# ECM8000 vs panasonic61 cond mic



## jayadev (May 12, 2010)

I have an uncalibrated ecm8000 microphone ,One thing I always found was its power supply is is cumbersome .

to make it portable I had to use 3nos 9v battery ,yet I wasn't happy with the result. 

Hence I am deciding to build one using those famous wm61 cond mics. 

Suddenly I had a thought can I tweak th ecm 8000 to make it work with low voltage ?

is it possible to teardown ecm8000 safely ? have anybody ever done that?

I couldnt find any screws or bolts yet so am I skeptical.sugestions and advice please

Thanks in advance


----------



## HifiZine (Feb 7, 2013)

Hi jayadev - why not use a preamp or audio interface with a built-in 48V phantom power supply? Very convenient, and many can be powered from USB


----------



## jayadev (May 12, 2010)

Hifizine,

Presently I am using it with a preamplifier but for the portability.

I am trying to isolate them from mains. believing that it will make my setup compact and immune to some noise.

I have tried using dc voltage booster for phantom power but I am not satisfied with it as some how I fel there are some noise entering through backdoor.

I have noticed that anything less than 30 volts makes ECM8000 nasty obviously means there should be high value resistors inside ,or correct me if I am wrong.


----------



## AudiocRaver (Jun 6, 2012)

It was not an ECM8000, but I did take a "slim tube" condenser mic apart once and gave up trying to get it back together again. It is now a handful of parts in a ziplock bag somewhere around here.

Yes there is a balanced pair of resisters inside the microphone as part of the Phantom power circuitry, I am not sure with the values would probably be. Condenser mics are often specified to work down to 12 V, but it is hard to say with a measurement mic what the performance might be at that voltage. Good luck if you go inside to change them, take pics so we can share the experience with you.


----------



## Basite (Nov 29, 2012)

explain "noise geting in through the backdoor"? 

the ECM8000 has a very high self noise, so getting it quiet is somewhat impossible, theoretically... 
the most silent phantom power you could build is using 5 9V batteries in series. A DC voltage booster, unless specifically designed for phantom powering, and being very good at that, is a noisy solution. So avoid. 

I understand you want to keep the setup compact etc, but as others mentioned here: why not use an interface? you can bus power the small ones, so no connection to the mains. 
you need a preamp anyhow...


----------

