D
Dr.Rubber
New member
Actually, I'm asking this for my friend...
There is a lot of topics and information about phantom and dynamic or ribbon mikes, but sor some reason I couldn't find a complete satisfactory answer for my problem. So, the question is that could it be possible to damage a condenser mike by connecting it via unbalanced XLR-XLR cord into mixer or preamp, sending phantom power?
My pal borrowed a condenser mike and connected it to preamp. Phantom (48V) was on. He was speaking into the mike - testing it worked and started to add gain. Nothing was heared and meters monitoring signal moved neither. At the moment my friend thought something was wrong, because when he touched the microphone and metallic body of the preamp, he felt kind of "buzzing" on his finger (sounds like difference in voltage for me...). It was still quiet...
After that, I took a look into the equipment: everything seemed to be right. Except: every single microphone cord was soldered in the following way:
Pin 2 was soldered into Pin 2 - sounds OK, huh?
Pin 3 was soldered into Pin 3 - still makes sense, right?
But pin 1 weren't soldered at all. Instead, one wire was soldered into the bodies of connectors at both ends of wire. Is this the normal way to make a unbalanced cord?
Well, I thought that because of that, bodies of the mike and preamp worked as ground and my friend was connecting them together, and that caused the "buzz" on fingertips. Right?
We could have tested the mike and phantom of the preamp if we just had a balanced cord. That's why I'm asking for help. Is there a possibility that we have broken our friends mike? On the other hand, is it possible, that we have blown our preamps phantom unit? Can we safely test it using a correctly wired cord?
Thank you for your answers!
Have a nice autumn!
There is a lot of topics and information about phantom and dynamic or ribbon mikes, but sor some reason I couldn't find a complete satisfactory answer for my problem. So, the question is that could it be possible to damage a condenser mike by connecting it via unbalanced XLR-XLR cord into mixer or preamp, sending phantom power?
My pal borrowed a condenser mike and connected it to preamp. Phantom (48V) was on. He was speaking into the mike - testing it worked and started to add gain. Nothing was heared and meters monitoring signal moved neither. At the moment my friend thought something was wrong, because when he touched the microphone and metallic body of the preamp, he felt kind of "buzzing" on his finger (sounds like difference in voltage for me...). It was still quiet...
After that, I took a look into the equipment: everything seemed to be right. Except: every single microphone cord was soldered in the following way:
Pin 2 was soldered into Pin 2 - sounds OK, huh?
Pin 3 was soldered into Pin 3 - still makes sense, right?
But pin 1 weren't soldered at all. Instead, one wire was soldered into the bodies of connectors at both ends of wire. Is this the normal way to make a unbalanced cord?
Well, I thought that because of that, bodies of the mike and preamp worked as ground and my friend was connecting them together, and that caused the "buzz" on fingertips. Right?
We could have tested the mike and phantom of the preamp if we just had a balanced cord. That's why I'm asking for help. Is there a possibility that we have broken our friends mike? On the other hand, is it possible, that we have blown our preamps phantom unit? Can we safely test it using a correctly wired cord?
Thank you for your answers!
Have a nice autumn!
