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Hiya

I have a Firewire 410 hooked up to my desktop computer. I also have a pair of [="http://www.kelaudio.com/hm1.htm"]Kelaudio HM1s[/]="http://www.kelaudio…"]Kelaudio HM1s[/].
I've had the mics for a little while but due to some moving and travelling I've never taken them out of the box for anything other than admiring their rather solid feeling build quality.

I hooked them up to my 410 tonight hoping for some nice warm sounds, but instead I got... nothing.
I was a little disturbed. I went back and looked at the instructions. Phantom power, you say?
I turned the gain all the way down, plugged it in, turned on phantom power and then turned the gain up, talking into it as I went. I checked that the pad was off and that it was set to Mic input.
Still nothing.

So then I thought it might be my XLR-jack cable.
I plugged in my super-crappy [[url=http://="http://www.samedaym…"]Samson Q-Mic[/]="http://www.samedaym…"]Samson Q-Mic[/] and hummed a little tune. Lo and behold, the signal light happily flashed at me.

So, I'm at a loss.
Is the M-Audio's phantom power not up to scratch? Or are my Kelaudios just plain broken?

Does anyone have any suggestions?
I'd appreciate any help.

Thanks!

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anonymous Wed, 10/05/2005 - 13:20

I have a 410 and use it regularly with AT 4033 condensers (on my Powerbook with Logic Pro 7). It records fine. However, the 410 itself is a bit temperamental. I often have to reboot my laptop with the FW attached for a clean restart (in spite of booting it that way in the first place). I've had to reinstall the drivers more than a few times too. You could try that.

Have you tested the HM-1 on other preamps? Could it be a problem with the mic itself? Can you try a different condenser with the 410? Else it sounds like you might have a broken phantom power on the 410. Return it and get another one.

stupid question -- you do see the solid blue light on the unit, as opposed to the blinking 'not-ready' state?

anonymous Wed, 10/05/2005 - 14:20

Thanks for your reply!

That's not a stupid question at all! You never know ;)
The light is on fully.

Unfortunately, I don't have any other mic pre-amps or condenser mics available.
I tried plugging one into a guitar amp, though there was predictably no result.

It could well be the phantom power unit at fault on the 410. My unit's ex-demo, and doesn't have a warranty anymore, unfortunately.

I will try re-installing the drivers and edit this message, though it seems like a hardware or config problem.
Rebooting doesn't seem to help at all.