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Hi all

I'm currently building a preamp for my Rode NT4 mic and I was wondering about adding a 48V phantom power supply to my preamp.

Does it make a difference to run the NT4 with 48V rather than using the 9V battery ?
Or does the NT4 simply turn the 48V into 9V with an embedded regulator ?

If you're that serious about building a pre-amp for it, I suggest you pitch the question to R0DE themselves. From my previous correspondence with them on another NT4 issue, they should be happy to help out.

You bring up a topic that I have contemplated before, which is I don't know why microphone companies do not provide a small schematic along with their freq plot. Even If kept vague (for trademark purposes), such a diagram could show you the answer pretty quick if available.

In general terms, if a microphone supports normal 48V, it's probably better to provide that, even if the needs are not quite to that level. Small 'plug-in power' mics are a different story, but I suspect that mics that will accept both 9V and 48V are only supporting 9V for the sake of portable convenience and not necessarily the preferred.

Thank you for your reply Lonemonk. I will ask them asap. I really like this mic. It’s a pity the manual is so poor with technical details. There is no pin diagram, no schematic, no information about power consumption…Ok, ok, perhaps I have fallen too deep in the geek side. I will post the details I will get from them here.

Yes, please do post what you find out. There are hundreds of geeks around here, including myself....

Scott

I got a fast and short reply from the Rode support team
To get the best results from the NT4, they recommend to use it with a 48V phantom power and a preamplifier having an input impedance of 2k Ohm.

On their “NT4 white paper” there is some information about the power consumption which are not detailed in the instruction guide. Here they are.

Power Requirements:
4 mA, P48 (38V–52V)
2 mA, P24 (20V-26V)
2.8 mA, P12 (10.8V-13.2V)
2.4mA using 9V battery

That was my suspicion. Thanks for the additional info. Is the NT4 whitepaper online at their site?

Yep, the "white paper" is on their website.
It's just a quick description of the rode nt4.

I have tested the difference in self-noise (signal/noise). I hear no difference.
Tested on SD 302.

I think that using 48v gives you a slightly better sensitivity and headroom compared to 9v with the NT4. It's possible you wont notice a difference at all for your application, so it's best to test it.

Here / hear the differences:
http://freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/sounds/217694
http://freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/sounds/217695 (low-cut 1000Hz, to cut out the apartment hum)

This topic might be of interest as well

http://www.freesound.org/forum/production-techniques-music-gear-tips-and-tricks/5465/

Regarding the pad on the 3.5mm cable.

Thanks Ben

You're very welcome.