Being the only person under 60 and capable of working electronic devices, I've been tasked with making some magic happen with a PA system at work for a presentation. Except it's not really a PA system...so here's where it gets tricky. My workplace uses this receiver: And runs this wireless mic into it for our current addressing needs: It somehow works because of a 1/4" to RCA adapter cable that runs from the wireless receiver for the mic to the audio in (red+white) on the back of the receiver. So you've already got a working mic, what's the problem you might ask? Well my workplace is having a presentation where we've invited a man with no arms to tell us about why it's a bad idea to cut off your arms and how you can't get work done if you do. He is bringing his own special setup that requires our system to have an XLR input. Not a problem with a normal PA system, but using a fuckin home stereo, it's an issue. I've already gone ahead an bought this cable to try to create an XLR input for the system to make it work: Using my SM58 and a mic cable I brought in, I went to test it, and it almost worked but with a big problem. Even maxed out in volume, any speaking into the mic is extremely quiet coming out of the speakers. My guess is the mic level signal is just not loud enough and not being amplified in anyway before it hits the receiver's audio input(s). Our current wireless setup is plenty loud so I'm thinking maybe the 1/4" out on it is outputting a line level signal possibly? Regardless though I need a way to get a working XLR input into this receiver that makes the output loud enough for the room to hear. Is there some kind of unit out there that has an xlr input that can then output in a manner similar to our wireless mic's receiver? Unfortunately I have little to no budget for this endeavor, so it probably needs to stay under $100.
IMO if this is a work thing, get a proper budget and rent something appropriate. $100 here could get me a small PA (some powered speakers, cables, and a mixer) and a mic or two for a full weekend.
Trust me I've pitched this idea. It'll probably be a last resort effort. The powers that be have some severe autism so once they get an idea in their head they have to make it work and can't see any other solution. So for the time being, I'm still being tasked with fitting the square peg into the circle hole.
If his system has a power source of some kind and has a volume control on it, that likely means that it has a preamp. Your mic was quiet because it needs a preamp to bring the output level up. If you can find out what he's using, we can figure out if you'll need a separate preamp or not.
I contacted the guy's manager to see if he can give me the exact name/model of whatever headset/receiver the speaker will be using. That's what I'm hoping is that the guys system already has some kind of preamp of it's own.
The impedence of the microphone is wayyy off from what the input is expecting to see. You might get somewhere with an impedence matching transformer. If you have an LM386 audio amplifier, you could breadboard a preamp together to make this work, but the transformer might get you by without it.
Any specific suggestions for an impendence matching tranformer? I'm not really even sure what to look for in that department.
Well, I can't recommend any specific model. I *think* I've used this one before, but it's been so long, it might have been a different model: https://www.google.com/search?q=Neu...qKbZAhWQsKQKHVIdCQwQ_AUICigB&biw=1210&bih=686
Sorry, I'm a bit of a cynical dick. Basically it's one of those workplace safety talks where they're using the token example of what not to do to drive the point across that this is what happens if you don't take safety seriously.
