Best external speaker options?

[phillydjdan]

I need a really good external speaker or amp for my PSR-800. I am looking for either a speaker with an amp built in, or a small amp I can connect to an old Motorola non-amplified speaker. Please suggest a good quality and LOUD solution for me, thanks!

[mmckenna]

Really hard to beat the Motorola external speakers.

[mass-man]

Mobile or home use? I don't have a PSR-800 but does it have a line out? If so any old home stereo amp would be great in the shack...you might have one in the basement or see one for sale cheap!

[phillydjdan]

Thank you mmckenna, for that completely useless post.

massman, it is for in the car. The audio is not nearly as loud as I need it to be, so I am looking for a way to resolve the issue. Like I said, I have an old Motorola speaker, which is a great speaker, but the audio driver on the scanner is not powerful enough to give me the volume I need. I was thinking about connecting a small amplifier to that speaker, but I am looking to see if anyone else has done this and what kind of amplifier they used. If not, suggestions for the best amplified speaker would be appreciated. I'm seeing mixed reviews on the Workman and Radio Shack amplified speakers.

[mass-man]

Workman...NO Radio Shack...maybe! It took me going thru three to find one that worked. One was just not loud enuf...another just whined like crazy, the third, just fine! Motorola did make an amplified version that is outstanding! Not sure if a local hamfest up there is coming up or not. Ebay, Eham, or QTH.com are good places to look. If you are into building, Wellman, Ramsey, make a small 12vdc amplfiier about the size of a pack of cigs, that you could use!!!!

Here's an interesting little device, but at $60 would hope they have a generous return policy...

http://boostaroo.com/store/12-Volt-R...o-R234-MC.html

[mmckenna]

Originally Posted by phillydjdan

Thank you mmckenna, for that completely useless post.

It certainly wasn't intended as a useless post. If you do a search on e-bay for Motorola amplified external speaker, you can pick them up for $40 bucks or so:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=...at=0&_from=R40

I've used a number of these in high noise environments, and they work really well. On the flip side, my dad has tried the low buck units from HRO and they have really awful sounding speakers and a design that is not anywhere near as nice.

I have a bunch of the non-amplified speakers sitting in a box in the shop, just can't bear to throw them out. If I had any of the amplified ones to spare, I'd be happy to give it to you for the price of shipping.

[DickH]

Originally Posted by mmckenna

It certainly wasn't intended as a useless post. If you do a search on e-bay for Motorola amplified external speaker, you can pick them up for $40 bucks or so:
motorola amplified external speaker | eBay

I've used a number of these in high noise environments, and they work really well. On the flip side, my dad has tried the low buck units from HRO and they have really awful sounding speakers and a design that is not anywhere near as nice.

I have a bunch of the non-amplified speakers sitting in a box in the shop, just can't bear to throw them out. If I had any of the amplified ones to spare, I'd be happy to give it to you for the price of shipping.

I also have several running on my scanners. Another point is they are designed specifically for the type of audio we listen to and there are thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of them out in the field right now, blasting away.

[wa8pyr]

Originally Posted by phillydjdan

Thank you mmckenna, for that completely useless post.

massman, it is for in the car. The audio is not nearly as loud as I need it to be, so I am looking for a way to resolve the issue. Like I said, I have an old Motorola speaker, which is a great speaker, but the audio driver on the scanner is not powerful enough to give me the volume I need. I was thinking about connecting a small amplifier to that speaker, but I am looking to see if anyone else has done this and what kind of amplifier they used. If not, suggestions for the best amplified speaker would be appreciated. I'm seeing mixed reviews on the Workman and Radio Shack amplified speakers.

If you're adept with a soldering iron, check out Velleman kits. They have small mono audio amp kits in 3 watt and 7 watt varieties. I've built a couple of the 3 watt varieties and found them quite easy to build as well as useful little experimenter amps. You could build one of those and mount it into your Motorola speaker case. Presto, amplified speaker...