POLARITY AND YOUR HARPMIC

This week's MIC MORSEL comes as a result of viewing the miss-wired innards of a number of recent patients down in the MICROPHONE DUNGEON.

Seems re-connecting existent leads and added wiring in a completely opposite-than-required scheme is easier than you might think. So... What happens when you're wired backwards? The signal path thru a microphone takes into account the need to shield the "POSITIVE" signal's content from the slings and arrows of the noisy and invasive World Outside. Let's say you reverse the wires connected to the mic's output connector. Immediately the mic's shell goes from being a grounded shield to full-blown RF (radio frequency) antennae. The steady hummm will tell you it's doing a good job. Touch the shell -and BUZZZZZZZ, you're adding to its effectiveness. Similarly, reversing the signal path thru your mic's cable (and many elements) will produce more noise than you could likely stand. Does it do any damage? Cause any harm? Not really, but I wouldn't recommend doing the "Touch Test" while standing in a puddle of water. Do both a visual and sonic test of your handiwork. Make certain the "POSITIVE / HOT" lead goes to the "Center / Shielded" terminal or connecting wire and that the "NEGATIVE / GROUND" is the one anchored to the mic's shell and shield on its output connector or cable. What about "POLARITY" and volume controls? How about ON / OFF switches? More to come...