[Elecraft] K3 ssb sound

[Lu Romero]

Mike:

Im a contester first and foremost, so I dont win any "HiFi"
or "Voodoo" audio fidelity competitions with my ssb sound. 
(But I could if I wanted to).

Having said that, however, I do make a living in audio/video
where I am paid to pay close attention to quality sound (and
pictures).  

And Im rather picky.

I can make my K3 sound narrow and punchy, with that classic
"crackly" contest "bite", extremely narrow dynamic range and
a very narrow peak to average ratio for wringing every
possible watt out of my PA.  

Or, I can make my K3 sound smooth, open, and "realistic"
with mid and near-bass "presence" (Im not a bass lover, its
a total waste of TX power) with very little compression and
with a clean and "sparkly" high end.

And I can do anything in between.

I can do all of this with one single microphone capsule, in
my case, a $50 Yamaha CM500 headset with boom mic.

All the settings that create these sound "profiles" can be
recalled simply by pressing one button on the K3-EZ TX
Equalizer property sheet (or by a macro from the front
panel).  With K3-EZ, I save the ones I like for later
recall.  I can save as many as I have hard disk space for
(which is more than I will be able to use in a lifetime).

Not only can I do this on transmit, but I can also do this
on receive.

The TX Gate now works as well as any of the basic ones I
have used in Pro Audio circles.  Its smooth and unobtrusive.
 The way a gate should be. (If you can hear the gate
working, then the gate aint working!).  The VOX is fast and
responsive.  Its very hard to false and essentially
tweak-less once you set it for the way you like it.

All this stuff (except the CM500) comes with the radio, and
is constantly being made better.  You dont need a rack full
of boxes to do the deed.  Its all "in there", inside the 9lb
box.

You need not worry about K3 transmit audio quality.  Its
just fine.   But like safely driving a Lotus Elise fast, you
need to invest the time to learn how to use the tools you
have, because with power comes responsibility.  It takes an
investment on your part to RTFM and experiment to learn what
you are doing and why.    

Plug and play its not.  It really is "Hands On Ham Radio".

-lu-W4LT-
K3 # 3192

---------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 08:30:07 -0800 (PST)
From: Mike Rodgers <mikerodgerske5gbc at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 ssb sound
To: "Elecraft at mailman.qth.net" <Elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Message-ID: <389452.37131.qm at web57201.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I'm still hearing rumblings about how the k3 sounds on ssb.
This concerns me. The k3
will be a huge investment for my income and I can't help but
wonder if it will be the
right one. I'm really not seriously considering anything
else but I'm sure getting
nervous about unloading the cash. I'm just a rag chewer so
there's more to it than
just making the contact. I have however listened to Hector's
audio files and they all
sound good. 

Happy QSO'ing.       Mike R