Topic: Nak 300 battery

[Soundguyjack]

Ok, stupid question from an old taper...
Am breaking out a set of Nak 300's i picked up for the 1st time...

I used to use Nak 100's back in the day, and tI would use an AA battery with 2 rubber rings around it inside the mic...

Now these 300's came with Eveready no. 206 batteries... they are a 9volt battery, with a 9v charge on them, but I am sure they wont for long...

noticed these batteries are $11 each online from various retailers...

Question:  I can't use an AA battery with the rubber rings on it inside a CM300, can I? I dont know why it would be diff from a CM100, and that worked for me for years in the past...  whats the deal with 9v -vs- 1.5 volt?

Sorry for the stupid question...

Hey Myco, if you got an answer, see me at LL Bean tomorrow  ;-)


Also, any way to use phantom power (+48v) off a soundboard with these mics?  yeah- thats right, I'm a band engineer and cant answer my own questions- flame away 
 

[Myco]

Hey Jack,

I don't have any real knowledge on Naks, but my gut feeling would be no, you couldn't use the old battery setup. I asked Jason if he knew what's up and he was of the same opinion that no you couldn't use it. He offered his Blumlein's if you'd like to use them and I'll bring them along unless I hear no from you b4 I leave to head up there. I don't know if your board supplies 48v phantom power or not, but I'm not using my V3 tonight and if you'd like to feed into that your welcome to use it, i'll be running my Aerco so the V3 is available. See you tonite. 

[audBall]

The entire nak line can be modified to run off of phantom power.  If you were so inclined, you could even have them 'activated' and shortened to only the barrel length with the cables running out the back, utilizing p48 phantom adapters on the ends.  It really makes setup and placement a breeze when they're that small.

[Myco]

So am I understanding you correctly that the Nak 300's aren't phantom ready out of the box, it would have to be a mod?

The entire nak line can be modified to run off of phantom power.  If you were so inclined, you could even have them 'activated' and shortened to only the barrel length with the cables running out the back, utilizing p48 phantom adapters on the ends.  It really makes setup and placement a breeze when they're that small.

[audBall]

So am I understanding you correctly that the Nak 300's aren't phantom ready out of the box, it would have to be a mod?

That is correct.

[Myco]

+T Thanks much AudBall!

[audBall]

Sure, no problem.  I should probably also note that there are a couple phantom modifications for these. 

When they're shortened, and coupled with the phantom adapters, the mics are operating at rougly their original voltage (~9-10v).  The mics can remain full-bodied and run at a full 48 volts as well via a different modification. 

I, personally, know how to do neither.   

As far as running them at 1.5v (AA's)...I'm assuming it works but they're probably not operating "to spec", so to speak.  It might work just fine though with some pumped gain. 

[Roger Gustavsson]

Now these 300's came with Eveready no. 206 batteries... they are a 9volt battery, with a 9v charge on them, but I am sure they wont for long...

noticed these batteries are $11 each online from various retailers...

Question:  I can't use an AA battery with the rubber rings on it inside a CM300, can I? I dont know why it would be diff from a CM100, and that worked for me for years in the past...  whats the deal with 9v -vs- 1.5 volt?

Also, any way to use phantom power (+48v) off a soundboard with these mics?  yeah- thats right, I'm a band engineer and cant answer my own questions- flame away 
 

Hi,

You can use two 6V batteries in series. Something like GP Alkaline 476A or GP Lithium CR2. Just put them in a small tube. Running them on 1.5V will reduce the maximum level by 20 dB! 8-15V will be just fine. The microphones will run for about 100-200 hours on battery.

The microphones can easily be modified for phantom supply. You will need two resistors, 6.8 kOhm, a zener and a piece of cable. Depending on what type of J-FET your mics have, you can feed it with up to 28V in the case there is a 2SK118 inside. To be safe, use a 15V zener. Please, see the document below for a schematic.

Roger Gustavsson, Huskvarna, Sweden

[bluegrass_brad]

Jack - You can use the rubber rings and a AA battery with these, but the performance does suffer.  I ran CM300's for many moons and My old CM-300 3 mic kit came with all those rubber ring adaptors as well. Batteries Plus carries the 9v for the Naks and usually has them in stock.  they last for months and months if you remember to turn off the power switch. I would just always remove them after each show so I wouldnt forget and leave the mic on.  As mentioned there is a phantom power mod that is relatively easy to do if you know your way around a soldering iron. here is the schematic for it.  It uses one of those Audio Technica/Samson/Nady/Shure Power modules that the mini xlr from the mic plugs into.  Like the one the Shure SM98 uses.

[Gil]

You can also order the 9Vs from Radio Shack for ~$9 with free shipping to your door if you go into a store to place the order.

[jhirte]

I wish I could remember the place I bought mine, but I paid 5.25 ea (this was in 03).. some place I found through Yahoo store or something.