phantom power external box vs. internal

[honkyjonk]

How much of a difference is it going to make if I just decide to go the easy route and get a couple cheap external phantom power boxes vs. building or have someone build phantom power inside my preamps?

I mean, if the external box is built w/ cheapo components, I can always put better caps in there or something.

Let's discuss

[joel hamilton]

I have an ART 2 channel phantom power box that I will use if I am recording with something that doesnt have phantom,like an ampex 601 or something...

I havent ever noticed a difference because the difference in the preamp is so much greater than the difference in using anything for 48v...

I wouldnt stress it, personally. I like having a little 2 channel phantom thingie around for that sort of thing.

[nacho459]

Several people make little Chinese phantom power boxes. You should be able to find one at GC, etc. I bought a Carvin one for about $15 many years ago. All they really are is a +48v power supply and some 6.8k resistors. I don't think they affect the sound in any substantial way, other then without them you have no sound.

[Skipwave]

I built my own, 1RU supplies 4 mics. Cost about $60, and $30 of that was the rack box. Another $16 was nice connectors and the rest was components. If I had it to do again I'm not sure I would build, but I couldn't find one in the configuration I wanted so.......

http://tangible-technology.com/power/Ph ... rying.html
http://tangible-technology.com/power/Ph ... nnect.html

[SeventhCircle]

It probably won't make much audible difference, but if you're looking for a project to build this would be a good one. Take a look at this Jensen schematic for a good way to do it. The most important thing is to use 1% or better resistors for R2 and R3. If these aren't well matched the CMRR of the preamp will be degraded, which you might notice as a reduced ability to reject hum. To improve the filter on the incoming 48V, you can make R1 and C1 a little bigger, or use a two stage filter similar to the one at the bottom of page 3 here.