Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Don wrote: >Gene (and all), > >Yes, the AGC settings do help a lot. The K3/K3S has enough gain that >often the AGC is activated on the atmospheric noise in the band. It isn't so much that the K3/K3S has "gain", but that the factory default AGC THReshold is so very, very low. Measurements by

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Great advice. Mine, from one who has done this unsuccessfully, and then with advice, done it successfully, GO SLOW. This means small changes to one parameter and some listening time before another change. The changes to the various AGC parameters will have subtle effects, not all of which

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Gene (and all), Yes, the AGC settings do help a lot. The K3/K3S has enough gain that often the AGC is activated on the atmospheric noise in the band. However, I think your chosen AGC settings are a bit extreme for general use, but if your ears tell you it is good for you, then keep those

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

K3S 10057 -Original Message- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jim Brown Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2016 4:11 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade? On Tue,3/22/2016 1:34 PM, Gary Smith wrote: &g

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

> On Mar 21, 2016, at 9:21 AM, Jim Brown wrote: > > … both Yamaha CM500 and Sony MDR7506. The Sony headphones are widely used in > recording studios, and the sound of the CM500 is pretty close in sound > quality. The CM500 is fine for communication use, but maybe

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

On Tue,3/22/2016 1:34 PM, Gary Smith wrote: What I use are a pair of speakers with a truly flat response all the way from 80 Hz to 22 KHz but extreme overkill...: Mackie HR824 powered Studio monitors. Yes, excellent AF response, very nice for recording, but massive overkill. I have a pair as

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

I so agree. What I use are a pair of speakers with a truly flat response all the way from 80 Hz to 22 KHz but extreme overkill...: Mackie HR824 powered Studio monitors. They are perfect to me and extremely flat. I already owned them because I used to do recording. In this vein, if you can

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

On 3/22/2016 1:30 PM, Jim Brown wrote: > IMO, the BEST speakers and headphones for ham radio are those which have FLAT response (that is, equal at all frequencies) within the speech range (100 - 5,000 Hz) and low distortion. If they have wider response (like hi-fi speakers), that's still good.

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

two more cents - are we rich, yet? Couple more comments on K3 audio quality and etc. The MOT metal mobile speakers were designed for FM mobile and did sound good. I don't have any so have not tried marrying one to a K3. SSB sounds different than FM, especially full quieted FM. Installed a

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

On Tue,3/22/2016 8:36 AM, Bill Davis via Elecraft wrote: I use RX equalization AFTER I find a speaker that I can live with. I suspect that the frequency response of the Motorola speakers are carefully shaped for maximum speech intelligibility in a noisy environment, and their response may

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

On Tue,3/22/2016 7:58 AM, Charlie T, K3ICH wrote: There was a very pronounced peak in his audio around 300 hz and practically no energy past about 800Hz. No distortion, just a widely skewed audio passband. It was a boatanchor radio, so there was something obviously wrong somewhere as everyone

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

mplifiers just may be more fussy about that transducer that is attached > than what some of us would expect. > > 73 Bill K0AWU > > > > From: ke9uw <c-haw...@illinois.edu> > To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net > Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2016 8:30 AM > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

attached than what some of us would expect. 73 Bill K0AWU   From: ke9uw <c-haw...@illinois.edu> To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2016 8:30 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade? I had a 480 and did not care for the sort of pinched up

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

an.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade? I had a 480 and did not care for the sort of pinched up audio compared to say the 850. I am using a couple of 6 by 9 speakers in enclosures on the K3, one on each side of the stereo and the sound is just fine. As they say, opi

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

I had a 480 and did not care for the sort of pinched up audio compared to say the 850. I am using a couple of 6 by 9 speakers in enclosures on the K3, one on each side of the stereo and the sound is just fine. As they say, opinions vary and have so many variables like speakers, what/how/where you

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

I agree with Vic - I want minimal AGC action, only kicking in on the strongest signals to keep the audio level below the ear's attenuation reflex (see http://n1eu.com/K3NA_rx_audio.pdf ) I have my threshold set at 14 (along with AF Gain at approx 9 o'clock and RF Gain adjusted so I can just hear

