> In doing the above mods to the SB40 you end up with a VERY comfortable
> headset with a great sounding mic element. I just could not get the
> stock SB40 element to sound good. The HC5 rocks.
The alternative is to use one of the Radio Shack electret elements in
the SB-40 mic housing. The electret elements are essentially the same
as the one in the CM-500 with performance similar to the new HC-6 -
broader than the HC 5. With HC-5, HC-6 or an electret element one
will still want to use the K3 TS EQ to roll off audio below 200 Hz
and add 3 to 6 dB per octave of pre-emphasis above 800 Hz.
73,
... Joe, W4TV
On 3/25/2012 3:11 PM, Gary K9GS wrote:
> Final post on my quest for the ultimate headset for my K3.
>
> First, a TON of thanks to Lu, W4LT. His step-by-step for replacing the
> mic housing on the SB40 with the housing from a Heil BM10 was first rate!
>
> Here's what I ended up doing.
>
> I replaced the microphone housing on the SB40 with a microphone housing
> from a broken Heil BM10. Heil still sells the housings and windscreens.
>
> In place of the crappy SB40 dynamic mic element I replaced it with a
> Heil HC5 that a friend had. It's a pity that Heil no longer sells the
> HC4 and HC5 elements separately. Ask around though...you'll find
> someone that has one laying around.
>
> In doing the above mods to the SB40 you end up with a VERY comfortable
> headset with a great sounding mic element. I just could not get the
> stock SB40 element to sound good. The HC5 rocks.
>
> By the way, I don't own a Yamaha CM500 but others have said it is
> identical to the SB40 except for the CM500 has an electret element and
> requires bias.
>
>
>
> On 3/17/2012 11:50 AM, Lu Romero wrote:
>> Gary:
>>
>> I own both a Koss SB40 and two Yamaha CM500'ds.
>>
>> The Koss and the Yamaha are exactly identical, save for one
>> thing... The microphone capsule.
>>
>> The Koss SB40 has a dynamic capsule while the Yamaha CM500
>> has a electret condenser capsule. Other than that, the
>> headsets are exactly identical in every detail except for
>> the name. Probably made in the same Chinese jobber.
>>
>> But here is where the simialarity ends: The Yamaha
>> electrect capsule is flat and can be made to sound really
>> great on the K3. The Koss dynamic capsule is all bass, very
>> mushy, and has low output. Even engaging the K3 equalizers
>> and tweaking a lot, I could not make my SB40 sound very good
>> at all. The capsule just sounds ugly.
>>
>> The fix for this is to remove the two screws that hold the
>> capsule on the SB40's boom and remove the offending
>> microphone that looks surprisingly like a cheap Chinese
>> dynamic earphone (its actually the same exact size as a IPod
>> headset element and looks identical!) and replace it. In my
>> case, I had an old Heil BM-5 with a bad earpiece but a
>> perfectly good DX4 capsule. I removed the plastic mic
>> holder from the rigid Heil boom, and with a slight widening
>> of the boom inlet with a Dremel tool, it fits right on to
>> the SB40 boom! Solder up the existing wires from the Koss
>> mic and you have a wonderfully comfortable headset with a
>> very flexible boom that, in my case, works great on my
>> secondary Kenwood TS570 rig.
>>
>> Of course, YMMV, but it works for me here!
>>
>> Lu - W4LT
>> Using the "AL/K-Line": K3/P3/ALS600/MFJ998
>> Al Kaline: 1960's Detroit Tigers Slugger
>>
>> ---------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 20
>> Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2012 22:33:06 -0500
>> From: Gary K9GS<garyk...@wi.rr.com>
>> Subject: [Elecraft] Koss Headsets for the K3 (Was: Re:
>> Yamaha CM500
>> Headset)www
>> To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
>> Message-ID:<4f62b472.6020...@wi.rr.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>>
>> An update:
>>
>> I stopped by the Koss Factory Store today. I looked at the
>> SB49 first.
>> (The SB45 is identical to the SB49 but without the volume
>> control in the
>> cord). I didn't really like the way the SB49 fit. It's a
>> very
>> subjective thing but comfort was what I was looking for.
>> The other
>> thing I didn't like was the flexible boom for the microphone
>> was very
>> "whippy". It was almost like a wet noodle. Not good.....
>>
>> Next I looked at the SB40. The fit was great and very
>> comfortable for
>> the 5 minutes I wore it. The mic boom was stiffer too. The
>> SB40 has a
>> dynamic mic element. I ended up buying the SB40. The price
>> was $39.00
>> plus sales tax.
>>
>> I was all set to buy a Yamaha CM500 but I really wanted to
>> see how they
>> fit first. I looked at a couple places and couldn't find a
>> local store
>> that had the CM500. For this reason I look at Koss. The
>> other thing
>> Koss has going for it is the limited lifetime warranty.
>> Being that I
>> live near the factory this is a big advantage. Second is
>> that I've
>> owned other Koss products and have always been very happy
>> with them.
>>
>> As I said I've never used the Yamaha CM500 but the Koss SB40
>> looks very
>> similar.
>>
>> I'm also kind of a headphone junkie. With the K3 I figure
>> that most
>> modern headsets have much more performance (frequency
>> response, etc)
>> than one needs for communication. So they are all pretty
>> much up to the
>> task. Same for the microphone. With the TX and RX Eq
>> features of the
>> K3 I decided to concentrate on fit and comfort. I think
>> that juist
>> about any headset and microphone can be made to sound good.
>>
>> I haven't used the SB40's yet but will report back once I've
>> played with
>> them a bit. Here's the link to the Koss website:
>>
>> http://www.koss.com/en/products/headphones/communication_headsets
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
