Phantom 12V vs. 48V

[toddburch]

All,

Are there any quality/performance differences between a 48V Phantom powered mic and the 12V "T" or "AB" powering system?

What's the difference between 12 V Phantom (as supplied by the Sound Devices MP-1, for example) and 12V T power?

I know that relatively low cost(~$40) adapters are available to convert from 12V phantom to 12V T, but what about 48V Phantom (as supplied by the DVX100A) and 12V T? Does this conversion cause sound degredation?

Thanks for the help!
Todd

[Bischofftep]

Hmmmm...

If I recall aright, T-power is a different model of power supply to microphones than "normal" 48v or even 12v phantom power. Wired differently even? Both the mic and the power supply need to be set up for T power to even work: you can damage the mic if you use the wrong power. (I believe T power is a European standard?)

One thing I can say for sure is that you will get far more sensitivity and performance out of your mic if you go with 48v than with 12v, regardless of how it gets to the mic.

Your mileage may vary.

[oleg]

http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/microphone_powering.html#phantom
this is exellent place to start learning some things about microphone powering
the t powerer can dammege , dynamic and ribbon mikes buy exedently .
t power never been europian ,all the thirst nagras worked with t power on their preamps , since then it was a standart for almost all mixers for film aplicayions .
the sencitivity of the mike is have nothing with 12 or 48 v , some mikes are working on 12-48 v and perform exacly the same , if you acsedently work with 12v instead 48 , the mike just not work right(if it works) and it complitly out of it performers
the 416 T and 416 ph ,12 and 48 have almost the same specificaitions and sounds totally indentical
for some mixers wich have 12 and 48 v and you have mike that works 12-48
its better to use the lowers solution for longer life of int bateris ( depends on the input impedance and the load)


it was popular until they came with 12 ph in the earli 80 and after with48v
some mikes using even grater voltage to get hi spl aplication (130v by dpa)

[oleg]

All,


I know that relatively low cost(~$40) adapters are available to convert from 12V phantom to 12V T, but what about 48V Phantom (as supplied by the DVX100A) and 12V T? Does this conversion cause sound degredation?

Thanks for the help!
Todd

there 2 kind of convertors ,thos which convert12vph and those for 48 ,it will work fine for the voltage it made for but not for other
if you lready have 12t mike it is good solution if not spend few extra bucks for 48vph since this is most popular way for powering in all the new cameras and mixers
i thing that the last camera i sow with t power was ikegam HL-55 in the eary 90
the most of eng mixers still have it only becouse the good Sens (415, 416,406,815) and schoeps (cmc-4) and few AKG models THAT STILL not dying after 20-40 years :-)