Splitters are a real challenge to build with any degree of quality, and you
probably shouldn't attempt it unless you've made a few "regular" snakes and a billion mic cables, IMHO. Do some homework. Go online to Whirlwind and ProCo, see what they say. My Whirlwind passes phantom fine from ONE side, preventing problems from occurring from 2 sources.
If you are going to do the "homebrew" thang, be sure you budget for GOOD transformers! Check out Jensen's line...they know their stuff and are superb at rejecting RFI and still sound great...Good Luck and don't let the flux go to your head!

Barkingdogstudios, here is more helpful information regarding splitters.

Splitter can be a misnomer. That is to say, on the splitter, one output is in fact a direct connection to the microphone that goes directly to the input of your microphone preamplifier and is known as the " first split", with a transformer paralleled across that providing an isolated output for the second feed. So whoever gets the primary feed also needs to send the phantom power because phantom power will not go through a transformer. You also need to make sure that on the direct feed the Shield/ground is connected because it actually isn't required for the microphone signal but is necessary as a ground reference source for the phantom power. Now, splitters are not cheap but you can find cheaper passive splitters that have no transformers within. Don't use those. You can but much greater attention to grounding problems and ground loops can be a serious hurdle to overcome.

As Moonbaby stated, you don't really want to attempt to build one of these. The Dean Jensen Transformers/splitters are the best but also the most expensive. Lesser expensive splitter transformers are perfectly adequate if you're not taking the transformered output but rather the direct feed our first split, leaving the transformer split output for the PA system which has inherently more distortion than the transformers anyhow.

I have to split now
Ms. Remy Ann David

We built our own three way splitter using all transformer splits with transformers from Hammond http://www.hammondmfg.com/560.htm. Since it was all transformer split it had to have its own Phantom Supply built in. It also had ground lift switched on the outfut of each transformer/XLR output. It was designed by a good friend and we built it in house. It took a trained tech a couple of weeks to build it and we probably had more money invested than if we had gone out and bought one from Whirlwind or Proco. But it worked great and was way over engineered. Not a task for the faint hearted.

Well, it's starting to look like this is going to be a lot more involved than I thought. The closest I've been able to come to any kind of active splitter that's not priced along with yachts is the ProCo MS-82P. With the external phantom power supply, it comes to about $650 US. I really only need phantom power for max 4 mics. The rest are all dynamic mics.

What I may do is just use the True Systems Precision 8 pre-amp I've been using for recording live as an active splitter and run mic cables separate from the snake altogether. Most of the places I'm recording are smaller venues where this wouldn't be a problem. In those venues, the mics that I need phantom power for usually aren't going through the FOH systems anyway.

I'm just not budgeted for a large, expensive application.

Thanks for all your help.

A very reasonably priced Microphone Splitter made in the UK by Orchid Electronics is very popular in the UK and Europe:

http://www.orchid-electronics.co.uk

Hardly worth trying to build yourself!

Barkingdogstudios, post: 193559, member: 49280 wrote: Well, it's starting to look like this is going to be a lot more involved than I thought. The closest I've been able to come to any kind of active splitter that's not priced along with yachts is the ProCo MS-82P. With the external phantom power supply, it comes to about $650 US. I really only need phantom power for max 4 mics. The rest are all dynamic mics.

What I may do is just use the True Systems Precision 8 pre-amp I've been using for recording live as an active splitter and run mic cables separate from the snake altogether. Most of the places I'm recording are smaller venues where this wouldn't be a problem. In those venues, the mics that I need phantom power for usually aren't going through the FOH systems anyway.

I'm just not budgeted for a large, expensive application.

Thanks for all your help.

I would definitely look into products by ART. I have an S8 passive splitter and it works great, has a direct out and an isolated out. The direct out allows phantom power to pass through to the mike from the PA system or preamp, or whatever it's plugged into that has it's own phantom power. They also make a small unit that has either one or two splitters in a small solid metal box. Good solid stuff. Marc Trainor

The sheer randomness of splitters means the supplier must make how they are designed obvious. A passive splitter is simplest to use, but many feature transformers, but might not mention it, and some feature no DC path on one set but they do on the other, while others have no DC capability at all. It's something very annoying because it's simple, but hidden and the split itself often just an unknown item with connectors. Success wise, I have two that get used the most, and are by and large trouble free and they are passive, the stage box end simply having parallel wired male and female connectors that I can use for all sorts of things, not just the usual split. On the returns, the extra outlet with a gender changer gives me simple capability of extra outs, not just input splits. The transformer split one (UK Sowter transformers) always causes users grief if they don't realise the top row has phantom and the bottom row doesn't! Even with a big sticker saying "plug mics into top row!"

Marc Trainor, post: 456304, member: 51218 wrote: I would definitely look into products by ART. I have an S8 passive splitter and it works great, has a direct out and an isolated out

I'm sure the industry got birth to many other options since 2006 ;)