[Elecraft] [K3] Audio circuit distortion

[Rich Heineck]

That one reminds me of a story told some time back at one of our local 
QRP group meetings.  One of the fellows once had a coworker who claimed 
the source of the power significantly affected audio quality, and that 
power from a hydro generator produced much cleaner sound  than power 
from a natural gas power plant.  Apparently the guy was dead serious.  
It took quite a while for the laughter to die down...

73,
Rich AC7MA


On 07/23/2013 02:47 PM, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:
> And there are those who spend hundreds of dollars on a-c power cords for
> their audio systems that have been cryogenically treated to "align the
> copper crystals to avoid turbulence in the a-c power flowing through the
> cord from the wall outlet".
>
> The problem is that human perception determines satisfaction, and perception
> is not always based on objective data.
>
> 73, Ron AC7AC
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Doug Person
> Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2013 2:25 PM
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] Audio circuit distortion
>
> I once wired a guy's $20K audio system with RG8.  He claimed it made all the
> difference.  He also claimed that vinyl was vastly superior to CD's.  I told
> him he had a wonderful imagination.  The very best and cleanest vinyl with a
> radial tracking arm turntable and a top of the line cartridge could just
> barely make a 40db s/n.  Digital audio can do 100db anytime.  Many years of
> selling audio gear taught me about the psychology of hearing.  It takes an
> experienced ear to appreciate a truly flat response. Most people prefer a
> very unbalanced equalization.
> I got lots of chuckles switching between a $300 system and a $3000 system
> and having most people prefer the cheap setup.
>
> Having designed loud speakers professionally (of which 1,000s were sold), I
> am equipped with very refined and experienced hearing. Unless you were
> listening to FM broadcast, how could you possibly appreciate a .3% THD?  I
> always assumed anything less than 1% was more than adequate for our kind of
> communications.  If we get down to this level of performance, we'll need to
> work on the 50% or so of stations that only concern themselves with output
> power - not audio quality.  There is a lot of dreadfully distorted signals
> on 20 meter SSB.  Nothing beats working a station that is s9+20 and barely
> understandable because he has compression and mic gain pushed up so he sees
> 1500 watts on his output meter all the time.
>
> So, IMHO, the K3 has absolutely splendid audio when I have a chance to work
> another station whose audio is actually adjusted correctly.  It amazes me
> that most rigs today have a monitor function.  Must be the most unused
> feature of all time.
>
> 73, Doug -- K0DXV
>
>
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