Korg MR-1000 phantom power

[Adebar]

A friend of mine used a MR-1000 in conjunction with Earthworks QTC40. Obviously the MR-1000 couldn´t support the QTC with adequate phantom power, meaning the voltage droped down.

Looking at the specs of the QTC they say power requirement is 10 mA at 48V. this is still within the specs for phantom power, but propbably to much for the MR-1000.

Who knows what´s the maximum current the MR-1000 can feed at 48V?

[RickZ]

Unfortunately, the MR-1000 manual does not specify phantom current capability. I use mine with Sennheiser MKH8040 pair with great results, the Sennheiser manual says 3.3 mA phantom consumption per mic.

Even the Grace V3 does not specify phantom capability, I own 2 of them, and have used them with Neumann 103 and 184 mics no problem.

Sorry not to be able to answer your question directly.

Rgds,
Rick Z

[Corran]

I don't own one, but surely under battery power it doesn't get near the 10mA needed (per mic!). After looking around at PP supplies for my QTC-1's, I finally gambled on a cheaper Chinese-made one on ebay that had an IEC power cable rather than a wall-wart. It turned out to be stellar! I looked up the seller and he unfortunately doesn't have any for sale right now. I will eventually be getting a few more pairs and racking them up or something because it has drastically improved the noise floor on them when fed the correct amount of power.

I was also told to look around for some vintage Shure or AKG supplies, as they were of high-quality. I just didn't have the money at the time, but I did see a 6-unit AKG on ebay go for about $200.

Or you could always build your own. I just don't have a lot of time for that right now personally.

[Plush]

10mA is a stretch for a lot of mic amps and consoles. For example, the older Neve consoles we have here will only output 2.7mA.

Older consoles and older phantom supply boxes (to say nothing {good} of Chinese phantom boxes) cannot supply even the approx. 5mA required by Schoeps mics.

Most useable mic amps can supply sufficient voltage on the phantom supply.

It is advisable to test your gear with a voltmeter to see what the amperage is. It's called engineering.

[Corran]

Regardless of what you think of some Chinese products, the box I bought output a full 48v continuously on my voltmeter. I'm quite happy that I bought it and didn't pay the outrageous price for some "upper-line" PP boxes.

God knows it can't be that expensive to build a power supply with some 6.8k resistors.

[Adebar]

Yes 10 mA is a lot but still within the specs for 48V phantom power. in the future I think the specs will be 7 mA allowing a higher current for the first seconds.

Shouldn´t every preamp be able to deliver that current? But my initial question was about the Korg.

Maybe the manufactuer should also show the max current for phantom power with ALL channels switched on. Guess that would say something about the designer who layed out the curcuits.

[videoteque]

It's possibe that the Korg gives more juice when connected to the wall AC instead of the batteries??

[Shadow_7]

I don't know the amperage of the Korg, but I can tell you that it IS stronger than what gets provided by my M-Audio Mobile Pre which runs on USB power. If it's that important you could always use an external preamp with the Korg. Or external phantom power thingy's. Anyone know the amps on the Sonosax SX-M2? Also bear in mind the line impedance and other factors help determine how well a particular mic works with a particular preamp.

[Adebar]

Thanks for all your help. Even with power supply the Korg can´t deliver the current.

Seems like an external phantom power is the easiest solution for now.

Corran, what chinese product did you recomment? Do you have a link?

Thanks,
Roland

[Corran]

A quick look on ebay didn't turn up anything like I bought. I don't know what happened to them, maybe he wasn't selling them much.

[Dr Bob]

I have a couple of Deneke battery operated phantom units that seen to be able to power anything I throw at them. The specs indicate far more available current than you will need with the QTC 40. Here is a link:

Denecke, Inc. - Home of The Industry Standard For Electronic Time Code Slates