K2 Headphone Recommendations

[Kevin Shaw]

All,

 

I need to order a set of headphones. They'll be used on my K2 for CW
primarily. A set with a boom mic may be more useful long term. I did some
searching and a ran across a review by someone with a K2 and he was negative
on using 8 ohm headphones with his K2 (but he wasn't real specific on why).
Specifications say 4 to 32 ohms is OK.

 

Any recommendations?

 

Thanks,

 

Kevin

N8IQ/4

 

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[Geoffrey Mackenzie-Kennedy-2]

Kevin,
I took the plunge and bought the Heil Pro-Set Plus headphones / boom mic
(HC4 HC5 elements switchable) some time back, and have been very pleased.
The headphones are very comfortable indeed, and no bent /sore ears-head
after wearing them for hours at a time e.g.dabbling in a CW or SSB contest.
Being able to 'reverse headphone phasing'  (little switch on right hand
earphone)
is useful in that it helps reduce fatigue during a long session, and at
times helps when digging out a signal surrounded by QRM.  Another bonus for
me is that I get full SSB output using the boom mic without having to add a
mic preamp to the K2, or shout! As yet I have not used the HC4 "DX element"
in anger since the HC5 appears to get through pile-ups well enough.

The usual disclaimer, just a very satisfied customer.

73,
Geoff
GM4ESD

Kevin Shaw wrote on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 4:10 PM

> I need to order a set of headphones. They'll be used on my K2 for CW
> primarily. A set with a boom mic may be more useful long term. I did some
> searching and a ran across a review by someone with a K2 and he was
> negative
> on using 8 ohm headphones with his K2 (but he wasn't real specific on
> why).
> Specifications say 4 to 32 ohms is OK.
>
>
>
> Any recommendations?

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[Mark J. Schreiner]

Geoffrey,

Your comments pretty well mimic mine I made privately to Kevin as well.  However, I found that I had to increase the mic gain on the K2 slightly by changing R14 on the SSB module to 10K (from 1k originally) and now my K2 works great with my Heil headset.  Did yours work as is without the mod?  I've suggested this mod to others as well and they found that it works well for them as well.  I can't take credit for the mod itself as I found it here on the reflector quite some time ago, I just passed along what worked for me.  

73,

Mark, NK8Q
K2 4786



>From: Geoffrey Mackenzie-Kennedy <[hidden email]>
>Date: Tue Dec 20 12:18:55 CST 2005
>To: Kevin Shaw <[hidden email]>
>Cc: Elecraft Discussion List <[hidden email]>
>Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K2 Headphone Recommendations

>Kevin,
>I took the plunge and bought the Heil Pro-Set Plus headphones / boom mic
>(HC4 HC5 elements switchable)
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[Geoffrey Mackenzie-Kennedy-2]

Evening Mark,

Yes my K2/100 #3255 delivers as is without any mods, but it is good to know
about R14 in case something gets "tired", thanks. When there was the
discussion about the effect of inductive resistors on the KPA100's gain, I
dug into mine. Although its power output on CW and SSB was comfortably
within spec on all bands, I was a little concerned about the possibility of
unacceptable intermod products. Fortunately the frequency of minimum gain
fell outside of our bands, and the six inductive resistors within the PA's
feedback networks appeared to be the main culprits.

73,

Geoff
GM4ESD



Mark, NK8Q wrote on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 7:35 PM

> Your comments pretty well mimic mine I made privately to Kevin as well.
> However, I found that I had to increase the mic gain on the K2 slightly by
> changing R14 on the SSB module to 10K (from 1k originally) and now my K2
> works great with my Heil headset.  Did yours work as is without the mod?
> I've suggested this mod to others as well and they found that it works
> well for them as well.  I can't take credit for the mod itself as I found
> it here on the reflector quite some time ago, I just passed along what
> worked for me.



_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[Sverre Holm-2]

> -----Original Message-----
>
> > I need to order a set of headphones. They'll be used on my K2 for CW
> > primarily.

Apart from comfort in wearing, and how desirable it is that the headphones
supress external noise, the sensitivity is the main issue with the K2.

The K2 has relatively low output so look for the sensitivity given in dB
SPL/mw, i.e. db Sound Pressure Level when driven with 1 mW of electrical
power. SPL is defined as dB relative to 20 uPa of sound pressure.

I now use a pair with 106 dB SPL/mW, but used a pair which were probably in
the low 90's previously. They were not sensitive enough. I would look for a
pair with better than something like 100 dB SPL/mW sensitivity for the K2.



73

Sverre
LA3ZA
http://www.qslnet.de/la3za/
 



_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com