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440 Forums _ Getting Started _ Can Phantom Power Fry My Mac?

Posted by: ACNewYork Mon 10 May 2004, 17:06

I have a Powerbook G4, and want to do some recording from a PA in a practice room. The PA has a room mic attached to it that uses phantom power. Will it harm my Mac if I plug a 1/4 inch cable from the PA to my Mac's input with phantom power on? A guy at the studio said that someone's computer got fried that way, but I'm not sure about the veracity of this claim.

Thanks!

Posted by: dixiechicken Mon 10 May 2004, 19:04

No it cant.

Not unless something is very wrong with the microphone cable
carrying the mike-signal and the 48Volts phantom-power.
If you throw the whole kaboodle into bathtub with salt water something will certainly go wrong -
but we can rule that out cant we?

As always with electric gear - make certain cables and connectors are ok - before
you do any serious work.

The signal coming from a microphone fed with phantompower is usually
more powerful than a corresponding signal from dynamic mike. (SM-58).

In practice this means that the signal from the phantom-powered mike is
more likely to overload the input on your computer, causing distorsion on the
mike input. Adjust the input-levels & watch the meters.

Cheers: Dixiechicken

Posted by: tunetwister Tue 11 May 2004, 19:51

If you are taking a out from the mixer it will not have phantom power. Only the mic input has phatom power. Even a direct out should not have phatom power. Ypu will how ever need to ballence your out put so it dose not clip the input of your Mac. Start with the out put down low. Oh hi Dix Chicken, when are we going to get Unicornation back?