hea AT853RXWH your right on with the recommends. you come from your mics to a mini XLR then to the adapters, which in the case of some mics is required. like AT's sold by sound pros. when you have mics with a max voltage like the SP-CMC-8's they pack a maximum voltage of 11 volts if im not mistaken. the adapters make the 48 v phantom to 11 v. and the question you seemed to answer for gloco is that the fatty samsons would not fit in her phantom/preamplifier female XLR's. i bought 2-25 foot Fender xlr mic cords for $25.00 for both and they seem to work great maybe not supurb but...stumpy XLR's should be as inexpensive... and would indeed give a regulated size of XLR that would fit her deal. your 8531's are they an actual phantom power source?