2 external speakers on pro 197

Status
Not open for further replies.

fireman3214

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Oct 13, 2012
Messages
18
Location
Everett, PA
I just bought a pro 197 and I want to hook up 2 radioshack external speakers to it, they are both identical speakers 8 ohms each, would it hurt to splice the speaker wire together and hook into the external speaker jack and run one speaker beside the scanner and the other one in a different room of the house?
 

Project25_MASTR

Millennial Graying OBT Guy
Joined
Jun 16, 2013
Messages
4,164
Location
Texas
You're gonna turn it into a 4 ohm load. It should be fine but ideally you'd want two 16 ohm speakers in parallel or two 8 ohm speakers in series on two parallel legs (4 speakers in total unless you could find 8 ohm resistors to take the place of a speaker on each end).

Sent from my ME173X using Tapatalk
 

KB4SHP

Member
Feed Provider
Joined
Mar 16, 2004
Messages
126
I run 2 speakers on my pro 197 how ever I didn't cut the wires I just went and bought a 3.5 mm splitter and works great
 

RDGDigital

Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2012
Messages
376
Location
MD - Eastern Shore
Doesn't the Pro 197 have two speaker jacks? One in the front and one in the back? I don't know if that will work for you or not since I've never tried to plug an external speaker into my Pro 197.
 

QDP2012

Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2012
Messages
1,921
Last edited:

QDP2012

Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2012
Messages
1,921
Doesn't the Pro 197 have two speaker jacks? One in the front and one in the back? I don't know if that will work for you or not since I've never tried to plug an external speaker into my Pro 197.

From a quick glance at the manual, the front headphone jack will interrupt the on-board speaker. I'm not sure about whether the rear jack does also or not.

The manual specifically states that external speaker should be connected to the rear jack, not the front.

Hope this helps,
 

jfhtm350

Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2010
Messages
1,107
Location
New Market TN
Yes pluggin in an external speaker in the rear does stop the onboard speaker from working.

W5PKY gave you solid advice. Have a look here if you dont know what he is talking about:
Wiring Diagrams | Eminence Speaker
That is a page for subwoofers but the same still holds true.

More resistance = less power being pulled through the sound circuit in the scanner and probably a lower volume at each speaker compared to having just one.
Less resistance = more power being pulled through the sound circuit in the scanner and possibly burning up something. It may be able to handle a 4ohm load or it may not.

If you dont know how to add up the ohms by looking at the diagram, then all you have to do is wire it up or use the splitter and check the mono tip going into the scanner with a multimeter. That will tell you exactly what you have. Chances are it wont be exactly 8.00 ohms, 4.00 ohms or 16.00 ohms but it will be a fraction off. That is normal.

My advice is to go get a pair of amplified computer speakers from Kmart or Walmart, a mono to stereo adapter, and some extra wire. Plug the speaker plug into the adapter and the adapter into the scanner. Splice X amount of feet of wire between the two speakers so now you have one speaker (the one with the power button and ac adapter) where your scanner is and the other will reach to your other room. I use computer speakers on all of my scanners in the house and I never have to worry about not being able to hear it.
 
Last edited:

wtp

Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
Messages
5,916
Location
Port Charlotte FL
or

my girlfriend boughtt a bluetooth dongle for the radio
and then she gets to use the bluetooth sound bar and/or the little avio sound box around the house
just another option.
 
Last edited:

KB4SHP

Member
Feed Provider
Joined
Mar 16, 2004
Messages
126
I want to say from the Shack or even may be dollar tree I looked on it but don't see a name
 

jfhtm350

Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2010
Messages
1,107
Location
New Market TN
If I wired the 2 speakers I have up in series, making 16 ohms would that be ok ?

Yes but like I said above you are going to loose some volume. It may be loud enough to suit you. There is not alot of power coming out of the external jack to begin with. Personally I dont believe I would do it like that.

Read series and parallel towards the bottom of the page.
speakercabs - Blues Online
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top