K6/ME66 distortion problems, but only on EX1 (not on Z1U)??

[Bob Grant]

Originally Posted by Arild Pedersen

This Rane pdf-document discuss the pin-1 XLR problem. Anybody checked if pin 1 is connected to chassis on EX-1?
Here is the link:
http://www.rane.com/pdf/ranenotes/Gr...%20Devices.pdf

It would seem to be. With a Rode NT3 connected there is less than 1mV potential between pin 1 and camera chassis. However between pin 2 and pin 1 and pin 3 and pin 1 voltage reads 14V i.e. phantom voltage is 28V under load. That might be too low for some mics.

[Akira Hakuta]

Originally Posted by Bob Grant

It would seem to be. With a Rode NT3 connected there is less than 1mV potential between pin 1 and camera chassis. However between pin 2 and pin 1 and pin 3 and pin 1 voltage reads 14V i.e. phantom voltage is 28V under load. That might be too low for some mics.

Bob can I get that in English?

[Bob Grant]

Originally Posted by Akira Hakuta

Bob can I get that in English?

I'll try!
Pin 1 on an XLR is the Shield, that's the copper braid around the two signal line in the cable. It's optional to connect it to the connector's shell which will typically cause that to connect the devices chassis. In the case of the EX1 as the two things are at the same voltage I'd say they are connected in the camera.

The rest is about the phantom power that the camera supplies to the microphone. Nominally it's supposed to be 48V. Most mics are happy enough at way less voltage than that (like 20V) although not all. Some say they need 48V +/- 4V. The EX1 might be compromising the performance of some microphones if it's not capable of supplying enough phantom power. I tend to doubt it myself but todate no one seems to have done any actual measurements. Perhaps someone with more experience with various mics than me can comment on the significance of what I've measured.

[Piotr Wozniacki]

I think that a conclusive test on whether the distortions from certain mics are related to the phantom power from EX1 or not coud be comparing results with a mic on its own battery to the same on the camera's phantom power, in the same settings/environment. Of course, viable with mics having this option (like NT-G2).

Anyone willing to perform such test?

[Jonathan Bland]

Anyone checked the camera with a Sennheiser MKH416?

[Dave Morrison]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Bland

Anyone checked the camera with a Sennheiser MKH416?

I haven't been able to get my hands on a '416 yet, Jonathan, but I'll keep trying. Also, here are a few sites to bookmark for anyone who is interested in improving their audio. The first one is hosted by Rycote (free registration), and it's a compendium of mic data where you can select and compare any two mics to each other:
www.microphone-data.com
For example, it shows the ME66 as needing anywhere from 12 to 48v and it draws 2.2mA of power. I compared it to my Senn MKH60 (which worked fine with the EX1) and my mic is 48v only and draws 2 mA. So, based on those similar specs, it would seem to follow that the ME66 "should" work fine. YMMV

Here's another link to a valuable page on the Sound Devices website where they also talk about the power needs for various mic brands:
http://www.sounddevices.com/tech/phantom.htm
These guys build some amazing products. One of my next audio tests will be to use my SD722 recorder and my MP2 as mic pre's and feed the line level output into the Sony to see if I can get a quieter recording out of it. Sony doesn't exactly go out of their way to make quiet mic pre-amps for their camcorders.

Finally, another page worth bookmarking for wiring questions is this one:
http://www.rane.com/note110.html
This page will show you how to wire almost anything to anything and it's a great reference.

[Akira Hakuta]

FWIW, I tried the ME66 with both the K6 and K6P (the former being battery powered), and in both cases, I still had this distortion problem.

[Dave Morrison]

Did you try it both in the "48v" and "Mic" positions? Can you post a clip of the noise?

[Jonathan Bland]

If I understand this correctly.....
All I might have to do is open up the mic cable connector.....
and solder the ground shield to the neutral pin......
something I did a week ago with another mic when I had a buch of static start to show up.

I want to go with the MKH 416 and ready to order it today but don't have time for delays.

Any thoughts?

[Akira Hakuta]

I did try it in both positions. I'm not quite sure how to post a clip of audio...

[Dave Morrison]

You shouldn't have to solder anything to anything if you have a normal XLR male to XLR female cable.

[Jonathan Bland]

Ran the MKH Sennheiser 416 for an hour tonight.
Couldn't find anything strange.

Anything specific I should try?

[Graeme Fullick]

I have had no problems at all with my Senn 416 - it sounds great - as always.

[Jonathan Bland]

Um.... Yeah.