Topic: Upgrading from Sony ECM-DS70P

[the_she]

Hello

I'm thinking about upgrading from my old Sony ECM-DS70P, and I was thinking about getting a SP-CMC-2 as a replacement. What I'm not sure about is whether to get the SPL battery power suply or not. I use a Sony MZ-R900 MD (setting mic sensitivity to "low".) From what I've been told upgrading the mic alone would be a step up in quality, but should I get SPL battery power as well? I don't really know what benefits I get from that, if anyone cares to explain I'd appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

[nameloc01]

There are a few different ways to power those. Some ways "kinda" work, other work great.
Using one of the little SP battery boxes, with the mics terminated together, will cause clipping at loud shows. Reason is, they are not designed to be ran like that(2 wire), its just that they will handle moderate levels and its cheaper to run them that way vs. running them with phantom power, which a lot of people don't like to do because its more costly. (If you run them with phantom power, they will handle anything you can throw at them without distorting, and they will get a better response). I used to run the 829s with one of their BBs, and was not happy with the results at all (clipping,ect).
its gonna come down to how much money you can spend to put a setup together. Best way is phantom power, I'd recommend, for instance the Denecke over the AT boxes, as it sounds a lot better than they do. In any case, you're gonna need an external power supply (to do it right)

[nameloc01]

Another thing, is that you're gonna want to run your mics/box into the "line in" on your MD, not the "mic in"...the preamp on the mic jack gets overpowered *extremely* easy, and you'll get "brickwalling" on your recording, the "line in" will not cause this too happen (as long as you don't set your levels too high)
(If you are taping very soft acoustic stuff "mic in" is okay, but any amplified music should go "line in")