[Elecraft] Speakers - Optimal Frequency Range?

[Jim Brown]

Your logic is good, as usual. But let's look at the physics of 
loudspeakers, which I tried to do on an earlier post. A SMALL diaphragm 
has better dispersion of high frequencies, while it doesn't produce loud 
bass. We don't need loud bass, so a GOOD small diaphragm loudspeaker is 
what we need. And that is EXACTLY what Elecraft uses in the K2 and both 
versions of the K3.

The late Dick Heyser famously said that "trying to describe an audio 
device or system using only frequency response is like trying to write 
Shakespeare with only one word in your vocabulary. In addition, to have 
any meaning, a frequency response spec must include +/- dB limits and it 
must include angular dispersion. VERY few consumer loudspeakers do that 
-- they simply quote upper and lower limits.  Many cheap loudspeakers 
(and headphones) have very bumpy frequency response, and those bumps 
create phase distortion that degrades speech intelligibility.

So, to repeat my earlier advice, the best loudspeaker for ham radio is 
one that has smooth response from about 300 Hz to about 3 kHz and has 
wide, uniform dispersion within those limits. In other words, it sounds 
the same both on and off axis. Loudspeakers that cover a wider frequency 
range are FINE, but don't pay extra to get one. A loudspeaker with wider 
response would reproduce lower lows and higher highs, but our ham rigs 
(at least the good ones when well adjusted) limit audio to a range of 
about 300 - 3,000 Hz in the IF.

There is no good reason to buy a speaker rated for 300 - 3,000 Hz. What 
we want is one with good performance within that range, and most that do 
will have at least another octave or two above and below those limits. 
(An octave is 2:1 frequency)

BTW -- I purposely set my RXEQ flat because I primarily work CW, and I 
want to hear the off-frequency signals that may be very low or very high 
in frequency, and I limit frequency response on SSB with the settings of 
my IF filters.

73, Jim K9YC

On Sun,10/16/2016 10:44 PM, Dave Cole wrote:
> So, as I said in my original post, it is the most efficient use of the
> hardware is to use a limited response speaker.  No need for high end
> stereo speakers on a K3...  That said, I may put on some better speakers
> on my K3 because in the long run it is a bit less stressful on my
> ears...:)