Halloween Project Trouble: Mono Mic. Problem?

During Halloween we usually have a fairly elaborate setup and this year I wanted to set up a speaker at the entrance of the path leading up to the front door. I was hoping to use a trusty old microphone that is farily old. I used a mini stereo mic to RCA converter and then added an RCA mono to 2-channel splitter (similar to what I used for my subwoofer). The problem is that I am getting very little sound out of the mic and I have to turn my receiver way up just to get barely audible sound. Even when I don't use the splitter and use just one channel, it is still just as low. So I was wondering:

- Is it a bad mic?
- Are there too many connectors?
- Do I need a second amp to boost the mic. feeding into the amp?
- How else can I achieve loud sound out of that remote speaker?

Thanks in advance.

"Do I need a second amp to boost the mic. feeding into the amp?"

Yes, mics have an extremely low output and, just like magnetic phono cartridges, they require additional high gain amplification stages. I'd say use a phono input but the RIAA eq that these apply to the signal would totally screw up the sound.

Offhand, I can't think of a cheap mic preamp but then again, I haven't been hanging around the pro circuit lately.

...if it's a condenser mic, perhaps it needs a new battery...

You might be able to pick up a cheapie mike(one with a ceramic element)...they usually have higher output but less finesse(which I assume is not an issue here)...

jimHJJ(..."...listen to the children of the night...what music they make..."...)

OK, this may seem like a dumb question, but if I have an old stereo amp I can use to amplify the sound going into the main amp, would that work? Any risks?

Ironically, the folks at RadioShack were more helpful than the GG & CC sales reps who seemed to be more motivated to sell me new stuff. @ RS, they unpacked one of their own mics, hooked it up to their own amp, and compared it to my stuff that I had brought in. They came to the same conclusions suggested above (their setup also did not pump enough juice into the amp.

So RS had two mic amps that they suggested ($50 & $120), but that would have been more than I was willing to pay. So they asked if I had an old stereo receiver and I told them that I did. Instead of pressuring me to buy their mic amp, they suggested I use my own amps. They demonstrated how to hook up both receivers (mine & theirs) together and sure enough, the volume was plenty loud enough.