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...:)


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