Internal speaker issues

[WillB]

Picked up a used 536 and it arrived in the mail today. Box came undamaged and and the seller packaged it well. Previous owner had it hooked up to an external speaker in his vehicle. I am just using it on my end table. With the volume nob maxed out, I can only hear the sound if im standing with in a foot or 2 of the scanner. Compare this to my 996P2 which I have set at 9 and am 10 to 15 feet away and can hear just fine.

If I plug headphones into the front jack the sound in the head phones isn't horrible but still seems lacking. I would think at full volume I wouldn't be Ble to wear the headphones, which isn't the case.

I dont have an external speaker to hook into the back to try and honestly I'd rather not have to have that. So what are my options on things to try to fix this? Send it into Uniden?

 

[JoeBearcat]

Try plugging in and unplugging those earphones a few times. The internal jumper in the earphone jack that disconnects the internal speaker may not be making sufficient contact.

Being able to use earphones at a level that is too loud would be very bad.

An external speaker test would be valuable intel.

 

[jonwienke]

If a plug has been inserted into the external speaker jack for years, there is likely dust or corrosion on the contacts that switch off the internal speaker when the external speaker is plugged in. If so, an external speaker will still work fine, and plugging and unplugging a cable into the external speaker jack a few times might knock it loose and resolve the issue.

 

[kb3isq]

How about using a contact cleaner spray?

 

[Ubbe]

I can only hear the sound if im standing with in a foot or 2 of the scanner.

How is the audio quality with volume at max? The amplifier should bottom out terrible and sound awful with a lot of distorsion. If not, then the volume to the amplifier are reduced somewhere, and might also explain why the earphone jack are low in volume. Then it has to be repaired.

Use the headphone plug in the speaker out jack and listen to the volume and audio quality. If it sounds good with plenty of volume then exercise the jack by reinserting the plug several times while listening to the speaker, with squelch open to get some noise, to hear if the speaker volume changes.

/Ubbe

 

[jonwienke]

How about using a contact cleaner spray?

Using that in concert with exercising the jack will improve your odds of success.

 

[KK4JUG]

Using that in concert with exercising the jack will improve your odds of success.

Over the years, I've used that on everything from mini plugs (3.5mm) to ¼" audio plugs to Speakon audio plugs to XLR plugs. It probably works about half the time and that's great.

 

[WillB]

When hooked up to some cheap computer speakers I have plenty of sound

 

[Ubbe]

When hooked up to some cheap computer speakers I have plenty of sound

Are those amplified speakers with a high ohm impedance connection that do not load the speaker jack?

/Ubbe

 

[WillB]

Are those amplified speakers with a high ohm impedance connection that do not load the speaker jack?

/Ubbe

I'll be honest, I dont know. They are 10 dollar Walmart computer speakers that get their power through a USB to 110 adapter.

 

[JoeBearcat]

Using that in concert with exercising the jack will improve your odds of success.

Just use spray with the unit OFF (and maybe even unplugged from power) to play it safe.

 

[Ubbe]

I'll be honest, I dont know. They are 10 dollar Walmart computer speakers that get their power through a USB to 110 adapter.

Then they are high omh, something like 1000-5000 ohm that do not care much if the speaker jack have some oxidation and get high resistance. A 8 ohm speaker will require a much better connection and would more easily be affected.

/Ubbe