Royer Labs SF-2 - Manual (Page 5)

1. To ensure long service life of your SF-2 active ribbon ® microphone, care should be taken
when connecting the microphone. We offer the following information as a general set of
good habits that apply to both active ribbon mics and solid-state condenser microphones.
2. Although it is usually safe to “hot plug” most phantom-powered microphones to a
preamplifier or console with the phantom activated, we suggest deactivating the phantom
power prior to plugging the microphone in when possible. This minimizes any chance of
random voltage surges entering the microphone. More importantly, it reduces the possibility
of loud pops being transmitted to your monitors should the volume control be raised.
Damage to your speakers could result from this oversight.
3. Be certain that the input channel fader or volume control is set to minimum before plugging
in the microphone. Preamplifier gain trim should be set to minimum. Plug the microphone in
and activate the phantom power switch. The microphone’s electronics will stabilize in a few
seconds.
4. When the microphone becomes operational, bring the channel fader to 0-dB (unity) and use
the gain-trim to set the desired level. This technique maximizes the signal-to-noise
performance of the preamplifier or console input channel.
5. When disconnecting the microphone, bring the channel faders down and unplug the
microphone cable ends. It is also advisable to turn off the phantom power before unplugging
the microphone whenever possible.
Operation
1. The SF-2 is a side address, figure-8 (bi-directional) microphone and the rejection in the null
points is very strong. The null points are the sides, top and bottom of the microphone.
Engineers use the null points of figure-8 microphones to isolate instruments by positioning
the mics in such a way that the null points face, and cancel, unwanted sounds.
2. In the horizontal plane, ribbon microphones do not discriminate against the “highs” off axis,
nor do they boost them on axis. Therefore, several instruments or vocalists can be placed in
front of the microphone without favoring the performer in the center of the group. Several
performers can be grouped at both the front and back of the microphone, with one proviso.
Since the outputs are out of phase at the front and back of the microphone, cancellation can
result if two singers are placed at opposite sides, at equal distances and singing in unison, so
listen to the feed before committing to it.
3. When using a ribbon microphone with loud signal sources, placing the microphone slightly
off axis to the signal source will help protect the ribbon element.
4. The phantom powered SF-2 must be connected to a preamplifier or console capable of
delivering 48-volts at a minimum of 4-milliamperes. Faulty or improperly wired cables could
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