Taperssection.com
Gear / Technical Help => Battery Boxes, Preamps, Mixers, ADCs, and Processors => Topic started by: tedyun on December 17, 2010, 02:45:35 PM
-
I've searched, but haven't found a good answer to this. Can I make an XLR to Lemo adapter cable and attach conventional mic bodies to the Lemosax?
Thanks -- Ted
-
No. The Lemo sockets are unbalanced with respect to audio signals, and they provide two different DC operating voltages, neither of which is suitable as phantom powering for your microphones. Or while the voltage on the capsule polarization contact is OK as such, the resistance behind it is not, and it's available on only a single contact while phantom powering requires it on two contacts (pins 2 and 3 of the XLR, which can't be connected to each other without shorting out the audio from your microphone).
Finally, the current required for phantom powering is several mA while the "current" required for capsule polarization (after the initial inrush) approaches zero--so you'd be lucky if the DC converter that produces that voltage could power your microphones without collapsing.
--best regards
-
To expand on that a little bit, the lemosax units (either with Schoeps 5pin binder plug or not) were all designed to take the place of the pre-amp bodies in remote capsule systems (e.g. Schoeps cmc6 bodies). On the bright side, there are non-Schoeps systems which are voltage/current compatible (or at least tolerable of the lemosax's power) if you can get the right cable terminations.
There are actually a bunch of sx-m2 models. (at least, but not limited to) the standard sx-m2, the "lemosax" for remote systems (sx-m2/ls), the mono output option (sx-m2m), a nagra version (sx-m2/nv) and a Royer Labs version (identical to the standard, except the P48 switch is deeply recessed to avoid accidental changes). There may be more, these are just the ones I've found evidence of.
-
Would it be possible to power the conventional mics using a phantom power source (like a Denecke PS-2), then making XLR > lemo cables to just pass the signal?
-
Perhaps, but you would then have the non-simple problem of how to unbalance the signals from the microphones going in to the Lemo connector. Since that requires different hookup arrangements for various brands and models of microphones, I really wouldn't recommend it.