[Elecraft] KX3 with external speaker

[Julia Tuttle]

Have you tried deeper circumaural headphones? They leave more room for
hearing aids, if you want to try using both at once.

73,

Julie

On Mon, Feb 16, 2026 at 7:09 PM Phil Hystad via Elecraft <
elecraft at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

> Thanks Jim (and, others who answered), I expected as much.
>
> Right now headphones are OK but a hassle with hearing aids that I need to
> take off first.  The speaker from the KX3 is OK too but not the best audio
> quality but then again, hams usually don’t care for audio quality that
> much, as long as it is clear is my desire — then again, I am mostly CW
> anyway.
>
> phil
>
> > On Feb 16, 2026, at 3:44 PM, Jim Brown via Elecraft <
> elecraft at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
> >
> > On 2/16/2026 3:15 PM, Phil Hystad via Elecraft wrote:
> >> Can someone give pointers on this?
> >
> > The K3, K3S, and K4 have separate audio power amplifiers for headphones
> and speakers, each with their own individual output jacks. I haven't
> studied the schematic, but I suspect that the KX3 has only the amplifiers
> for headphones. Speakers require considerably more power.
> >
> > The headphone output could probably drive a powered speaker (that is,
> one with its own built-in amplifier), but powered speakers are notoriously
> bad for RFI, both generating noise and being susceptible to nearby
> transmitters, so are unlikely to be a solution.
> >
> > 73, Jim K9YC
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