sticking cheap monaural microphone into stereo jack

[Frank Rocca]

Is there any risk of damage if I use a cheap Radio Shack-type monaural
microphone with a stereo Sony MiniDisc recorder (MZ-B100)? The
recordings are satisfactory but the microphone plug doesn't go all the
way into the jack.

[Mark D. Zacharias]

No damage so long as the plug isn't forced in further. Of course there's a
danger this will happen by accident.

Mark Z.


"Frank Rocca" > wrote in message
om...
> Is there any risk of damage if I use a cheap Radio Shack-type monaural
> microphone with a stereo Sony MiniDisc recorder (MZ-B100)? The
> recordings are satisfactory but the microphone plug doesn't go all the
> way into the jack.

[Malcolm Stewart]

"Frank Rocca" > wrote in message
om...
> Is there any risk of damage if I use a cheap Radio Shack-type monaural
> microphone with a stereo Sony MiniDisc recorder (MZ-B100)? The
> recordings are satisfactory but the microphone plug doesn't go all the
> way into the jack.

Why not get a stereo-mono adapter and then your mono sound can be recorded
on both channels? Or, are you worried about the 1.5 to 2 volts of
polarising voltage for electret microphones?

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
http://www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm

[Frank Rocca]

Thank you both for your replies. Good point about the stereo-mono
adapter. I was just being lazy. I'm afraid I HAVE forced the plug in
too far on at least a few occasions, while fiddling. Hope that I
somehow avoided damage. If not, is it the sort of thing that's hard to
fix? Thanks.

[Mark D. Zacharias]

"Frank Rocca" > wrote in message
om...
> Thank you both for your replies. Good point about the stereo-mono
> adapter. I was just being lazy. I'm afraid I HAVE forced the plug in
> too far on at least a few occasions, while fiddling. Hope that I
> somehow avoided damage. If not, is it the sort of thing that's hard to
> fix? Thanks.

There's a chance the jack is damaged, even the solder connections or solder
eyelets could be compromised. Worse, it might be difficult to even gain
acess for service. If it works, I'd just be careful from now on and not
worry too nuch about it.

Mark Z.

[Dimitrios Tzortzakakis]

Better use two mono microphones and a stereo/dual mono adapter in your
computer, to record directly on the hard disk (.wav file).The recording will
be almost perfect, I have converted succesfully tapes to cds (and dloaded a
trojan horse but that's a different story-60 euros with tax to format and
reinstall everything, including drivers, win 2k and office xp).Back to it,
using the mic input of your computer (or the line in) you can directly burn
cds, and the difficult task of the ADC (analogue to digital conversion) will
be accomplished by your computer.One understands that a computer is much
more powerful than a mini disc recorder.
celeron 2.4 GHz
QDI p4 i 848 p
512 mb ddr
geforce 4 mx 440 agp 8x 64 mb ddr pixelview
zoom faxmodem 56 k v92
miro 17" crt (I LOVE it!)
hitachi deskstar 80 gb 7200 rpm 3/2004 construction date (when power out
head parks with current drawn from the platter motor that becomes a
generator-very useful in crete, so no ups)
floppy (yes, floppy!)
lexmark z 605
some speakers
teac burner cd 52x
lg cd rom drive 52x
braintrust case 300 w
tweaked win 2k
office xp
autocad r14
maxball keyboard and mouse


--
Tzortzakakis Dimitri?s
major in electrical engineering, freelance electrician
FH von Iraklion-Kreta, freiberuflicher Elektriker
dimtzort AT otenet DOT gr
? "Frank Rocca" > ?????? ??? ??????
om...
> Is there any risk of damage if I use a cheap Radio Shack-type monaural
> microphone with a stereo Sony MiniDisc recorder (MZ-B100)? The
> recordings are satisfactory but the microphone plug doesn't go all the
> way into the jack.

[jakdedert]

Frank Rocca wrote:
> Is there any risk of damage if I use a cheap Radio Shack-type monaural
> microphone with a stereo Sony MiniDisc recorder (MZ-B100)? The
> recordings are satisfactory but the microphone plug doesn't go all the
> way into the jack.

I'm surprised that you are getting satisfactory recordings. Normally
plugging a tip/sleeve (mono) plug into a tip/ring/sleeve jack will short out
one side of the stereo input. That's not cause for alarm, but.....

jak

[Dimitrios Tzortzakakis]

You are right, when I place a stereo jack together with a mono, I see that
in this case the (say) right input is connected to ground, what normally
would mean silence in one channel.

--
Tzortzakakis Dimitriïs
major in electrical engineering, freelance electrician
FH von Iraklion-Kreta, freiberuflicher Elektriker
dimtzort AT otenet DOT gr
Ï "jakdedert" > Ýãñáøå óôï ìÞíõìá
.. .
> Frank Rocca wrote:
> > Is there any risk of damage if I use a cheap Radio Shack-type monaural
> > microphone with a stereo Sony MiniDisc recorder (MZ-B100)? The
> > recordings are satisfactory but the microphone plug doesn't go all the
> > way into the jack.
>
> I'm surprised that you are getting satisfactory recordings. Normally
> plugging a tip/sleeve (mono) plug into a tip/ring/sleeve jack will short
out
> one side of the stereo input. That's not cause for alarm, but.....
>
> jak
>
>

[Frank Rocca]

But this silence in one channel due to shorting out, it's just a
problem that affects that specific recording, right? The danger is of
mechanical damage, as described by Mark. Do I have that right?

[jakdedert]

Frank Rocca wrote:
> But this silence in one channel due to shorting out, it's just a
> problem that affects that specific recording, right? The danger is of
> mechanical damage, as described by Mark. Do I have that right?

Yeah, I don't know, so I'll defer to Mark. I was only referring to the OP's
contention that the recordings sounded fine. I've not ever seen damage from
doing what he described, but.....

jak

[John Beardmore]

In message >, Frank
Rocca > writes

>Thank you both for your replies. Good point about the stereo-mono
>adapter. I was just being lazy. I'm afraid I HAVE forced the plug in
>too far on at least a few occasions, while fiddling. Hope that I
>somehow avoided damage. If not, is it the sort of thing that's hard to
>fix? Thanks.

Why not just glue a couple of washers onto the plug to restrict how far
it can be inserted ?


J/.
--
John Beardmore