"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Keith G wrote:
A number of days/week or three ago the topic of phantom power
'damaging'
mics was mentioned by me and I couldn't recall where I'd seen it.
Here
it is:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk:80/ws/eBayISAP...B:WNASIF:UK:12

Well all I can say is perhaps the classic ribbon of all time - the STC
4038 - was in use with permanently phantom powered inputs for many
many
years in BBC TV - they were used as audience reaction mics long after
being replaced for more normal tasks with condenser types. For all I
know
they may still be in use for this task here and there.

It could be, of course, just a general note to cover all types of
powering
down an XLR cable - T or AB power will definitely not do one any good.
But
real phantom power was designed to be transparent to any type of mic -
its
main advantage, really, over T power which in some ways is a better
system.


The wording also suggests a certain vulnerabilty in certain areas
('air
blasts') - is this normal??

Of course. You couldn't use one outdoors except on a very still day -
or
indeed in a ventilation stream found in many 'studios' without
additional
protection. Indeed this is the same with many mics - but they usually
survive such abuse without permanent damage.

It might be of interest that omni directional mics are far less so
effected which is why they make such a good choice as a hand held
vocal
mic where high levels of foldback or audience reinforcement aren't
required - despite most thinking it has to be an SM58 etc...



OK, thanks for all the interesting and helpful replies - it's put
ribbons nicely into perspective for me. My own ribbon mic is an 'active'
and uses 48V phantom power; I won't be using it out of doors and I
certainly won't be using it with a kick drum!