XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

I have just bought a Prosound Handheld Dynamic Mic from maplin for use with a Behringer 502 mixer. I don`t need anything expensive so £20 is about right.

The reviews are all good, and the answered questions on site, assured me it had an XLR cable to plug into any mixer etc.

It does have an XLR plug on the mic, but the other end is a ¼ inch jack. So very disappointed, as there is very little output listening via the headphone amp. If I buy an XLR female to male cable, will it use the phantom power for more output please?

The mixer diagram does show the XM8500 mic with an XLR to plug into the mixer. Both mics seem about the same sensitivity at -75db.
Many thanks...

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

Hi John,

The Maplin Prosound Dynamic mic is definitely not a 'Pro' mic and at that price will be a low quality dynamic. To be honest, any equipment that has 'Pro' in the name is going to be pretty low quality.

Dynamic mics do not have phantom power and connecting an XLR to it with a phantom output from a mixer is likely to destroy the mic if the connections are not correct. The mixer sends 15V phantom power through the XLR connector so a powered mic, capacitor or condenser with external powering ability should be ok.

The Maplin lead supplied with the mic is probably intended for a PA amp input and it is not clear on the mixer whether the input under the XLR is for a mic or line input.The other inputs are for line level and would give extremely low volume from a mic.

It really depends on what you want to use the mic for, as something like a Shure SM58 or one of the Shure beta mics would be much better for hand held at a sub £100 price. The other downside with the cheap Maplin mics is that they tend to pick up a lot of handling noise.

Roger

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

Can't go wrong with an SM57 or 58 (same mic except for the 58's 'ball' windscreen). Even a pre-owned one would likely work ok.. they are pretty much indestructible.
As was stated, dynamic mics do NOT require Phantom Power.

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

Quick correction to Rick's post - I believe he meant to say "Dynamic mics DO NOT require phantom power."

As others have noted, the Prosound mic does not appear to be that great. However, one of the major issues is the XLR to 1/4-inch cord. Using it forces you to plug into the "Line" input on your Behringer mixer. It isn't real clear from the manual, but it appears that using the Line input means you only have 40dB of gain available. If you use a normal "mic cable", meaning XLR connections on both ends, you would plug into the "Mic" input on the Behringer. It appears this has 60dB of gain available. Since the Prosound mic is pretty cheap, and Behringer gear is also pretty cheap, then you still may not get great sound, but it should be far better than what you are currently getting with the XLR-1/4-inch cable.

Have fun!

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

The "Prosound Handheld Dynamic Mic" appears to be a cheap imitation of something like the standard Shure SM58, etc. Although the "specifications" seem to have been written by people who know nothing about microphones, we can assume that it is an ordinary, low-impedance, balanced dynamic microphone.

It will not use phantom power (as with any dynamic mic). Although, typically it will tolerate phantom power without damage.

The supplied XLR-Female to 1/4 inch phone male cable is probably designed to plug into a guitar amplifier, etc. If you plug the 1/4 inch plug into most any mixer it will probably be a line-level input and you will hear little (or no) signal level plugging a dynamic mic into a line-level input.

But if you use an XLR-Female to XLR-Make cable, you can plug it into the proper mic-level input of your typical mixer and hear a much stronger signal.

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

Thank you all for your replies.

I think the best option, is to take the mic back for a re-fund, and build a mic pre-amp. Using one of the several mics I have laying about.
I was hoping to save time and effort. Mic pre-amps seem to be either very expensive, or none existent....

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

Better hurry up John, haven't Maplins got the Administrators in?

https://www.maplin.co.uk/clearance-shop

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

Yes, I meant to say "do NOT". Thanks Rob.

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

Why do you need to build a preamp? The mixer has a mic preamp in its mic input. If you used an xlr to xlr cable you would be able to plug into the mic input of the mixer, not the line input and you might get acceptable level that way.

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

Some mixers have a quarter inch mic input but not the one you have. The quarter inch input on your mixer is a line level input which will yield very low level from a mic level signal. The mic might be just fine, you just need an xlr to xlr cable instead of xlr to 1/4 inch. You could get an xlr connector and replace the 1/4 inch connector, or get a whole different cable.

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

Like Rick said Shure SM58 is the undisputed champion of handheld dynamic mics. They’re only $50 used. No need to over think this. Btw I don’t believe you ever said what you are using it for.

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

I completely disagree on both counts. There is very likely nothing wrong with the microphone. You simply have not connected it properly (with a proper XLR to XLR microphone cable).
And using an outboard microphone preamp (whether bought or built) is just a bizzare "solution" to this straightforward problem.

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

Wow.

Just wow.

Scratch building a pre amp instead of just using the usual normal cable everyone uses that is meant to be done?

I don't even....

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

Thanks again folks.

Still a little confused!!! From the above posts, I see that a dynamic mic does not use phantom power, but if I buy an XLR to XLR and use the input on the mixer, I will get another 20 db gain. Sounds good, and not as much hassle if it`s successful, so I will go this rout first thanks....

Re: XLR and Phantom power-confused.
 

Yes the XLR are mic level inputs and the 1/4inch will be line level so you need an XLR to XLR cable.

Personally I would still take the mic back and buy a better one from studiospares: https://www.studiospares.com/Microph...Mic_449630.htm