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Re: [TenTec] Ear Phone Audio

To: k9yc@arrl.net, Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Ear Phone Audio
From: "Robert P. Santella" <bobw2pnj@optimum.net>
Reply-to: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2016 07:48:39 -0400
List-post: <tentec@contesting.com">mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
Thanks, Jim.

Sent from my iPad

> On Aug 24, 2016, at 1:32 PM, Jim Brown <k9yc@audiosystemsgroup.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Wed,8/24/2016 10:08 AM, Robert P. Santella wrote:
>> Impedance needs to be 30 ohms.
> 
> NO! Headphone impedance is NOT critical. Audio power amplifiers are VERY 
> different from RF power amplifiers. Virtually all audio amplifiers are low 
> impedance sources, and are designed to drive any impedance greater than a 
> design minimum. For example, the source impedance of a loudspeaker output 
> stage is a small fraction of an ohm, and is designed to drive any loudspeaker 
> load greater than 4 ohms. The relationship between these two impedances is 
> called the "damping factor," and 100 is a typical value. A well-designed 
> headphone amp will include a low-value resistor in series to protect the 
> amplifier from being shorted when headphones are being plugged and unplugged.
> 
> Most modern headphones are in the range of 20 - 300 ohms, and a well-designed 
> headphone amp should drive all of them just fine. What matters a lot more is 
> voltage sensitivity, and headphone mfrs generally get that right too. Many 
> years ago, I carried around a set of crystal headphones in my toolkit when I 
> worked on troubleshooting audio systems in buildings. They were sensitive 
> enough that I could hear (weakly) the signal of an unamplified microphone, 
> yet the impedance was high enough that they didn't load most circuits!
> 
> 73, Jim K9YC
> 
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