[sdiy] Radioshack Mic Elements... am I just stupid?

[Paul Schreiber]

The mics are called "electret" : you need a resistor (around 1K to 3.3K) from the + side of the mic to a positive voltage (usually 6V). Then, the audio is take from that connection *through* a 1uf, non-polarized capacitor.

Paul S.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Robotboy8 at aol.com 
  To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl 
  Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 9:11 PM
  Subject: [sdiy] Radioshack Mic Elements... am I just stupid?


  So today I made a Radioshack run and picked up a bunch of components - diodes, pots, rectifier, and.. 3 microphone elements.  But I seem to be lacking in something.  I attached the red lead to the contact on the side of a 1/4" audio jack and the white lead to the contact on the bottom, put a cable between that and a tape recorder with 1/4 input, and recorded... got nothing save a few clicks when my fingers shorted the thing by accident.  Switched the polarity, same results.  Tried the other 3 mics, same results.  Then I tried each into a piece o crap guitar amp (about 3 watts, iirc) and got nothing but shorts again.  Am I missing something terribly obvious, or did I pick three bad elements out of the five they had? 
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