cinetj Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Hi, I've recently tried to make a wireless boom config using a mm1 and a g3. I've made a mini-jack - xlr female cable using some of the specifications mentioned in another threads of this forum: shield to 1 and 3 on the xlr, hot on 2; hot on ring on the mini, shield/ground and negative/cold cable to sleeve. I did also a variation with a 18Kohm, 1/8 watt resistor on the hot cable. I've got sound on both situations but it's not great, I must say. There is a little hiss, maybe neglieable in a exterior shoot, where I intend to use this set up, but what disturbs me the most is the timbre of the sound itself. It lacks low end information (double checked; no filters), a little "hollow" in my opinion. I don't think the sound is distorted, it's more like a very subtil case of phasing... Is this the normal thing or I should do something about the cables? Anyone with this setup that could shed some light on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek H Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Maybe a silly suggestion but are you sure you're using enough gain on the MM1? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantin Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Sounds like a wiring issue. Double check all your wirings are correct. Did you use the MM-1 with something else, yet? Some setting could be wrong there, too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Mills Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 I have compared this tx and mm1 rig to both a lectro digital hybrid link and lectro analog uhf link.. the sennheiser sounded the least good. as you say... thinner .. I got much better results with the phantom power equipped sennheiser plug on tx and a rackmount senn rx.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 cinetj: " I've made a mini-jack - xlr female cable " check spec's for wiring unbalanced.... you can probably guess where to find them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek H Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 From the MM-1 user manual: "Both the microphone input and line output of the MM-1 can be balanced or unbalanced without problems. When unbalancing (either input or output) ground pin 3 to pin 1. There is no change in gain with an unbalanced connection into or out of the MM-1." Seems like you have the XLR end correctly wired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Reineke Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 In the Sennheiser line level wired config., the 1/8' plug's tip needs to be tied to shield. Don't know it's the cause of the the 'thin' sound though. What's the 18k ohm resistor for? Attenuation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinetj Posted January 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 In the Sennheiser line level wired config., the 1/8' plug's tip needs to be tied to shield. Don't know it's the cause of the the 'thin' sound though. What's the 18k ohm resistor for? Attenuation? Thank you, Rick. Maybe I've got this wrong in the first place. I thought that the negative/cold cable that should be wired to the sleeve no matter what. In fact, it's the shield cable that must be soldered to the tip. I do just like in the xlr? Half of the shield cable on the tip, the other half on the sleeve (as in shield on 1 and 3 on the xlr). The negative cable could just stay loosen? And, to answer your question, yes, the resistor was put there for attenuation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codyman Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 I've done the MM-1 and G3 combination before. It sounded good to me (although of course limited by the usual G3 wireless range) but I was using a cable that went Female XLR --> the G3 but it was a commercially bought cable meant for line level signals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomBoisseau Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 In the Sennheiser line level wired config., the 1/8' plug's tip needs to be tied to shield. Don't know it's the cause of the the 'thin' sound though. What's the 18k ohm resistor for? Attenuation? That is correct! You must connect the shield o BOTH the tip and the sleeve of the mini plug, and the signal + to the ring. I've probably wired a dozen or more of these cables and that is the only configuration that works "well". Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Reineke Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Same as Tom stated above.. I wire the XLR to G3 line level config. as such: XLR pin-1 (shield/ground) to mini-plug Tip & Shield XLR pin-2 (hot) to mini-plug Ring XLR pin 3 (cold) jumped in XLR to pin-1* As 'cinetj' did, an attenuation resistor may be necessary, as program peaks in excess of +14dB (or so) will clip the G2/3 SK100 bodypack transmitter's input stage... regardless of the sensitivity adj. * NOTE: for unbalanced XLR output on a Sound Devices 302 , SD states that XLR pin 3 should be floated. this applies to the 302 only.. so refer to the manual prior to making the cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinetj Posted January 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2014 It worked!! Oh, the emotion... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinetj Posted January 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 I tried to make another line cable from the g3 to the alexa audio input (xlr 5 pin balanced), for only one channel, and the same approach didn't work. What worked was a simple balanced connection: tip to three (negative), ring to two (hot), shield to one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Reineke Posted January 11, 2014 Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 Obviously the pin config on an XLR-5 is different... expect for pin-1/shield. I don't know what Arri recommends for unbalanced connections. Likely cold jumped to shield.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomBoisseau Posted January 11, 2014 Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 cinetj, That is correct. The output wiring from a G3 receiver is unbalanced only! I have not had to wire a cable for the Alexa, but I would suspect: G3 Tip to Alexa signal "+" G3 Sleeve to Alexa signal "-" AND shield. That's how the XLR cable included with the G3 receiver is wired. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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