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

"Too much noise" might mean the AGC threshold is low. One way to adjust it is to set it so that AGC does not activate on band noise (of course it's different on different bands/times). I have mine set to 12. I want AGC to do as little as possible except protect my ears. Vic 4X6GP/K2VCO > On

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Well... that may solve the audio problems - Kenwoods do sound great - but then you end up with everything else in the rig inferior with that solution hi hi But seriously, Eric's suggestion of shifting the passband downward is one that I've used on my K3 in the past to help calm down my beat

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

On 3/21/2016 7:38 PM, Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft wrote: One thought for those using the 2.7 or 2.8 SSB filters. Try reducing the DSP bandwidth to 2.4 kHz or so, and shifting the center freq. down 100 Hz. Many other radios have a 2.4 kHz SSB filter, and while it does restrict the audio

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Hi Ron, That review of the K3 audio by Rob Sherwood was on a very early K3. We quickly addressed the high freq harmonic issues (most of which were above 4-5 kHz and were more than 50-60 dB down) with a K3 DSP board revision that included a change to a beefier low ESR power supply filter choke

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Sent from my iPhone > > Confused I am. > > Soif SSB audio was not an issue on the K3, then why did Elecraft seek to > improve it with the K3S initially touting it as one of the featured benefits > of their next generation K3? > > They improved the IMD of the AF amps. A good thing

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Exactly! I remember the trail of audio tears well. The difference back then being they had never heard a receiver as good as the K3 and all it was picking up compared to their Yaecomwood. Couldn't possibly be their favorite old radio had been feeding them the RF equivalent of mush and passing

[Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Confused I am. Soif SSB audio was not an issue on the K3, then why did Elecraft seek to improve it with the K3S initially touting it as one of the featured benefits of their next generation K3? This SSB audio debate as been an acknowledged issue for many users for a long time...on this

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

On Mon,3/21/2016 12:46 PM, Jim Bolit wrote: The TS-480 just sounds better to these ears. Oh, and it is magic Look at the RX current drain on both radios. A K3 comes in at about 1A, 1.1A with the new KXV3B preamp or the old PR6 installed. This is the result of Wayne's philosophy of

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

So true! I use tube audio gear. My Audio pre-amplifier is a McIntosh C2500 and I regularly use the USB input to its internal digital soundcard. The sound from that preamp is magnificent. When I ran the same source to a USB soundcard, bypassing the McIntosh digital card, with that signal

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Another BTW, I'm definitely not asserting any _distortion_ of the signals or tones in either radio. Both my K3 and K3S are giving pure clean tones and voices. My complaints are only centering around (what I believe to be only) the equalization in the audio, particularly the mid/high frequency

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

rom: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jim Bolit Sent: March 21, 2016 12:46 PM To: 'Bill'; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade? My TS-480 also sounds better than my K3. My K3 was sent back to factory to see if there was an

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

My two cents: Never cared much for audio quality of the internal K3 speaker. I use a very old 8-inch round National Radio speaker (probably 4-ohm as was most of the 1950 era stuff). But when I need to dig out a signal from the noise I use my trusty SONY MDR-V600 headset (definitely used

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Well .. I'd get a headache listening to most ANYTHING after 4-5 hours. The symphony in Bass Hall, or even good vinyl on a great turntable/arm/cartridge and a very good amp and very good headphones is no different. Maybe I just found the "right" speakers for my K3. They're old RatShack (RCA)

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

nds better to these ears. Oh, and it is magic Jim W6AIM . -Original Message- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bill Sent: Monday, March 21, 2016 10:35 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade? I have a

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

That's been my experience too, "really great sound" is somewhat akin to pornography ... as Justice Stewart said, "Impossible to objectively define but I know it when I see [or hear] it." I inherited an SX-28 with the large bass reflex speaker a number of years ago. As a ham receiver in the

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Message- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of lstavenhagen Sent: 21 March 2016 16:00 To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade? Well I don't want to complain _real_ loud either lol. The audio on the K3S really is better

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Berry, Actually it is quite complicated to define what is wrong with the "sound" of something...  What makes audio "fatiguing", exactly?  I can't say, and no amount of listening to it, or playing with the EQ has fixed it in my case...   I used to work in a recording studio, as a mix engineer,

