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Gear / Technical Help => Microphones & Setup => Topic started by: terabyte23 on September 13, 2013, 02:25:39 AM

Title: Tinybox hum with actives?
Post by: terabyte23 on September 13, 2013, 02:25:39 AM
I'm getting ready to use my new tinybox and AKG actives for the first time.  With everything connected I'm getting a nasty hum in the right channel, which changes in frequency and intensity when I touch the active collette (or any other nearby metal object, like a desk lamp).

Tried switching cables and caps, with no change.  If I grip the tinybox in my hand the hum goes away.  As soon as I loosen my grip, the hum returns.  Seems like a grounding issue to me, but I don't know how to check this further and fix it before my show  ???

Gear is CK61 caps > AKG actives > Tinybox > M10 line-in
Title: Re: Tinybox hum with actives?
Post by: F.O.Bean on September 13, 2013, 02:39:12 AM
Sounds like a grounding issue
Title: Re: Tinybox hum with actives?
Post by: DSatz on September 13, 2013, 08:23:48 AM
This is one of my little historical asides ... it probably won't help much with the needed repair.

> ... I'm getting a nasty hum in the right channel, which changes in frequency and intensity when I touch the active collette (or any other nearby metal object, like a desk lamp).

"Colette" is a female first name, not a piece of equipment or part thereof. Active accessories (thin, visually unobtrusive extension cables, goosenecks or rigid tubes in which the first stage of the microphone's active electronics are located at the capsule end) were invented and patented by Schoeps. Their "Colette" microphone series, introduced in 1973-74 and still their leading product line, is more technically known as the "CMC" series, and "Colette" is what the third letter in that name stands for (the first two stand for "condenser microphone" using an internationalized, i.e. English and American, spelling).

The name was chosen because for a number of years that were crucial to the company's survival, their largest single customer had been the French radio network--then called ORTF, later renamed Radio France--and Schoeps' main sales contact with that organization, a former Colonel in the French Army, had a favorite niece named Colette.

Looking back now, that may seem like a somewhat peculiar basis for such a choice. But it was up to Dr. Schoeps, and that's the choice he made.

--best regards
Title: Re: Tinybox hum with actives?
Post by: terabyte23 on September 13, 2013, 09:49:27 AM
Not sure why you'd think public troubleshooting is better than asking me, but try reseating the retaining ring, or adjusting the leaf spring down.  If that doesn't fix it, I'll need to repair the coupling.

I'm not calling you out, I'm trying to get help ASAP from the group, figuring that I may have screwed up something.  I'll email you.