[Elecraft] K3 external speakers

[Ken Kopp]

The following may well be obvious to most, but I know of
at least three K3 owners who've been "caught" by plugging
mono plugs into the (stereo) speaker jack.

There is a "gotcha" involved in the use of external speakers
with the K3.  It's addressed indirectly on page 20 of the D2 
version of the manual in the 2nd paragraph under PHONES
when it reads "... if you use a stereo plug at the external 
speaker jack .... but is easily glossed over by the reader.

Many / most monaural external speakers have a MONAURAL
plug on their cords.  DON'T plug one of these (monaural) plugs
into the speaker jack.  It's configured for stereo and the sleeve 
of the mono plug will short the ring portion of the stereo jack 
and thereby short one channel of audio.  I ... along with several
others ... have experienced a failure of the audio amplifier IC on 
the front panel board due to one channel being shorted by the 
sleeve of a monaural plug.  It seems to take many hours of  
operation under this condition to cause the IC to fail ... over a 
year in mine and another's case.  The IC is -NOT- an easy change!  

Just remember that one audio channel is on the tip and the other 
is on the ring of the plug and connect speakers in this manner 
using -only- a stereo plug.  My particular "trap" was forgetting that 
using a  stereo "Y" merely moved the "trap" six inches away from 
the jack. (;-)

As others have pointed out, speakers from the two-radio field are 
good choices, and the CB isle at truck stops usually sell nice 
speakers.  Mine are Barjan 320-701's.  Radio Scrap 21-549B's 
are OK, too.

73! Ken Kopp - K0PP
     ElecraftCovers at rfwave.net
     http://tinyurl.com/7lm3m5