Re: M-Audio's response to 48v phantom power bug


Richard Crowley wrote:

> If I had the choice, I'd rather have longer battery
> life and 30v of phantom.

I haven't seen the schematic, but I suspect that the 30V phantom power
doesn't save batteries as much as it saves pennies (=parts), and that's
why they made it that way.

> If I want to use the good mics that require
> 48v, I'll likely use something a bit more substantial to record on.

Well, me too, but at this point we have to spend about twice as much as
the MT (thinking Marantz PMD671 here) and I don't know any more about
that than I do about the MT at this point. And to get a hard disk that
I want rather than flash card for storage, we're talking $1600 or so
for an Edirol R4 (though that does give 4 channels) or $1000 more yet
for a Sound Devices. So pricewise, the MicroTrack looks mighty
attractive.

> Seems to me the objections here are mainly over the "false-
> advertising"

That's what the uproar is about (this isn't unusual when it comes to
high tech product marketing) but still, it does limit the choice of
microphones without having to add another box (and another power cord
or set of batteries). I'm willing to put up with adapters for the
cables, and I trust a two 1/4" jacks more than one stereo mini jack,
but It's still rather have XLR inputs for the sake of robustness. A lot
of board-mounted 1/4" jacks don't have a lot of grip, but then
board-mounted XLR-F connectors don't have latches, either. Like I said,
the technology has gone awry.

> If they had just correctly called it 30v phantom power, we
> would be back concentrating on the real issues.

No, we'd be bitching that 30V doesn't meet any standard for phantom
power.

> But this is
> Usenet where we will flog any topic long past its due.

Yup.

.

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