I have had my XL1s for about a year and have recently purchased the MA-100 and a wireless. Forgive me if this topic has been brought up in the past, I just wasn't able to find it.

Should I expect that I only get audio on either the right or the left side depending on which XLR input I use on the MA-100? What configuration should I use to get it on both (L) and (R)?

Thanks a ton, I've been purplexed.

Yes.

If you realy want the same signal on R and L channels, mix in post, or buy a splitter ("Y" adapter) to feed the same signal to both inputs.

Thanks a ton. I just bought the XL2 and it allows me to mix on the camera which is great as I am still learning. I will look for a splitter. Any suggestions n where I could find one?

Almost any electronics or pro-music equipment store should have one. You can find RCA "Y" splitters at Radio Shack.

Rob, why do you want it on both channels? You can always pan it in post, and that frees up the second channel for other uses like a second wireless, a shotgun mic or a host of other uses.

Having said this, be careful of mixing wireless mic and wired mic audio, since sometimes there is a slight delay in the signal path of the wireless (or wired audio) so in some extreme situations you could actually have some phase problems, and most certainly would have a different sound "color" to it. But for picking up natural sound around your subject or other people near by that might be asking questions, a shotgun mic is indespensable.

Just my .02 too

Matt

Help,

I have recently purchased the MA 100 xlr adapter from ebay, but unfortunately it does not have the bracket for adding the battery or radio mic. Does anyone know where I could obtain one, or does anyone have any photos of one so I can make one myself.
Also do you know the part number.
Thanks in anticipation.

I could be wrong, but isn't it only the MA200 that has that dual charger?

Yes the 200 does have the dual charger but the 100 does have an bracket fitting. There are some screw holes built in. When I purchased it the description included "sorry but i don't have the bracket" or words to that effect.

Ow okay, sorry.

Good luck! Maybe you could keep searching on ebay or do a request on the Private Classifieds boards here, maybe someone of the forum here has one for you.

Mathieu,
no problem, thanks anyway, as they say you learn somethiong new everyday.

++maybe someone of the forum here has one for you.++

That would be nice.

Try Canon's national parts to order one.

You can see the MA-100 bracket in the second photo (MA-100 mentioned in the caption) at: http://www.dvinfo.net/canon/articles/article80.php

(Note: the velcor is not part of the standard MA-100.)

Thanks for that, I'll get in touch with them if I don't get any offers on the classified forum.

Can I use the BEC AT100 Mounting Box for Mounting Audio Technica U100 - Wireless Receiver on the ma-100? Will it bolt on to the existing holes on the bracket? I don't want to use velcro.
If it does work, where can I purchase it? B & H has been out of stock of this item for a very long time.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Anyone?

This is the mount box I am refering to.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/sitem/sku=283968&is=REG&BI=15&kw=BEAT100

I want to use this on my ma-100.

I tapped into the church sound system a few weeks past using a mini adapter to Audio 1 with a Y splitter to L-R. (audio was set to Mic). I got a constant harmonic about 60% up on the audio indicator............a few weeks before that, I used another facilities sound system and had no problem with audio using the same rig and settings. Anyway, I just got the MA-100 yesterday and was wondering if I can connect to fixed sound systems using XLR connections from sound systems or am I limited to using microphones only? Or should I set Audio 1 to "Line" when tapping into a fixed sound system? OR, should I get the BenchTek DXA-6 to use with both mic's and fixed sound systems? Help would be greatly appreciated.

I am a newbe , so I so not know is this will help or not . I run the sound system for a church and we do some video taping. I have not had the problem you had. I use balanced XLR cables coming out of the mixer into a 31 band EQ. Then XLR cables form the EQ to a bench tek. The Beach Tek is sec at line. With headphones on the DV Camcorder, I wuse th EQ to sut out AC- heater sound, hiss, and other sounds.

The MA-100/200 is designed for mic level inputs. If you feed it a line level signal, it will be overloaded, and it will clip and distort. Also, it is a transformerless design, so it does not provide the same level of isolation from the source found with transformer-based designs.

If all you have is line level source, then use a 30 dB pad (an attenuator) availabel from most places that sell profesional sound gear.

Many mixers have tape output jacks that provide a nominal -10 dB output level via RCA jacks. You should be able to connect them directly to the XL1 Audio 1 or Audio 2 inputs.

The noise issue you describe sounds like a possible ground loop. More likely if you are using the A/C power adapter with the XL1, but still possible if using battery depending on the circumstances and connections you have at the venu.

An item that might help is to use an "Audio system ground loop isolator," available from Radio Shack."

I appreciate both replies. I'm going back to the church tomorrow for the sole purpose of doing a test and try and isolate the problem. Every tid-bit of info helps a video / audio novice learn. Thanks again.

