newplanet7, I'm sorry if my earlier reply seemed dismissive, but I think it's important for people to be very clear that this is a serious issue. You're right, there are many good microphones, and even a few professional-quality ones (some Schoeps and AKG models, for example) that will run well on 12-Volt phantom powering as long as the available current is enough.
But in the earlier thread you said, and I quote, "Most mics can run well under 48v without issue." I had to dispute such a general statement, as I think you understand now. A manufacturer's powering specifications don't have an arbitrary amount of "wiggle room." The tolerance limits for the four standard powering methods (P12, P24, P48 and T12) are listed in the ISO specification. Those are the limits which the microphone manufacturers expect to be maintained, and they're not very wide.
Even though some microphones do allow wider tolerances than the standard, those wider tolerances don't carry over to other microphones in general. Even a single manufacturer (such as AKG) can have some microphones with wide tolerances and others with narrow tolerances.
With professional microphones, guessing or relying on intuition or dumb luck about how to power and connect them is a particularly bad idea, because most of the high-end manufacturers are pickier about powering than the run-of-the-mill far Eastern electrets are. (Even an AKG with "9-52 Volt powering" still needs enough current, and with some of their models, that's more than many low-end power supplies can provide.) So people who extrapolate from their experience with lower-end microphones are apt to be caught in a trap, and that's the situation I'm trying to prevent.
--best regards
Topic: Mics that use P12? (Read 5965 times)