[Elecraft] Comparison of Motorola Speakers with BookShelf & MFJ !

[JimWMiller@aol.com]

Over the weekend KN2X and I compared the Motorola Speaker with the bookshelf, 
MFJ, K2 internal speaker and an inexpensive pair of Sony Headphones.

This was a completely *subjective* test and your mileage my vary! In any case 
the result may surprise you!

********* Results **********  
1.  First the Motorola HSN4024A was tested.  This is an 8 ohm 8 watt speaker 
that sells for $14.95.  My expectations were high but the results were 
somewhat disappointing. Yes, it was louder than the internal K2 speaker but 
really nothing special. (Not all Motorola speakers are identical and your 
model may be better.)
2.  Next the MFJ "ClearTone", a $10 special was tested. My expectations were 
low, after all MFJ makes junk, does it?? ...   Hey, it was pretty good!  In 
fact, it was better than the Motorola. It was as loud and the tone was a 
little better... but still not great. 
3.  The bookshelf was tested next.  It's volume was low.  The K2 did not have 
quite enough power to drive it well.  
4.  Finally the inexpensive ($20?) Sony Headphones were tested. These sounded 
good. Good fidelity, pleasing and did not feel like a vice was on my head 
like some headphones do!

Conclusions: The headphones win!  As far as speaker goes the MFJ was not bad 
and the Motorola was not quite as good.  Since I use headphones most of the 
time, this is almost a non-issue and the MFJ is probably *adequate* for 
occasional use.

But can we do better?? In the shack a Kenwood TS-830 was driving a MFJ Active 
filter which drove the bookshelf speaker.  This was loud and sounded good 
(*almost* as good as my National HRO-5TA1, circa 1946 !!!).   I'm wondering 
if similar audio quality could be obtained if the K2 drove an the active 
filter with a good amplifier (or equilizer etc.) and a good  bookshelf 
speaker???  Has anyone tried this? If so please comment.

73, Jim WA2UMP K2:2679


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