YES! Dave and Joe have given you excellent advice. Thanks to the flexibility of the K3's audio setup and EQ, almost any decent mic that isn't broken can easily be made to sound great. In general, if it's an electret mic, follow my instructions for the CM500 for both wiring and setup, then get signal reports and tweak as needed. If it's a dynamic mic, leave out the bias resistor.
It's best to buy where you can try it on if possible -- headphone comfort is a big part of your satisfaction. Sennheiser is a very good brand, and widely distributed, but I've never seen a low cost Sennheiser boom mic headset. I've never liked Koss (and I've owned several pairs over the years), but I've seen good reports recently on a Koss that's similar to the CM500. About six years ago, I bought a half dozen different Plantronics computer headsets at a hamfest that were a sales sample kit. I think I paid $20 for all six. I made the needed cable adapters to use them with my ham rigs. Every one of them sounded great, but only a few comfortable enough to use for very long. The main message here is that the Heil stuff is wildly over-rated, over-advertised, and over-priced, and there's no good reason to spend what it costs to buy it when you can get things that sound and feel as good or better for a third the price. 73, Jim Brown K9YC On 11/18/2010 12:00 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote: > > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826193029 > > That item is actually showing at $6.99 today (with $4.99 domestic > shipping). > > If one is looking for an equivalent to the CM-500, this one: > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826263020 > even looks like the CM-500 for about 2/3 the B&H Photo price. > > I also see other "name brand" Koss and Senheiser headsets for > less than $50 that are known for decent comfort/performance > while some of the "off brand" stuff looks like "plain box" > versions of the name product. > > 73, > > ... Joe, W4TV > > > On 11/18/2010 1:30 PM, Dave Hachadorian wrote: >> Rather than jumping through fiery hoops to get a CM500, I suggest >> you try a local computer store, and find a comfortable >> computer-type headset. These devices all use electret >> microphones, and the K3 equalizer can make any of them sound >> great. >> >> For example, this one for $12 sounds great, but is not quite as >> comfortable as the CM500: >> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826193029 >> >> ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
