so ive been on SSB for about two years now and i keep getting comments that my audio sounds like im underwater or there's too much low end. Running an IC-7300 into a Heil PR-40 which should honestly be more than enough to sound decent but something isnt clicking. I set the mic gain where the ALC is just barely moving on peaks like everyone says to do, compression is at about 4 on the internal compressor, and i went through the parametric EQ and rolled off below 200hz thinking that would help with the boominess.

Still getting the same feedback from guys on the other end. One guy last week said i sounded like i was talking through a pillow. Tried a different mic cable too so thats probably not it. Not sure if its my room (spare bedroom, pretty dead acoustically, carpet and stuff) or if im missing something in the radio settings. Anyone run a similar setup and had to fight with it?

the IC-7300 parametric EQ can be a bit tricky to dial in for SSB voice. couple things id check — first, whats your TX bandwidth set to? if its on the wider setting (like 2.4khz or wider) and you have a lot of low mid energy it can really mud up the signal. try bumping it down to the medium setting and see if that cleans things up.

also 200hz rolloff might not be enough, especially with a mic like the PR-40 which has a fairly pronounced low end proximity effect if youre getting close to it at all. i'd try a high pass somewhere around 300-350hz for SSB, sounds counterintuitive but voice intelligibility on HF really lives in the 500hz-2.5khz range more or less. the low stuff just eats up your power and muddies the waterfall. the compressor at 4 is probably fine, some guys go lower even. also make sure your TX monitor is on so you can actually hear what youre putting out, that alone changed how i approached my audio settings.

yeah what he said about the bandwidth setting is spot on. i wasted like three weeks thinking it was my mic when it was literally just the TX filter setting burried in the menus. the 7300 defaults i think are not great for voice out of the box.

one other thing — how far from the mic are you? the PR-40 is a pretty sensitive large diaphragm mic and if youre sitting a normal conversational distance away you might actually be picking up a lot of room ambiance and indirect sound that a smaller mic wouldnt. most guys running that mic for radio are like 6 to 8 inches away tops and speaking fairly directly at it. also if youre in a padded quiet room that can actually sometimes make things sound weird and unnatural, the radio doesn't always love that super flat response, a little bit of room can help. anyway probably start with the filter settings first thats the most likely culprit