[Elecraft] SSB transmit audio - Where's the punch?

[Guy Olinger K2AV]

A lot of the "punch" on older rigs is because the low end rolloff on
TX for communications audio IS IN THE TX components and cannot be
changed or "optioned" out.  The K3, to satisfy all the vocal desirers
of options, lets the user set everything, so that every body can have
it his own way, from "I want my beautiful deep bass voice to be heard
on ESSB", to contesters' "I just want my highs out there on the power
peaks, I ONLY care about maximum QSO's, fidelity be damned".

In the old analog rigs, all that stuff was wired in, one resistor and
capacitor at a time, and the choice implied by the discrete components
used was THE choice, PERIOD.  I note that some of the rigs quoted
earlier are in that collection.  What was done in those was to favor a
highs-emphasized TX audio, with as little distortion as possible.
SOME clipping helped with average power.   ESSB advocates should note
that NONE of those emphasized the bass, unless someone went in and
monkeyed with the discrete components, or put a banded preamp between
the mic and the rig.

What that state of affairs did was ENFORCE a defacto communications
audio default, very soft on bass and hard on highs.

Now you have K3 users with no clue about how to set the TX eq and
clipping level OPTIONS to get the IDENTICAL shape to their voices on a
K3 as the other rigs.  There actually is a clarity advantage to the
K3's clipping method IF you know where to set all the options.

The problem is that in the bright new digital world, with options to
satisfy every conceivable preference, ONE HAS TO KNOW HOW TO SET THE
OPTIONS AND LEVELS TO GET WHAT HE WANTS.  Add that to NOBODY EVER
WANTS TO READ THE MANUAL. (I, personally am no better than anyone else
here, I HATE reading manuals.)  With the combo you get complaints that
"My K3 is broken" because the user doesn't know that's an option and
he has to set it his way in that menu.  Likely perceived awful and
confusing, because to understand the menu you have to read the manual.
 And there are so many optional behaviors that keeping up the manual
is a real piece of work, and requires the most talented of technical
writers to explain it in a straight-forward effective manner.

This is not a peculiarity with a K3.  N1MM has that problem because of
the huge number of options, as does all the MicroHam stuff, which
serve a very wide audience IF the users understand the options. I
pretty much suffered brain damage learning MM logger.  Microham was
better because I had W4TV. K3 was easier yet because of the reflector.
 Flexibility generates confused digital options newbies all over the
place in all kinds of pursuits.   The universal curse of the age of
digital options freedom.

These days RTFM is really the only way out.  Unless someone who has
the time, inclination, and the sharp knowledge of all the options,
sets up a utility which sets a spectrum of options based upon older
rigs.

Since the version D DSP board, this actually seems possible.  Once you
learn all the diddles, the K3 is marvelous.  I have its RX sounding
like my 75A3, IF I use a good speaker.  ALL my computer speakers turn
out to be crap beside my old-time Acoustic Research bookshelf speaker.
 If I run my 75A3 to the computer speakers, the 75A3 sounds like crap.
 Of course the sonorous old AR 8 ohm needs a 10 watt audio stage or an
amp to drive it because it is so brutally inefficient.