Double Bass DPA4099b -> Alix?

[Scott Lynch]

Anyone tried running their DPA 4099 into an Alix? My understanding is that the DPA will run on as little as 5V and that the 12V phantom power from the Alix is sufficient, but will it provide enough headroom to properly mic a DB?

The one hang up seems to be sourcing a microdot to 1/4" cable to connect the mic. Lurking on other forums, some users have made their own custom cables, and there appears to be a manufacturer selling microdot to 1/4" cables on eBay: Microdot to 1/4" cable

 

[Ric Vice]

There is a difference in the noise floor when running the DPA phantom at lower voltages. If you go to either DPA's spec's or Gollihur's you can see the difference. Here’s the chart.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

The microdot cable is not balanced, so you cannot connect it to a XLR phantom power. If the Alix has power on the hot connection (in German: Tonaderspeisung) it should work.

The DPA 4099 as any other small capsule mic is an electret condenser. The only need 1.5 to 12 volts supply power, depending on the capsule, to power the FET inside the capsule.
In general it works with a lower supply voltage, if it doesn‘t get too low.

The raising noise floor only with less phantom power voltage happens with phantom powered membranes only. Electrets have the backplate statically loaded at the factory, so it doesn‘t need to be loaded by phantom power and the supply power is only needed by the FET to make the output signal more robust (this is similar to the piezo buffering, only with a much higher input impedance and a lower voltage).

If the supply voltage of an electret capsule is too low, you might get a distorted output signal, mostly if the acoustic input is loud.