Topic: Audix 1280 Active Cable Setup Question

[themonkey]

Received my Church's active cables for a pair of Audix 1280 caps.  Nice, well built construction.  I plugged the mics into a 9 volt SP battery box, bass roll off set at 16 hz with line in into R-09 HR, however I had to increase my input gain on R-09 HR to ~75 to  get any decent  signal. 

Curious as to what other users with this setup (1280>active cable>9 volt power>recorder) have experienced.  I would like to use the mics for both open and low pro situations, just wondering if a small pre or perhaps a higher volted battery box would be in order to achive adaquate line levels.

[acidjack]

^^ Was this while testing at home, or at a show?   If the former, as I'm sure you realize, your home stereo is nowhere near as loud as what you'll record at concerts, assuming you record rock or other popular music...

I run 1280c>Church Actives>bb>M10 from time to time and haven't had an issue with needing more gain.   When I'm using this combo, it is for louder shows.   I suppose it does need a bit more gain than my other mics sets did, but not appreciably more.

Two other things worth noting:

1. I do use the SPSB-10 battery box, which is 12V instead of 9V.

2. I assume you bought the cardiod caps? If so, you do not need bass rolloff with that setup at all.  If anything, I wish the 1280s with actives put out a bit more bass.

If you still can't get a decent signal, bump up to the mic in on LOW.

[themonkey]

Tried the mics with the battery box and with mic in set on R-09 HR.  Definitely getting a better signal with that approach.  Thanks.

 

[acidjack]

Just keep in mind, that does raise the possibility of getting distortion more quickly.  You may already know it, but the general rule is always, if you can get decent levels (above -12dB consistent peaks seems like a fine rule of thumb if you're running 24bit) running line-in, do it.  Good luck!

[SmokinJoe]

If you can run line in, even if you have to crank it to max, I would do that and not worry about it.  With my CSB's > R09, that's what I do, and I get levels in the -6 to -12 range, bring it up in post and it works fine.  With a stealth rig, where I'm not keeping a close eye on the levels, better to keep plenty of headroom than clip.