[Elecraft] Use of external speakers/amp

[George Sereikas]

I have had my K3 for some time now.  I have always used it with an external speaker and at one time tried it with "Stereo" speakers (West Mountain Radio Communications Speaker System, Powered). While the West Mountain speaker system worked ok, I found the lower frequencies were lacking an I hated all the additional wires.  Over time,  I tried several speakers that were generally designed for HI-Fi use. Some were too "tinny" and sounded best if the tweeter was disabled.  In general I found that I could always get pleasing  audio from them by adjusting the receive EQ.  I have never found the K3 to have low audio in terms of amplitude. The K3 audio amp seems to have plenty of headroom to drive any of the speakers that I have used. The K2 does have issues with audio output,  but not the K3. I have compared the K3 receive audio to the audio from several rigs in the shack with the same speakers (PRO III, TS-2000, FT-2000, Omni VII, Drake 2B, Heathkit SB-102) and IMHO, the K3 is every bit the equal of any of those rigs as far as receive audio goes. It could be my ears and the range of my hearing,  but there is NO fatigue with the receive audio in the K3. Just my $.02 wort of opinion!

George
K2WO