Effects of phantom power on dynamic mics...

[markmeat]

Okay, I think I know the answer but I sure don't know why... what are the effects of running phantom power on dynamic mics? Long term? Short term? Any?

I've got a FirePod and the phantom power is supplied in two blocks of four (meaning if you want power on channel one, you get 1-4, channel 5, you get 5-8 )... I don't mind smoking a couple of 57's or something, but I get a little nervous (maybe for no reason) plugging in a 421 or my PR-40 on a "powered" channel... so can this hurt these mics at all?

MEAT

[thethingwiththestuff]

nope, you're fine.

[RefD]

nope, you're fine.

agreed.

i've hit various dynamics with phantom over the years and nothing has happened to them.

a ribbon mic, however, could pop like popcorn.

[Frost]

It is very rare that a ribbon mic will get ruined by phantom power. It is possible but all the correctly wired beyers, fostex, shure, b&o's, and royers I have used work fine with phantom power. The real problem is when you use an xlr input from a line level piece of gear, say sending signal from one board to another xia xlr. You can get crackly noise if the phantom power is being sent back to the original board. Dynamic mics inherantly do not have a problem with phantom.

Frost

[parlormusic]

It is very rare that a ribbon mic will get ruined by phantom power.

Frost

Whachu 'talkin' 'bout Willis?!

[markmeat]

That's what I thought, just didn't know why I could "power" my dynamics, but the Fathead I have here says a big no-no on using phantom with it... thanks...

MEAT

[Marc Alan Goodman]

It is very rare that a ribbon mic will get ruined by phantom power.

Frost

Whachu 'talkin' 'bout Willis?!

It's true! Phantom Power itself isn't dangerous to ribbon mics. What's dangerous is when the power is interrupted to one side, as in a bad cable or patching with the phantom power on so that the cable touches the wrong contacts for a second.

The reason people say it's so dangerous comes from a time when everybody worked with consoles that had universal phantom power. So you had to remember to patch the mic either with the phantom off or before the cable was plugged into the microphone itself. XLRs don't have the same problem since the contacts all naturally touch at the right places at the same time. Plenty of consoles (such as the entire neve 80 series) never had switches to turn the phantom off, and TONS of records were made using ribbon mics and those boards.

In theory doing this could trash a dynamic as well, though they're traditionally a bit more hearty. As long as you're careful about turning the phantom off when you plug the mic in you shouldn't have any problems.

-marc goodman

[Scodiddly]

"Phantom power" was named "phantom power" because it was essentially invisible to mics that weren't designed to use it. Clever, eh?

[syrupcore]

"Phantom power" was named "phantom power" because it was essentially invisible to mics that weren't designed to use it. Clever, eh?

awesome.

[rhythm ranch]

"Phantom power" was named "phantom power" because it was essentially invisible to mics that weren't designed to use it. Clever, eh?

Or, was it???