Maybe someone can clarify why the MA-100 has a DC connection! I can't find any info on Canon's site, there's nothing in the spec's or the flimsy little instruction sheet that comes with the unit. Wondering is driving me nuts. The only value I can figure, is that it possibly adds a little ump to the microphone to compensate for line loss. HELP and THANKs

The Ma100 has electronics to process the incoming signal (active circuitry) and doesn't work passively(without DC power)
it gets it's low voltage DC power from the cam.Most passive devices would lose a bit of signal strength , so your right ,it boosts the signal slightly.

Jack is correct. The MA100 uses an a of couple integrated circuit amplifiers to perform the balanced to unbalanced transformation and in the process provides about 6 dB of gain. This is a standrd practice and offers both some potential advantages (e.g., wider frequency response, gain, lower distortion), and disavantages (e.g., needs power, no ground isolation), over transformer-based methods. The amplifiers require the 5-volt DC power from the camcorder to operate.

i have no idea what is wrong with this. i am hoping i don't have something broken. anyways. i have an apex 175 shotgun mic and a xl1s with the ma-100 xlr adapter. i plug in the mic and i have messed with all the settings but it does not work...am i doing something wrong, is this mic not compatiable with my camera?

thanks,
mike

Does the Apex mic require phantom power? The MA-100 does not supply it. I think the Apex might have the provision of battery power(?)

yeah, it takes phantom power or a battery which i put a brand new battery in.

can anyone help me??

Is your MA-1 connected to the Audio-1 jacks & the Input Select to Audio-1? What is your Menu gain set to? (It should be set to Mic.) Is your power plug from the MA-1 connected? Is your REC level set correctly?

You might try a different mic if one is available to help figure out which part is malfunctioning.

If the battery is good and installed properly, it should work with the XL1 and MA-100. The most common problem is camcorder setting as Vic outline above.
1. Connect the MA-100 properly, both the audio and power cables, to the Audio 1 jacks at the back of the body. (Note, the jacks at the side of the handle are audio 2)
2. Setting the camcorder to Audio 1 input (switch behind the door)
3. Selecting MIC (or perhaps MIC ATT for loud venues) for the Audio 1 input from the menu

If that fails, try a different known good mic with the camera, and try the Apex on a different system to verify it woeks.

I remember seeing somewhere (maybe the manual maybe not) that the RCA jacks on the back of the XL1 were dual use and if this is true then how do you switch from the camera to input to record from the input?

Not on the XL1. They became dual use on the XL1s. No A/V input available for the XL1.

-gb-

darn, guess i should've bought an XL1s then heh.

Well, to be more specific, the audio jacks are bi-directional (input or output). It is the analog video jacks on the XL1 (both RCA and s-video) that are output only.

Don is right. I stand corrected. You can use the RCA jacks for audio input. There is both a menu selection and the switch on the left side of the camera body to accomplish this.

It's on pages 36,37 of the owner's manual.

Don't know what I was thinking cause it would have been really hard to use my MA-100 with the XL1 if the rca audio was output only.

Mea Culpa.

-gb-

So, when I plug in the MA-100 I noticed that only 1 Channel on the meter is responding to the signal. Although the Left or Right channel only shows activity on the Meter, depending upon which XLR plug is plugged in, is it still recording in Sterio?

I noticed this last weekend when I was recording a concert and I plugged in a XLR cable directly into the main board at the venu, but only one channel was responding to the recording. Also, in the the head phones one ear was only playing.

I Audio 1/MIC seetings on Audio1 and REC LEVEL on "A" per page 36 in the manual.

Should I have left the INPUT SELECT on MIC with the MA-100 engaged?

The MA-100 has two XLR inputs, one for left and one for right channel. If you are connecting only one input cable to it (e.g., a mono feed from the sound board), you will have sound only on the connected channel.

You can mix it in post to both channels (e.g., using the NLE audio PAN feature), or use a "Y" splitter at the MA-100 output or the MA-100 input, or run a second cable from the sound board for the other channel if it is a stereo sound board..

Be sure the signal feed to the MA-100 is MIC level, not line level. A line level signal will overload the MA-100.

The MA-100 is normally connectd to the Audio1 inputs, and Audio 1 is the slected input. If you set the input switch to MIC, you get the input from the mic jack (typically the standard XL1 mic), and the Audio1 jacks become audio output.

I have a XL1 with a MA-100 XLR Adapter. I connected a Audio-Technica PRO-88W LAV Wireless Mic with the 1/8" to XLR Cable setup. I connected the 88W receiver to the MA-100 and during filming I noticed that the 88W receiver started to smell like the curcuit board was burning.

