Best Audio in a dash-mount marine radio

[BIODTL1997]

Hey kids. I live outside of NYC and have a west marine/uniden VHF680 that I use to monitor NY harbor, Long Island, jersey shore, etc. I don't dig the audio. Sounds like. Handheld, very tinny. Looking for suggestions of a decent, even basic marine VHF with a fuller bodied, bassier output.

Thanks for any tips in advance!


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[bharvey2]

Are you actually using the radio in a marine environment? there are plenty of external speakers available. Here is just one of many: Motorola HSN4019B 5W External Speaker - Speakers & Amplifiers - Accessories - Radioparts.com They've been around for years. You could probably find a cheap one second hand.

 

[mmckenna]

Yeah, I agree. The small speakers on those radios really do them a disservice. Adding a larger external speaker will probably help quite a bit.

Avoid the small/cheap speakers like you'll find for CB radios. You really do want the larger cone speakers. The Motorola speaker that bharvey2 linked to above are really great performers and they are available used for cheap or even free if you know who to ask.

The accessory cable for that radio has an external speaker output on it. it's the blue wire and the brown wire. Don't confuse that with the loud hailer connection, that's a different thing.

Adding the Motorola speaker should really improve things. I use those speaker on a number of mobile installations and they've always been good performers.

 

[BIODTL1997]

Thanks guys. I'm very familiar with external speakers - I have a box of them taking up way too much closet space lol) I actually have a pretty serious console with several radios; moto CDMs, XTLs and a couple uniden scanners. I'm trying to save precious real estate by installing a marine radio with a built-in speaker. (The motorola CDMs and GM300s have a fantastic internal speaker, for instance)

I realize I can program my VHF CDM with the Marine frequencies, but I would rather have a stand-alone marine radio for that purpose, and my CDM1250 has limited capacity + a scan list cap of only 16 channels.

I do appreciate the responses but I'm reaching out hoping there is a marine radio already out there with a motorola-quality internal speaker.

Thanks and happy Friday!