Hi, I have a Shure 58 which I want to connect to iriver ihp-140. Here are my problems.

1)Shure 58 microphone has with
Microphone Cords10 feet, XLR 1. This is a BIG plug (it's mono). The Line In plug for iriver is stereo (i.e, small hole). I bought an adaptor, but it's really really clumsy. The plug is practically as big as the iriver itself! Also, it seems to come loose easily (haven't tried duct tape yet).

2) The sound quality is shitty--very low. I think it needs a preamp. Can anyone recommend an affordable preamp for an XLR mike. I'm not recording concerts; mainly voice and live events. Think form factor. Not only does it need to hold the XLR plug from the Shure mike firmly, it also needs to connect easily to the iriver hole.

Look forward to recommendations. rj

Yes, you definitely need a preamp as the iriver won't have one. Looking on the web, there don't seem to be many mono preamps except at the professional level (big price). You might have to go with a stereo one. What do you consider affordable?

I actually just use a 6 channel mixing board for this. It was about $90. Not very portable though.

affordable is whatever does the job and doesn't make me broke.

I would say over 200$ is my absolute max. I really don't know.

there should be instructions that came with the mic telling you how to wire it for low impedance.

if it is currently on low impedance, then you'll definitely need a preamp...

i'm using an old tape deck as a preamp atm, but it's pretty awful. i'm saving up for an edirol breakout box that has balanced XLR inputs, phantom power, and does 24/96 (about AUD$800). balanced inputs are good if you've got a monitor nearby

of course, all that stuff isn't going to plug into an iRiver. i'd be inclinced to pick a kit or something up at an electronics hobbyist store. it'll be hella cheap, and you'll learn a lot from putting it together yourself

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btw, it's easy to get an unbalanced mic lead - it'll have a modest sized 6mm guitar plug at the end of it. you could always do some DIY and snip that off, replacing it with a 3.5mm mono plug. this'll be far more elegant than a massive adaptor and duct tape all over your gear.

Look on ebay for stereo preamps. ART makes some in this range, and there are some home-made ones too. Can't recommend anything personally. Should be able to plug the XLR cable to the preamp, and then you will probably need an XLR to minijack cable from the preamp to the iriver. Or if you get a cheap one it may have minijack inputs (then the connection from the microphone won't be balanced, but this shouldn't matter for short cables).

Or if you get a cheap one it may have minijack inputs (then the connection from the microphone won't be balanced, but this shouldn't matter for short cables).

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Thanks for the help. You've given me good information.
What do you mean "won't be balanced?" (also referred in the previous post)

I'll be recording from a single microphone.

the sm58 needs 48V phantom power or you might also use batteries (does the sm68 has the ability to work with a battery? i'm not s(h)ure at the moment)

one of the best preamps out there is the spl goldmike but it's probably to expensive for you.

normally i would never recommend something from behringer but this thing is ok:
http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/behringer_...p_prodinfo.html

you might also have a look at this site (only preamps)
http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/gruppe-SPPR-0.html

It am fairly sure it doesn't need phantom power. The SM-58 is a dynamic microphone. In fact it is likely not to work if phantom power is present.

No problem. Standard XLR cables have three wires, as you can see in yours. One is a ground, on is the positive signal, and one is the negative signal, which is minus the positive one. That's balanced. The point of this is that balanced cables are far less succeptible to interference, which is important on long cable runs.
If your preamp has a minijack input (which is not a balanced input) then microphone should still cope and put out an unbalanced signal (i.e. a positive signal on one channel of the minijack) - hopefully.