Anyone familiar with old Sennheiser T-Powered mics?

[Mickey64]

I have a Sennheiser MKH 815T rifle mic which I will be selling on behalf of a friend. This mic dates from the sixties or seventies, and was popular for use on location for various purposes. It is powered by a T-Power 12 volt supply, but I don't have one and therefore cannot test the mic, other than to say it was OK last time it was used. T-Power was superseded by phantom power long ago. I have a mixer with standard 48v phantom power, but not 12v. I have discovered where I can hire the correct supply, but as the mic is not mine I'd rather not incur any extra cost at this stage, so I wondered if anyone here knows how I could rig up a temporary 12v supply, connected via the XLR cable connection just so that I can test the mic?

Thanks.

 

[rokpunk]

i have the same shotgun mic, and mine is also T-powered. i have the box to power it as well. if you just need your mic tested, you can feel free to send it to me and i can check it out for you. denecke still makes a t-power box, and it runs about $130 or so. you may want to call around to local video production houses and see if anyone has the box that you are missing and will rent it to you....tv/film is where that mic would typically be used. do you have any of the accessories for the mic, such as the fuzzy windscreen, or the pistol grip?

 

[Mickey64]

Thanks Rokpunk, that's very generous of you, but I'm in the UK, so I guess it's not really practical. I think renting is probably the best answer. I have sold a number of mics for my friend; she is an elderly lady whose late husband was in the film/sound recording industry all his life. She's not familiar with eBay, so I'm just doing it as a favour. She decided to sell off all the equipment that he left when he died, and this mic is the last one. It's not in great cosmetic shape, but I know it worked fine last time it was used. I just need to test it for myself before advertising it. Unfortunately I don't have the original case, though there is a mic stand attachment which I guess doubles as a pistol grip. I don't have any of the other accessories. Thanks for your interest.

 

[Mickey64]

Thanks Retro, that's probably the best option.

 

[TAVD]

8 AA batteries in series. 180R resistors on each end, connected to pins 2,3.

 

[Mickey64]

8 AA batteries in series. 180R resistors on each end, connected to pins 2,3.

I might try that, thanks!

 

[TAVD]

I might try that, thanks!

Just be sure to use a phantom power equipped preamp (with phantom power turned OFF). Otherwise, you'll want to add capacitors to keep DC out of the preamp. Also, unlike p48, the polarity does matter. +v = pin 2 (xlr) or pin 1 (din), -v = pin 3 (xlr) or (din). Here's a link to the schematic: http://www.coutant.org/mkh805/mkh415.pdf

 

[Mickey64]

Yes, I wondered about the polarity after my last post, so thanks for pointing that out, and for the link.

 

[rokpunk]

Here's a few pics of the inside of the box that you are missing.
Maybe you can figure out how to construct one by looking at the pics.
I can tell you that it's powered by 2 9v's in series, and the model number is BP2.

 

[Mickey64]

Once again this is very good of you rokpunk, many thanks.