[Elecraft] Yamaha CM500

[Jim Brown]

YES!  Dave and Joe have given you excellent advice. Thanks to the 
flexibility of the K3's audio setup and EQ, almost any decent mic that 
isn't broken can easily be made to sound great.  In general, if it's an 
electret mic, follow my instructions for the CM500 for both wiring and 
setup, then get signal reports and tweak as needed.  If it's a dynamic 
mic, leave out the bias resistor.

It's best to buy where you can try it on if possible -- headphone 
comfort is a big part of your satisfaction. Sennheiser is a very good 
brand, and widely distributed, but I've never seen a low cost Sennheiser 
boom mic headset.  I've never liked Koss (and I've owned several pairs 
over the years), but I've seen good reports recently on a Koss that's 
similar to the CM500.  About six years ago, I bought a half dozen 
different Plantronics computer headsets at a hamfest that were a sales 
sample kit. I think I paid $20 for all six.  I made the needed cable 
adapters to use them with my ham rigs. Every one of them sounded great, 
but only a few comfortable enough to use for very long.

The main message here is that the Heil stuff is wildly over-rated, 
over-advertised, and over-priced, and there's no good reason to spend 
what it costs to buy it when you can get things that sound and feel as 
good or better for a third the price.

73, Jim Brown K9YC

On 11/18/2010 12:00 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
>   >  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826193029
>
> That item is actually showing at $6.99 today (with $4.99 domestic
> shipping).
>
> If one is looking for an equivalent to the CM-500, this one:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826263020
> even looks like the CM-500 for about 2/3 the B&H Photo price.
>
> I also see other "name brand" Koss and Senheiser headsets for
> less than $50 that are known for decent comfort/performance
> while some of the "off brand" stuff looks like "plain box"
> versions of the name product.
>
> 73,
>
>      ... Joe, W4TV
>
>
> On 11/18/2010 1:30 PM, Dave Hachadorian wrote:
>> Rather than jumping through fiery hoops to get a CM500, I suggest
>> you try a local computer store, and find a comfortable
>> computer-type headset.  These devices all use electret
>> microphones, and the K3  equalizer can make any of them sound
>> great.
>>
>> For example, this one for $12 sounds great, but is not quite as
>> comfortable as the CM500:
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826193029
>>
>>