[Elecraft] Use of external speakers/amp

[Phil Townsend]

Ah yes the endless quest for great "tone". Yesterday there was a YL in the Calif QSO party. She was W6RER In Butt county. Her voice was clean very clear but what got me was the quality and tone of her voice. It was very easy to listen to. Good tone. Warm sounding with out being mushy. But as I said, clear but not edgy at all. 
It seemed she had the perfect mike / eq / radio combo.
Wonder what she was using?
I have my K3 and K2 outputs driving a pair of Fostex alnico full range speakers. The cabs are of a modest size but built with 3/4" plywood. It is my belief that the alnico magnet is one of the reasons the "tone" in my system is as good as it is. Today it is fairly rare to find alnico in speakers. (expensive) it also helps to have speakers that are fairly efficient... Over 90db per watt. With 96 db or better being a good target. The more efficient the speaker the less work the amp has to do and therefore lower distortion. I use simple pencil tube stereo homebuilt amp to drive the Fostex speakers or headphones. Headphone are the AKG 701.
Sometimes the ssb transmissions sound like good or even great AM broadcast. Good tone for me is what it's all about. 

Phil
Santa Fe, NM


Build your own gear...
Grow your own food.
 

Sent from my iPad

On Oct 4, 2010, at 8:28 AM, John Ragle <tpcj1r03 at crocker.com> wrote:

>  This is a loaded question, like "when did you stop beating your wife?" 
> It implies that there is something wrong with the K3 audio.
> 
> I have used both the K2 and K3 for some time, and as far as I can tell, 
> there is nothing wrong in this department. There is more than enough 
> gain to blast one out of the room or to fry one's ears using headphones, 
> and the range depends in the normal way on the bandpass used in the 
> receiver.
> 
> Voice spectrum is scarce, and there is little excuse for using more of 
> this resource than is necessary for effective communication. I think 
> that almost all SSB operators realize the need and even the 
> effectiveness and utility of band-limiting their TX. A quick look on the 
> P3 or some other spectrum display will convince one of this. We should 
> be thankful that people don't insist on transmitting the full range of 
> audio frequencies that make up the human voice.
> 
> Since what goes in dictates what comes out, it is unrealistic to hope 
> for broadcast quality reception. Perhaps more careful attention to 
> tuning SSB signals is needed...it does not take much offset to replace 
> the human with Donald Duck.
> 
> John Ragle -- W1ZI
> 
> =====
>> On 10/4/2010 13:16, Rick Stealey wrote:
>> 
>>> In connection with the second topic, I wonder what other K3 owners 
>>> might have done.
>>> Have you gained any improvement by using external speakers, PC-type 
>>> speakers with audio
>>> amps built in, or even something like a stereo amp with hi fi speakers?
> 
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