. Does the sound quality/sensitivity/selfnoise etc degrade at lower voltages ?

2. Mic's that can run at such various voltages, even if they don't have possibility to insert batteries, are they always electrets or can they be true condensers ?


Big thanks in advance if you can sort this out for us, everyone knows and respects your microphone skills and a quote from you would surely end the discussion.

Regards
Stefan Elmblad

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Hi Mr Gerst, I have two questions about microphones that me and some other people have been debating over and over on some Swedish BBS and I was hoping that you could set the record straight....here it goes:

1. A mic that can operate on, say 15-48V. Does the sound quality/sensitivity/selfnoise etc degrade at lower voltages ?

If the diaphragm is externally charged, lowering the polarizing voltage will decrease the sensitivity, raise self noise, and possibly degrade the performance somewhat.

2. Mic's that can run at such various voltages, even if they don't have possibility to insert batteries, are they always electrets or can they be true condensers ?

Usually, anything that will run on voltages below 48 volts are electrets, but not always. It's possible to include voltage doublers and tripler to increase the lower voltage supply to produce a 48volt source for phantom power. It's less common, but it is done that way at times.

Big thanks in advance if you can sort this out for us, everyone knows and respects your microphone skills and a quote from you would surely end the discussion.

Regards
Stefan Elmblad

Well, I hope my answers helped settle the argument.