Telos ZephyrExpress user manual Beware the Phantom

w

BEWARE THE PHANTOM!

While properly-wired balanced microphones canÕt be damaged by phantom power, improperly-wired ones will cause trouble. Plugging in an unbalanced mic, using a Òcough buttonÓ that shorts the micÕs signal to ground, and some kinds of cable shorts can damage the microphone, ZephyrExpress, or both.

If youÕre not using a condenser microphone that specifically requires phantom power, leave that setting turned off.

Input parameters are adjustable in separate submenus, one for each microphone, from the Audio: Microphones submenu:

Microphones

—Mic 1

—Sensitivity Selects the nominal level for a full scale reading on the meters (?) with the microphone’s level control fully up. Select high +60dB for most ribbon mics, mid +45dB for most dynamic and condenser mics, lowÊ+30dB for hot condenser mics or dynamic mics in very loud surroundings. You can also select lineÊ+1dB to use the input with line-level sources.

—Phantom Power Select On or Off, but see the warning above. Phantom power is automatically turned off when you select line sensitivity.

—Low Cut Filter Applies a gentle filter to reduce wind noise, popped plosives, and building rumble. It’s a good idea to leave this on for all voice applications, and turn it off for music transmissions.

—Mic 1 test tone Substitutes an 860Hz sine wave for the microphone’s signal, for testing the ISDN connection and setting nominal volumes through the broadcast chain. The tone’s routing and level are adjusted by the front-panel MIC 1 controls.

—Mic 2

— Sensitivity See above

— Phantom	Power	"
— Low Cut	Filter	"

—Mic 2 test tone "

—Limiter bypass Applies a limiter to both microphones at once to preserve stereo imaging.

ZephyrExpress’ limiter engages at 15 dB above the normal operating value, so minor overloads aren’t affected. The limiting action itself gives you as much as another 20 dB of headroom.

4-4 AUDIO OPERATIONS