Hello!
What cable should I use to connect SM58 microphone to moxf (balanced/unbalanced).
Advise please.

AntonyBanderos - 18 June 2014 11:03 AM

Hello!
What cable should I use to connect SM58 microphone to moxf (balanced/unbalanced).
Advise please.

This One , or similar.

One caveat :  I have researched this application with Shure before, and their specified wiring is:  Pin 2 of the XLR goes to the phone plug tip, and pins 1 and 3 (XLR) go to the shield (sleeve) connection of the phone plug.  The cable referenced above is wired in this manner, be sure the cable you buy conforms to this convention.

You can view the Shure specification for yourself Here.

A call to your supplier should be able to establish this, as some “pro” versions of this cable wire the 3-pin of the XLR to the tip of the phone plug.

You could also make your own...from a standard mic cable you already have, by substituting a properly wired TS phone plug at the male XLR end.

Thank you very much for the reply

cmayhle - 18 June 2014 12:17 PM

One caveat :  I have researched this application with Shure before, and their specified wiring is:  Pin 2 of the XLR goes to the phone plug tip, and pins 1 and 3 (XLR) go to the shield (sleeve) connection of the phone plug.  The cable referenced above is wired in this manner, be sure the cable you buy conforms to this convention.

You can view the Shure specification for yourself Here.

A call to your supplier should be able to establish this, as some “pro” versions of this cable wire the 3-pin of the XLR to the tip of the phone plug.

As a point of interest (perhaps  :-) ), reversing XLR pins 2 and 3 won’t change whether the mic operates. What it determines is absolute phase.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_phase

This isn’t much of an issue when only a single mic is used, but becomes important when using two or more mics. If the mics aren’t wired for the same polarity (don’t have the same relative phase), and they pick up a certain amount of the same sound, when mixed there will be a degree of cancellation due to the out-of-phase condition.

So just because a mic seems to work doesn’t necessarily mean it’s properly wired, and as cmayhle points out, it’s a good idea to get it right. That way, if multiple mics are used, you won’t be wondering why the mix sounds strange.

Hey 5pinDIN, that information is not only interesting but extremely valuable!

cmayhle - 18 June 2014 05:40 PM

Hey 5pinDIN, that information is not only interesting but extremely valuable!

Thanks. I think it falls into the “what you don’t know just might hurt you” category. If you’re ever working with unknown mics/cables, there are ways to determine what you’re dealing with and correct problems if needed.

A Google search on “mic phase test” (without the quotation marks) will turn up quite a few hits to related information. One of them, for example, is this article:
http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/phase_cancellation_the_drum_sound_destroyer2/