As some of you may remember I was experiencing some noise issues
with the combination of Fostex FR2 and Telinga Pro6/Twin Science
Microphone. The issue appeared to be with the phantom powering
supply.
This issue has now been resolved. My Fostex unit had developed a
fault which was creating oscillations within the regulation of the
PP supply, and on replacement of the power supply PCB the problem
appears to have been fixed on preliminary tests (ticking clock!).
The unit also worryingly developed a fault with the headphone output
bus and this PCB was replaced also. I should mention that the
distrubutor SCV London were fantastic in carrying the work out under
warranty in the turnaround of two weeks.
The considerable efforts of Klas Strandberg in helping resolve this
issue should also be mentioned. Klas graciously inspected the
microphone and sent me a power box to enable me use the FR2 without
Phantom Power - incidentally this funtions comparably with the
recorder supplying phantom power now that it has been fixed. This
level of customer support and attention is extremely reassuring.
Recent discussions on this forum have focussed on the fact that many
consumer and some prosumer level field recorders have erratic or
unreliable phantom power supplies and this is of obvious concern to
manufacturers of high quality microphones such as Klas. I am again
happy to reiterate that there is apparently no problem with the
compatibility of the Fostex FR2 and Telinga Pro6. It is possible
that there may be some QC issues with Fostex's Chinese
manufacturing, though I suspect I just got a "bad" one. Blaming
Chinese QC seems a bit passe these days IMO. Either way my
experience unfortunately does not seem unique:
http://www.fostex.com/mercuryboard/index.php?a=3Dtopic&t=3D2619
My attitude is now very pragmatic in that I would give precedence to
owning and using a Pro6/Twin Science over many years, and simply
update the recorder as newer and better ones appear. Recorders will
continue to improve in design quicker than microphones! Also, there
will always be workaround soultions, such as using a power box if
phantom power supply is inconsistent, and this should be kept in
mind.
Lindsay
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