Andrea DA-350 microphone power requirements?

**ggordonliddy** · 04-04-2007, 10:25 AM

I need to buy a microphone for my upcoming Infill G4 purchase, for cell phone calls.

I'm looking at the "Andrea Electronics Microphone DA-350 linear multi-element array microphone" (http://store.mp3car.com/Andrea_Elect...p/com-017.htm). But apparently this microphone needs an external power source, which sounds insane to me for a device intended for use in a car.

Does this really need to be plugged in to the cigarette lighter adapter? That would probably stop me from buying it.

Does it even need external power when running in USB mode?

Or is there another good microphone choice that doesn't need external power?

**Zip-Lock** · 04-04-2007, 11:18 AM

Yes it needs external power. The USB bus can only prove 5 watts. The Andrea DA-350 microphone requires more then that to power up all the noise cancellation logic and active signal processing. Despite that it's hands down the best noise cancelling mic for the car.

**ggordonliddy** · 04-04-2007, 02:12 PM

Can the power just be wired in to the same power wire that feeds the head unit? I guess that wouldn't be so bad since both wires would be mostly hidden.

Now I just need to decide where to put it... the sun visor doesn't seem like the best place since that gets moved around too much, and I'd have to leave a lot of slack to allow that. Does it have to be pointed at the speaker's face to work effectively?

**god_of_cpu** · 04-04-2007, 02:36 PM

It needs unregulated 12 volts. Powering it is as easy as splicing into a power line on your car. This includes your head units power.

Its designed to work on your visor and comes with clips to make this easy. The visor is the probably the best place for it that doesn't require cutting your car. You can put it in other places, but like any other microphone, the further it gets from where you are speaking, the less effective it will be. I have no doubt there are other places you can mount it other then the visor that will work just as well, but there are also places that will cause the audio to degrade.

The distance from the speaker effects it much more then the direction it faces. That being said, if you can get an extra foot or closer mounting it facing away from the speaker, you are better off mounting it that way.

**colindunscombe** · 04-04-2007, 06:29 PM

And....a snip at only $329.99.

**ggordonliddy** · 04-05-2007, 01:34 AM

According to the Andrea web site, there are 4 different models:

C1-1020000-3: 3.5mm mic plug and hardwire for power
C1-1020000-7: 3.5mm mic plug and cigarette lighter power plug
C1-1020000-6: 3.5mm mic plug w/t USB audio adapter and hardwire for power
C1-1020000-4: 3.5mm mic plug w/t USB audio adapter and cigarette lighter power plug

Does the one the MP3Car.com store carries have the "hardwire" for power that I assume I need since I don't want to use the cigarette lighter adapter?

**Zip-Lock** · 04-05-2007, 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by ggordonliddy

According to the Andrea web site, there are 4 different models:

C1-1020000-3: 3.5mm mic plug and hardwire for power
C1-1020000-7: 3.5mm mic plug and cigarette lighter power plug
C1-1020000-6: 3.5mm mic plug w/t USB audio adapter and hardwire for power
C1-1020000-4: 3.5mm mic plug w/t USB audio adapter and cigarette lighter power plug

Does the one the MP3Car.com store carries have the "hardwire" for power that I assume I need since I don't want to use the cigarette lighter adapter?

We only have the last one #4 because there was a negligible price difference between that are the #3 bare wire model. You can hardwire wire it by buying a dedicated cigarette lighter socket from the from any auto parts store for about $2, cut the wire, or even use electrical tape to tape wire to the contacts of the cigarette light plug on the Andrea mic.

**helllordkb** · 06-01-2007, 11:10 AM

question, does the unit have its own built in voltage regulator for the 12 volt line? or are you saying that for this application you don't want really have to worry about voltage drops? cause i wouldn't want a 300 dollar mic to be blown on me because of something stupid like that.

**god_of_cpu** · 06-01-2007, 03:46 PM

Originally Posted by helllordkb

question, does the unit have its own built in voltage regulator for the 12 volt line? or are you saying that for this application you don't want really have to worry about voltage drops? cause i wouldn't want a 300 dollar mic to be blown on me because of something stupid like that.

It comes with a cigarette lighter adapter and works on unregulated voltage from it which is generally in the range of 11v to 14v. I'm not sure of the exact voltage range, but if your just plugging it into a cigarette lighter adapter, nothing you can do in a typical in car scenario should harm the device and it should work as long as you have enough power to start your car.

**helllordkb** · 06-01-2007, 04:17 PM

ok, sounds good, i just ask because thats one of the big features in my mind of the dc-dc power supply for the car pc. voltage regulation, that is. computer can hickup when the voltage gets a little to low, lets say when you kick in the compressor for the ac