Olympus LS-10 External Mic Input

[micstew]

< Insert standard noob question disclaimer here >

I've got an Olympus LS10, and I'd like to record using two external SM57 microphones. The LS10 has a 1/8" stereo mic input. The way I connect it at home is:
External mics to
XLR cables to
Mixer to
Stereo RCA(F) out to
Stereo RCA(M)-1/8" adapter cable to
LS10

Rather than dragging the mixer out on location I was wondering if I could just use adapters
http://www.avcable.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=AA-35-460&Category_Code=RCA-ADAPTER-FEMALE
as such:
External mics to
XLR cables to
XLR(F)-RCA(F) adapter
and then both lines into an
Stereo RCA(M)-1/8" stereo adapter cable to
LS10

Physically this will work fine but I'm (readily) confused by the balanced XLR to unbalanced RCA conversion. Is this an issue? Should I / do I need to buy a small mixer for this purpose instead of using the adapters?

Thanks in advance for the feedback.
- Mike

[John Willett]

You will need a different adaptor cable.

You will need a mini-jack to two XLR-3F connectors.

Tip wired to pin-2 of one XLR and ring to pin-2 of the other. Screen connects to sleeve and pin-1 of the XLRs - XLR pin-3 is connected to pin-1 in the same XLR.

BUT

You will need blocking capacitors in the XLRs to prevent the plug-in power put out by thr LS-10 getting into the dynamic microphones.

You just use standard XLR-3F to XLR-3M mic. cables to go fro the mics to the adaptor.

[markr041]

You can turn off plug-in power in the menu on the LS-10, no? No need for any external "blocking".

[micstew]

Thanks guys!

Mark - You are correct, plug-in power can be turned off from within the device menu.

John - Where on earth would I get such a cable? I was thinking last night that maybe I should I just buy a simple 2 input mic preamp with 1/4" outs and then go dual 1/4" mono to 1/8" stereo and be done with it. But I'd have to be careful with the output of the preamp if the LS10 is just expecting mic level power.

[micstew]

- ah, I guess if I went with a mic preamp I would just connect to the Line In jack and use the preamp itself to control the recording level.

[markr041]

Use the line-in (which is very good on the LS-10) if you use a mic preamp. You then have to control volume on the pre-amp.