[Elecraft] more Bass in K3 with PR-40

[Jim Brown]

On 6/19/2012 8:59 AM, Scott Manthe wrote:
> Those are good recommendations, Joe.

A couple of other points. First, there's virtually no speech energy 
below 200 Hz -- anything the mic picks up in that range is hum, noise, 
and breath pops -- so it is good engineering practice to roll off (that 
is full cut) of the 50 Hz and 100 Hz band.

Second, while I don't know the specifics of the Heil mics, I'd guess 
that there's a strong presence peak around 3 kHz to compensate the 
rolloff produced by crystal filters in both the TX and the RX. This is 
also good engineering practice, but taken too far can be too bright. The 
easy solution in the K3 is to use some cut on the highest (and perhaps 
next to highest) filters.

Third, a little proximity effect goes a long way, and proximity effect 
is VERY sensitive to distance. Proximity effect also increases breath 
pops and handling noise.  When you work a mic TOO close, proximity 
effect will cause the lows to get louder and softer with very small 
changes in distance from your mouth. I use a Yamaha CM500, and keep it a 
few inches above and to the side of my mouth so that breath pops don't 
hit it (and so that I can swig coffee). I have the TXEQ and compression 
adjusted for competitive contesting and DX audio, and I get reports of 
great audio.

Like Joe and Scott, I'm a retired broadcast and pro audio engineer, and 
I own several dozen pro mics, but I use the $40 Yamaha in my ham station.

73, Jim K9YC