Since the AT PRO-88W has it's own 9v Battery should I have disconnected the DC Cable of the MA-100? Will the MA-100 adapter work without that DC cable disconnected if the input device has it's own power? I can't get a difinitive answer from Canon Support on this question and I am afraid to duplicate this issue again. One tech yesterday said that the DC Cable needs to be connected to the XL1 in order to work. I have also spoken to a support guy at Audio-Technica and he said that if the MA-100 has phantom power that could potentially fry the PRO-88W.

Does the MA-100 have phantom power once the DC cable is connected? Also, if it does would that fry my battery powered mic?

If anyone can help me out on this issue that would be GREAT!!!

The MA-100 does not provided phantom power.

The MA-100 contains active circuits, so it must be connected to the 5 VDC power source on the camcorder to function.

It is a transformer-less design. The impedance and balanced-to-unbalanced conversion is with electronic circuits (including operational amplifiers), and it provides about 6 dB gain.

The input impedance of the MA-100 is about 600 ohms, and should be fed from a low impedance source with mic-level output. It will clip if you send it a line-level signal.

It is unlikely that the MA-100 would provide enough power to start a circuit burning, but you might have some sort of exotic ground loop depending on what else is connected and how it is connected/powered.

Don, thanks for the info. The AT88W is the only externally added device in conjuction with the MA-100. I mailed in the AT88W back to Audio-Technica and I will see on Monday as to what their findings were.

I was wondering if anyone using an MA-100 has experimented with drilling a hole in the XL-1 Jack cover so the power jack could be plugged in with the cover closed. I am planning on shooting with the MA-100 Audio plugged into inputs 3 & 4, but the only acceptable power jack is behind the connector cover on the rear. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

have a ma-200, and need the bnc for the video out.

what are you gone do with the exposed out put, when not using the ma-100?

I figured the hole in the plastic cover would be about 3/8”, or just large enough for the power plug to fit thru. If I needed to protect it I could stick a small piece of electrical tape over the inside of the cover. I generally leave the MA-100 on since it’s also my only shoulder brace, so there would be very few times when the hole in the cover would not be filled by the power plug.

Hi, My name is Thijo van Beek from Holland.
I would like to know the following:
I own an XL1s with MA-100 adapter.
But I bought a new mic, a Rode NTG 2
That comes with XLR connection.
I got it last week, it was the first time I ever worked with XLR.
I connected the mic to the left channel of the MA 100,
but the result was very, very poor.
A big wisttle/ noice came with the signal, no matter what settings I tried.
I have gone through the manual a thousand times.
Last night I took my camera and mic to the videoclub,
we tried whatever we could, and we do have some good technicians in our club.
Then we connected the mic to an other camera (A big Sony, don't know witch one)
and then the mic worked perfectly!
Our conclussion was it must be the MA 100.
But I would like to know very much what you guys think of this,
as you are using this camera/adapter a lot longer then I am!

Thijo van Beek

The MA-100 does not provide phantom power so make sure you have installed a battery in the mic. The little power plug for the MA-100 is only to power the mic pre-amp.

regards,

-gb-

Thanks, Greg. But I knew that. The mic does have an AA battery.

I agree with you, Thijo. I bought a used MA100 several years ago and got maybe a dozen uses out of it. First one channel quit--now it doesn't work at all. I haven't decided what to do, because my cameras are old enough that I don't want to keep sinking money into accessories. Luckily, my best friend is an audio engineer and can help me out if I really need it. Hope you find a good solution. :)

It should work. Try another mic with the MA-100. That can help isolate the issue.

Thanks for the replies so far.
I will try another mic, as soon as I have one or can borough another mic with XLR connection.
I do have some other mics, but they all are 3,5 minijack.
And that is no problem, that works great.
So I need to find another XLR mic first.
And I don't wanna buy more of them as long as I am not sure the MA-100 is OK.
That videoshop I bought it is also not right around the corner, otherwise I would have gone there right away!

Thijo

Thanks, Greg. But I knew that. The mic does have an AA battery.

Sorry Thijo, I wasn't trying to insult your intelligence. Sometimes though it's the simplest thing forgotten that gets overlooked by very intelligent people.

Hope you get it worked out okay.

-gb-

Greg, don't worry, be happy!
I never even considered it an insult!
And I'm too dum to see an insult anyway...

Thijo

You didn't say what settings you did use, so this is just to cover that base.
Behind the door, you have audio1 set to audio1, not mic and not mic att.
The levels are set to mid ,if in manual.
In the menu you have audio 1 set to LINE not mic, and 16bit 2channel
The MA100 power connector plugged in.
The rca connectors plugged into audio 1.
Hope the MA100 isn't faulty.