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Has anyone noticed if their HM-1's are out of phase? Mine certainly are. I had one up on a cab with a 57 (I believe), and waBLAMO insta phase prob. Both mics up on the grill. First I thought maybe the mic cable is wired wrong, but nope. It seems the mic itself is wired backwards.

Has anyone else run into this?

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Kev Wed, 02/08/2006 - 00:14

it can happen
mics can be flipped and so to can speakers

in fact some manufacturers can be reversed from one another
it can be a historical things and the methodologies in them meaning of pos and neg

if your interested it's best you do some googling and look for old white papers and perhaps AES stuff
deep in the JBL, Altec, Neuman and Shure past you should find some info about into basket and out of basket standards

stickers Wed, 02/08/2006 - 21:32

mine were out of phase as well. my first pair didnt sound alike at all. Then the second pair I got were out of phase and I returned them too. My main issue though with the HM-1s is that they are too open sounding for cardiods.

in email, kelly said it was normal for the phase to be that way....I didnt think so...but oh well.

anonymous Wed, 02/08/2006 - 22:11

stickers wrote: mine were out of phase as well. my first pair didnt sound alike at all. Then the second pair I got were out of phase and I returned them too. My main issue though with the HM-1s is that they are too open sounding for cardiods.

in email, kelly said it was normal for the phase to be that way....I didnt think so...but oh well.

So, the mics were out of phase with eachother? Or is every mic wired the same (backwards)? My pair sound just fine to me, although, I've never combined them with another mic...

Kev Wed, 02/08/2006 - 23:12

therecordingart wrote: This is interesting.....I work for a mic company, and I've never heard of a mic being wired out of phase...not even by mistake.

I have one SM57 that works in the reverse direction
they we all delivered at the same time and from the same batch as far as I know
8 units in total

just out of interest
your company uses what to define a positive direction ?
capsule into the mic for pos on pin 2 ?

Davedog Thu, 02/09/2006 - 16:07

Art...Dont be so quick to judge these little beauties. I love mine. The proximity effect on them is so pronouced that you can actually get that Edward R Murrow radio voice with little or no effort. It seems a simple task to check (if you buy a pair) to make sure they are wired the same. A simple repair really. @$99 a very simple repair considering the benefit.

And to stickers....yes, there is a rather wide field for a cardioid ...it is a condenser so it will be a bit more 'open' than a dynamic....and as far as some trying to lure you into posting.... :shock:

took-the-red-pill Fri, 02/10/2006 - 23:32

Whew! That was a close one! Good thing you were saved from getting screwed out of an entire 'C note' for a condenser mic! :shock: Sorry, I've slapped my hand for being a smart ass.

But seriously, maybe there was a bad batch, and some incorrectly wired ones slipped through the cracks? I say that because I have tried mine together in stereo, and with my Audix OM2's and had no issues.

Is it as simple as marking the mic(s), and flipping the phase on the board, or is the problem bigger than that?

Keith

Hey, maybe there is no Mandarin translation for "Always make pin #2 hot..." :-?

Cucco Wed, 02/15/2006 - 09:23

I dunno, but it seems like we're all tails chasing our respective dogs...

Simply open the mic and look. I can't imagine it's that hard to get into one, I mean 82 year old asian women and 8 year old chinese boys put these things together, it shouldn't be rocket science to take it apart...

If it is out of phase, rewire it.

Or - tell Kelly about the problem. I'm sure that would be covered under his warranty...

J.

jdsdj98 Wed, 02/15/2006 - 10:58

My GT66 is 180 degrees out from all my other mics. I've never thought anything of it and simply reverse it whenever I use it. After all, that phase reverse button on a mixer or pre is meant to be used occasionally. That's why it's there. That, to me, is a much simpler fix than rewiring your mic. At that point, you're voiding any warranty you may have.

With a $99 mic, you could argue either way that a voided warranty is or isn't a problem. I'd argue that it is. But then again, if you're gonna test your tech skills, what better way to do it than on a cheapo mic?