06Mar Is it safe to use an XLR Y cable with phantom power on your field recorder?
I often get the question “Is it safe to use and XLR Y cable with phantom power?”. The short answer is yes, but there is sometimes confusion when it comes to phantom power, so I thought it might be helpful to answer the question in a little more detail.
Phantom power consists of a DC voltage supplied to the XLR connector of a condenser microphone. This is commonly 48 volts DC, but can be as low as 9 volts depending on the microphone you’re using. If you’re not sure check the manual that came with your microphone to find out for sure.
The XLR female to 2 XLR male Y cable is a very handy tool and can be used to feed the output of a microphone to both the left and right inputs of your field recorder. To find out more about splitting your audio into two channels check out this earlier post.
Basically the Y cable splits the audio output of the microphone into 2 paralleled paths. This means that the 48 volts DC supplied from each XLR connector on your field recorder is also in parallel. Without diving to far into electrical theory, two equal DC voltages in parallel remain the same voltage. If you wanted to test this out at home you could hook 2 fresh batteries positive to positive and negative to negative and place a volt meter across the terminals. If you’ve done everything correctly your volt meter will read the same voltage value as either of the individual batteries.
As you can see I have this at4073a mic plugged in using the Y cable with the volume for the left and right channels set to different levels with no harm to the microphone. 48 volt phantom power supplied by the Tascam DR-40 is safely delivered to the microphone and you now have 2 independent audio levels to work with.
On a side note, if you are a Tascam DR-40 user, the Y cable isn’t necessary. This is because it has a dual mode that allows you to record a single input at 2 different levels (up to -12db). I’ll walk you through how to set that up in another post.
March 7th, 2012 at 12:52 am
Thank you so much for explain that! I was one of the guys asking about it.
Last week, I tested a Rode NTG-2, the Y cable and the Zoom H4n. When I used Phantom power I hear a noticeable noise. When I put Phantom Power off and put a AA Battery on the NTG-2, was clear!
I will check again this weekend, with Phantom power and no “Y” cable and all other combinations and I will share with you.
Thank you so much. I’m still photographer starting with motion and all I know about audio, I leaned from your blog (I mean…you!)
Thank you so much again!
Juan
March 7th, 2012 at 7:56 am
No problem Juan, I’ll give the same test a try on my H4n when I get a chance and see if I have any problems. I’ve used it before without any issues, but maybe I’ve missed something in my settings that would help you out. Keep me posted on how your test turns out and I’ll look into some more.
March 7th, 2012 at 2:16 am
On a related topic, how is that DR40 working out for you? I was thinking of getting the DR100 but heard some mixed reviews about it. The DR40 is scaled down but so far sounds like a nice recorder. How are the preamplifiers on that?
March 7th, 2012 at 8:12 am
I’ve used the H4n so much longer that it’s the one I pick up first, but the DR40 has been holding up well. The main issue I’ve had so far is that the XLR inputs sometimes don’t want to release. The preamps are a little stronger then the h4n but both of them sound good. I’ll get a full review up eventually, It kind of got lost in the shuffle.
March 7th, 2012 at 8:36 am
I’ve been renting the H4n ($15 per weekend) but I’ve been reading a lot of good comments about the DR-40 and the $163.99 price tag on B&H is very tempting.
March 7th, 2012 at 8:30 am
Since you are a AT Shotgun user like me, do you have a recommendation for a windscreen? I own the AT 897 which is an 11 inch shotgun. Thx
March 19th, 2015 at 4:42 pm
hello, do you believe that with this technique the device will consume the double of battery power?
Will Y cable introduce some noise? I mean can I buy a 20 euro y cable without many fear? thx a lot! 🙂