[Elecraft] K3 external speakers

Sat Apr 4 14:40:19 EDT 2009

I guess I will have to check my speakers.  This is a warning that should be
in bold in the manual.

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-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Ken Kopp
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 12:18 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 external speakers

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

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