« Reply #13 on: February 03, 2007, 06:44:46 PM »
What I don't understand is why SoundPros have not caught on and offered three wire battery boxes. They are missing a *huge* market here.
They'll just tell you need phantom power.
But I *really* do agree...
I'm not at all trying to bad-mouth Sound Professionals, but you know I asked Chris (Sound Pro Chris) a bunch of questions and got *completely* different answers from what other technical minded people on here told me.
Here is the problem with the A-T mics as I see it.. Number 1 the distortion figures they are using are not accurate.. These mics do distort badly I have measured them at 114db at 1k these mics have a distortion that is almost 15% that is VERY HIGH! I measure my own mic capsules from the factory they are 10% typical but after my mod the AT mics measure 0.5% and my mics measure 0.5%. So getting the mod done to these mics saves them from distortion but you do sacrifice some level that's why after doing the mod you should invest in a preamp.. To run your mics unless your always taping loud shows then you don't need a preamp in most cases..
Chris Church
I find people that are using the MT do need a preamp after my mod because the noise floor in the MT preamp is bad to begin with. And when you need the extra gain from the MT it brings up the noise floor too much, that being said the preamp in the Edirol R-09 is much better and more often then not for most loud shows not needed..
Hey Chris. I think the problem is AT mics were *never* designed to run as "two-wire" at all. If you look at any of the numerous AT powering options, they use a three-wire circuit. Even the power modules that are battery/phantom split the battery voltage so that half is across the FET and half across the (source) load resistor.
As far as "not enough gain" that is subjective. Sure, if you're trying to run into a NJB3 or Iriver, you've got a problem. But several line inputs, like Edirol R01/R09, and Minidisc have enough gain to bring this up nicely for any amplified music. I think they might add 10-15dB or so but that is quite enough. That is why I've been using my MD so much even though I've got a lot (!) of other gear.
Richard
Logged
Mics: Sennheiser MKE2002 (dummy head), Studio Projects C4, AT825 (unmodded), AT822 franken mic (x2), AT853(hc,c,sc,o), Senn. MKE2, Senn MKE40, Shure MX183/5, CA Cards, homebrew Panasonic and Transsound capsules.
Pre/ADC: Presonus Firepod & Firebox, DMIC20(x2), UA5(poorly-modded, AD8620+AD8512opamps), VX440
Recorders: Edirol R4, R09, IBM X24 laptop, NJB3(x2), HiMD(x2), MD(1).
** This individual has moved to user "illconditioned" **