OK, a nice new post as the original 'stuck meter' thread has been
*Plowmanised* and degenerated into the usual mile of snide remarks and
personal insults.

My original mystery - not a 'problem' as such, because everything was
working OK - was that the XLR3F/USB cable I bought:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/Packaging.jpg


Stuck the OP level meter on my little valvey mic pre thus:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/StuckMeter.jpg


Today, the slow boat from China (OK, Singapore) has dropped off my original
eBay purchase of a cheapie XLR3F/USB cable without nifty flashing lights:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/shown...onhuaCable.jpg


I straight away plugged it in to the computer and measured for voltage
across pins 1 and 2:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/SoonhuaUSB.JPG


And got a steady 4.49 volts which is not much different to the 4.46 VDC I
was getting from the original cable.

I then plugged it in to the aforementioned dinky mic pre and got a stuck
meter again, but in a different position:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/shown...nhuaAtRest.JPG


The other cable stuck the meter at about 0dB, if you remember:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/StuckMeter.jpg


So. There we are - not much to choose.

For those who worry about *phatom* power (as Arny likes to call it :-) I
measured the voltage at the mic end of the cable and got this from the
expensive (flashing lights) cable:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/shown...ableOutput.JPG


And this from the cheepie Chinky cable:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/shown...nhuaOutput.JPG


So, nothing to worry about there - well within the Neumann's requirements.

Now, the question is:

Have you *ever* seen a more *photo rich* post...???

Enjoy!

:-)

"Keith G" wrote in message

OK, a nice new post as the original 'stuck meter' thread
has been *Plowmanised* and degenerated into the usual
mile of snide remarks and personal insults.

My original mystery - not a 'problem' as such, because
everything was working OK - was that the XLR3F/USB cable
I bought:
http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/Packaging.jpg


Stuck the OP level meter on my little valvey mic pre thus:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/StuckMeter.jpg



Keither, since you seem to be a little handy with a soldering iron.

Obtain a a Hosa GXX 195 Cross Polarity Adaptor.

Dissasemble it, remove the wires that flip the connections between pins 2 &
3, and replace them with 50 uF 50 volt electrolytics connecting pin 2 to pin
2 and pin 3 to pin 3, wiring the plus side of the electolytics towards where
the USB cable plugs in.

You have now created a phantom voltage remover, which should alleviate your
meter problems.

"Keith G" wrote

Have you *ever* seen a more *photo rich* post...???


Curiously, even before I got down as far as that line I was wondering why
you posted photos instead of merely reporting the voltmeter reading, which
would have been a lot simpler for both you and us.

David.

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote in message

OK, a nice new post as the original 'stuck meter' thread
has been *Plowmanised* and degenerated into the usual
mile of snide remarks and personal insults.

My original mystery - not a 'problem' as such, because
everything was working OK - was that the XLR3F/USB cable
I bought:
http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/Packaging.jpg


Stuck the OP level meter on my little valvey mic pre thus:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/StuckMeter.jpg



Keither, since you seem to be a little handy with a soldering iron.

Obtain a a Hosa GXX 195 Cross Polarity Adaptor.

Dissasemble it, remove the wires that flip the connections between pins 2
& 3, and replace them with 50 uF 50 volt electrolytics connecting pin 2 to
pin 2 and pin 3 to pin 3, wiring the plus side of the electolytics towards
where the USB cable plugs in.


Interesting.



You have now created a phantom voltage remover, which should alleviate
your meter problems.


But as I have already said, I don't use the pre's meter - I use the software
'meters' and the (US) makers of the p

http://www.artproaudio.com/

have told me the voltage won't harm the pre. So the quickest/easiest way out
is to just ignore it.

Thank you for the tip anyway.

"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote

Have you *ever* seen a more *photo rich* post...???


Curiously, even before I got down as far as that line I was wondering why
you posted photos instead of merely reporting the voltmeter reading, which
would have been a lot simpler for both you and us.


