[Elecraft] Re: K3 Audio

[Tom W8JI]

For the benefit of W8JI ... saturation is a good description 
of
the behavior.  When adjusting the Line Out level above 1V 
peak,
any single tone in the audio spectrum appears to be clipped
at the 1V level. Although this could be due to clipping in 
the
audio amplifier, given the manual warning, transformer 
saturation
appears to be the more likely explanation. >>

My point is "saturation" is probably one of the most 
overused terms to describe problems with transformers or 
things with soft iron cores. When a balun gets hot, people 
call it "saturating" even though it virtually never is 
actually saturating. Same for inductors, and I've seen the 
same for transformers in everything from old AM gear to 
modern equipment.

I doubt it is a "cheap transformer".  More likely the load 
is wrong, the driver is mismatched or at a power limit, or 
someone just has the levels way too high for the equipment 
design.

My K3 has no issues at all at rated levels.

73 Tom