I've set up stage monitors that only took 1/4" cables as input, and I took it for granted that they just worked until I realized they did not plug in to the stage's power source. Eventually I learned that they ran on this scary-sounding thing called phantom power, but I still don't really know how it works.
What are the mechanics behind phantom power? What equipment most commonly uses phantom power? What are its limitations?
Stage monitors generally come in two varieties- powered and unpowered. The first need AC power (220v in U.K.) to run, just as an ordinary guitar amp., p.a. etc. would.The other is passive, in that it is a speaker cab.As such, it will need an amp. externally to run it, as well as being connected, often by jack plug, to the sound out.
Phantom power is DC, and 48v. Way too small to run a monitor. It is used to power condenser mics, as are more used in recording situations. The plugs on these are usually XLR ( sometimes called cannon), usually with 3 pins, for a balanced connection. Someone has fed you misinformation.
Phantom power is just a way to transmit DC power over microphone cables. It's most used for condenser mics and direct boxes (DIs).
Phantom powering consists of a phantom circuit where direct current is applied equally through the two signal lines of a balanced audio connector (in modern equipment, usually an XLR connector). The supply voltage is referenced to the ground pin of the connector (pin 1 of an XLR), which normally is connected to the cable shield or a ground wire in the cable or both. When phantom powering was introduced, one of its advantages was that the same type of balanced, shielded microphone cable that studios were already using for dynamic microphones could be used for condenser microphones.
A microphone or other device can obtain DC power from either signal line to ground terminal, and two capacitors block this DC from appearing at the output. R1 and R2 should be 6.8k ohms for 48 volt phantom, and R3 should not be used.
With phantom power, the supply voltage is effectively invisible to balanced microphones that do not use it, which includes most dynamic microphones. A balanced signal consists only of the differences in voltage between two signal lines; phantom powering places the same DC voltage on both signal lines of a balanced connection.
Sounds like you have un-powered monitor speakers. Just speakers, no built-in amplifiers. (Forget about 'phantom power' for now, that's something else entirely.) If you're feeding them from the Aux Out (maybe called Monitor Out) of a mixing desk, they need an amplifier. This is how all speakers worked until the modern trend for 'powered speakers'.
Yeah just like Payne said. You will need an amplifier. But I don't think I have seen where amplifiers transfer signals using 1/4 cable. The 1/4 cables can only be used to transmit audio signal from speaker to speaker in other words you use it to loop. But it I'm thinking... Check. One of your monitors could be self powered that's so you'll use the 1/4 input as loop from the self powered. I know of a set of speakers that comes with 1selfpowered and one passive