I know, but I *like* to do it - grabbing the pix (with indoors natural light
or flash from as little as 12 inches) with various manual focus lenses and
all manual exposure settings with *no meter assistance* combines both my
'hobbies' - audio and photography. Also 'photo as you go' makes a lot of
sense when you are into tricky disassemble/repair/reassemble situations. (I
photograph absolutely everything!)

I love it when other people post pix of what they are up to - a snap or two
from your chum David P's recent work on the Cyrus 1 would have been
interesting. We live in an *audiovisual* world these days - why type a
description when a quick, sub 2 minute You Tube or a pic or two would do so
much more..?

In article ,
Keith G wrote:
OK, a nice new post as the original 'stuck meter' thread has been
*Plowmanised* and degenerated into the usual mile of snide remarks and
personal insults.

Let's change the title to 'Stuck needle'. No mystery there.

--
*Gun Control: Use both hands.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote

Have you *ever* seen a more *photo rich* post...???


Curiously, even before I got down as far as that line I was wondering why
you posted photos instead of merely reporting the voltmeter reading,
which would have been a lot simpler for both you and us.


I know, but I *like* to do it - grabbing the pix (with indoors natural
light or flash from as little as 12 inches) with various manual focus
lenses and all manual exposure settings with *no meter assistance*
combines both my 'hobbies' - audio and photography.

Fair enough.

Also 'photo as you go' makes a lot of sense when you are into tricky
disassemble/repair/reassemble situations. (I photograph absolutely
everything!)

I agree, I do the same.

I love it when other people post pix of what they are up to - a snap or
two from your chum David P's

He's no more my "chum" than anyone else on this ng is. Though I do find the
down-to-earth common sense of his posts a refreshing change from the posts
of some others here.

recent work on the Cyrus 1 would have been interesting.

Agreed.

We live in an *audiovisual* world these days - why type a description when
a quick, sub 2 minute You Tube or a pic or two would do so much more..?

In this particular case the "sub-two minute" pic actually does so much
*less* than a simple written description would have done. And it's only
sub-two minutes if you are set up to do it, it would take me a lot longer.


David.

"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote

Have you *ever* seen a more *photo rich* post...???


Curiously, even before I got down as far as that line I was wondering
why you posted photos instead of merely reporting the voltmeter reading,
which would have been a lot simpler for both you and us.


I know, but I *like* to do it - grabbing the pix (with indoors natural
light or flash from as little as 12 inches) with various manual focus
lenses and all manual exposure settings with *no meter assistance*
combines both my 'hobbies' - audio and photography.

Fair enough.

Also 'photo as you go' makes a lot of sense when you are into tricky
disassemble/repair/reassemble situations. (I photograph absolutely
everything!)

I agree, I do the same.

I love it when other people post pix of what they are up to - a snap or
two from your chum David P's

He's no more my "chum" than anyone else on this ng is. Though I do find
the down-to-earth common sense of his posts a refreshing change from the
posts of some others here.

recent work on the Cyrus 1 would have been interesting.

Agreed.

We live in an *audiovisual* world these days - why type a description
when a quick, sub 2 minute You Tube or a pic or two would do so much
more..?

In this particular case the "sub-two minute" pic actually does so much
*less* than a simple written description would have done. And it's only
sub-two minutes if you are set up to do it, it would take me a lot longer.


Ah, I meant a You Tube video of less than 2 minutes duration - any longer
than that my eyes glaze over, unless it is exceptional. But I take your
point - if I had mentioned the voltages in each case it would have saved
anybody who wasn't interested in the pix the bother of having to view them.
I'll try to remember that - the pix are some sort of
'reinforcement/involvement thing' I suppose and, as they say, 'worth a
thousand *painstakingly* typed words'!!

On 02/04/2011 00:17, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In ,
Keith wrote:
OK, a nice new post as the original 'stuck meter' thread has been
*Plowmanised* and degenerated into the usual mile of snide remarks and
personal insults.

Let's change the title to 'Stuck needle'. No mystery there.

Let's change it to "Plowman is a silly, silly little twerp".