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

All excellent points. My personal fix is to use my K2 at home where the band noise is bad (I refuse to mix computers and ham radio at the same time, so this may not be the fix you have in mind :) ), but when I'm /p, it's a non-issue. I use all 3 of my rigs when portable with no audio issues. 73,

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 1:28 PM, lstavenhagen wrote: > I stand by "shrill and fatiguing", :), but I concede that's just a > personal judgment based on > my particular hearing. My point was that free tools are readily available to all of us to conduct a quick

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

I have always felt the K3 was a looser in the audio department - but, with the many menu settings available - most of the problem can be mitigated. There a lot of things that can be done with the menu settings on the K3 (presumably on the K3S also) that effect the RX audio - EQ settings, AGC

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Ok thanks for the suggestions, Don. I should also mention that the other posters are quite right to call for objective, independent measurements to verify impressionistic judgments like my earlier ones. I stand by "shrill and fatiguing", :), but I concede that's just a personal judgment based on

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

LS, If your problem is more related to "band noise", you may want to investigate the AGC Threshold and Slope settings on the K3 and K3s. To my ears, the K3/K3S sounds a bit 'noisy' with the default AGC settings. Increasing the Threshold and decreasing the slope may help. For information on

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

My apologies fellers, I didn't mean to turn this into a let's-bash-the-K3S-audio thread LOL. Probably what I should have said is something less absolute. Perhaps something like I personally don't notice much of a difference between my K3 and K3S but that doesn't mean there isn't a difference

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

lstavenhagen wrote > I dunno, the K3S audio actually isn't much better to my ears. Yes, it's a > little better on my K3S compared to my K3, but still kind of shrill and > fatiguing to listen to for long periods of time. In this day and age, with PC soundcards and excellent freeware audio

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

I use both the internal speaker and a set of Sony headphones (not comm. style, but basic hi-fi, can't remember the model number offhand) on primarily CW but on very rare occasions I'll go up to the SSB bands from time to time for listening/entertainment purposes. I do own a microphone, but I'm not

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

On Mon,3/21/2016 7:55 AM, lstavenhagen wrote: I dunno, the K3S audio actually isn't much better to my ears. Yes, it's a little better on my K3S compared to my K3, but still kind of shrill and fatiguing to listen to for long periods of time. Do you listen on the internal speaker or on

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Of Bert Craig Sent: Monday, March 21, 2016 11:17 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net; lstavenhagen Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade? Soundly seconded! I love the amazingly quiet noise floor and the K2's ability to dig out the weak signals. It's a very pleasant rig to listen

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Well I don't want to complain _real_ loud either lol. The audio on the K3S really is better. But only slightly - not better enough to spend money on an upgrade for the K3, imo, which is kind of what I was responding to. Basically, save the money for filters, etc A good set of hi-fi headphones

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

gt; > Vy 73 de Bert  > WA2SI  > > Sent from my android device. > > -Original Message- > From: lstavenhagen <lstavenha...@hotmail.com> > To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net > Sent: Mon, 21 Mar 2016 10:55 > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

ecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Mon, 21 Mar 2016 10:55 Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade? I dunno, the K3S audio actually isn't much better to my ears. Yes, it's a little better on my K3S compared to my K3, but still kind of shrill and fatiguing to listen to for long periods of time. I'm no

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

I dunno, the K3S audio actually isn't much better to my ears. Yes, it's a little better on my K3S compared to my K3, but still kind of shrill and fatiguing to listen to for long periods of time. I'm not sure it'd be worth spending a ton of money on to upgrade if there was an upgrade path. Don't

Re: [Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Good question. It’s the DSP board from the K3S (the performance difference being the audio). Maybe a supply issue, still (?). Grant NQ5T K3 #2091, KX3 #8342 > On Mar 19, 2016, at 7:23 PM, Guy Olinger K2AV wrote: > > Haven't heard about this for a while. Supposed to be

[Elecraft] K3S audio board for K3 upgrade?

Haven't heard about this for a while. Supposed to be cleaner audio and higher power audio output. Any word? 73, Guy K2AV __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: