BCD396XT external speaker issues

[al95]

Hi
I have the BCD396XT and a BC15 speaker. When at home the radio sounds great and loud. When I connect the speaker I have to turn the volume from 3 all the way to 15 and still have a hard time hearing it. Is there a solution to this.

 

[joeuser]

Hi
I have the BCD396XT and a BC15 speaker. When at home the radio sounds great and loud. When I connect the speaker I have to turn the volume from 3 all the way to 15 and still have a hard time hearing it. Is there a solution to this.

I recall something about the headphone jack being throttled so we don't blow our ear drums out but that was on the Uniden HP-1, might be the issue though...

 

[al95]

So will I need to buy one of those powered speaker.

 

[joeuser]

Possibly, I'd wait for someone smarter than I to confirm this first.

 

[al95]

Ok
Thanks for your fast response

 

[joeuser]

Ok
Thanks for your fast response

You bet!

 

[lep]

What is the problem?

I have the 396 and the 23A speaker. What is the problem? They work fine together as far as I can tell.

 

[joeuser]

Read the OP, then you will know what the problem is.

 

[W8RMH]

I have found on the BCD396XT volume greatly improves when I program every channel with the "Volume Offset" set to +3. I don't know if this also helps on the external speakers, I have never used one with it, but you may want to give it a try, you may not even need the speaker.

 

[al95]

When at home I do not the speaker. I only use the speaker in the car or truck. I will give it try. I will add +3 offset.
Thanks

 

[W6KRU]

Does the bc15 speaker have a mono or a stereo plug? The 396xt has a stereo jack and a mono plug will short out half of the audio circuit.

 

[al95]

It has the stereo plug. The speaker I'm using is a uniden bearcat bc15.

 

[teufler]

Speakers I use, on the 396xt, are a set of old computer speakers, that are power by ac. They were $10.00 at a computer recyclining house. Usually run with a setting of 4 or 5, very loud. Very full sound. But you have to use am amplified speaker, or in my case two speakers. They are Cambridge Soundworks speakers. They came with the jack that fits the external speaker jask on the scanner.

 

[UPMan]

You cannot drive a speaker with headphone-level output. This is true of all devices, not just scanners. For handheld scanners, which have only headphone-level output, you must use an amplified speaker such as the Uniden BC23A. The BC15 will likely provide worse audio than simply using the internal speaker.

 

[al95]

Thanks to everyone that answered my concern. Upman you hit it on th nail the external bc15 sounds worse then the internal speaker. The internal speaker set to 4-5 is enough to hear it all around the house. If I connect the external speaker I need to set the level to 12-15 and just barely hear it in the car or truck.
BC23A is my next buy in a few months.

 

[joeuser]

Thanks to everyone that answered my concern. Upman you hit it on th nail the external bc15 sounds worse then the internal speaker. The internal speaker set to 4-5 is enough to hear it all around the house. If I connect the external speaker I need to set the level to 12-15 and just barely hear it in the car or truck.
BC23A is my next buy in a few months.

Glad you got it sorted

 

[RadioDaze]

Does the bc15 speaker have a mono or a stereo plug? The 396xt has a stereo jack and a mono plug will short out half of the audio circuit.

FYI, for those using a speaker having a MONO plug, such as a non-Uniden speaker, this type of adapter is the solution:
3.5mm Stereo Male to 3.5mm Mono Female Adapter
I had a volume problem with an amplified speaker, since it had a mono plug. This adapter solves the shorting issue. Now it's loud as can be.

 

[wtp]

go to FM

you could use one of those little FM radio transmitters and put it through the stereo, just get one with a stereo plug.

 

[scanman1958]

The 396 does not have a speaker out connection. It only has an earphone connection. You will never get the volume needed to drive an unamplified speaker. You will need some kind of amplified speaker to use for the 396xt.

 

[XTS3000]

Does the bc15 speaker have a mono or a stereo plug? The 396xt has a stereo jack and a mono plug will short out half of the audio circuit.

The newer Uniden scanners made for the past 10-15 years all use the same AF amp for the internal speaker and headphone jack. This AF amp is kinda special because it's designed to have either left or right channel shorted out to the AF ground (NOT DC ground!).

When one channel is shorted to the AF ground, it routes the shorted channels' power to the non shorted channel. So if you plug in stereo headphones, you get 50% out of each channel. If you plug in mono earpiece, you get 100% out of the single channel.

A side effect of this AF amp circuit is you can NOT terminate the speakers ground wire to a DC ground (like the chassis of the car). This will destroy the scanners AF amp by doing this. The owners manual clearly states this. I had wondered years ago why can't we hook the speaker's ground wire to the cars chassis DC ground. Well a quick read on the AF amp clearly describes why.