External Speakers for Scanners

[jhodal]

Have a BC796D and use it stricly in the house (no mobile). And although I like the scanner, the placement of the speaker on the bottom doesn't lend to good sound (in my humble opinion).

I've been looking at some various external speakers with high and low filters in them that are used with HF tranceivers to match their stations. One in particular has caught my eye - the Kenwood SP-940 (or) SP-950. I know these puppies are expensive (even on eBay) and wondering if anyone has used these in with their scanners. And if anyone has any recommendations on non-mobile speakers.

I want to lay the radio flat on a shelf (without the legs propped up) and that is going to kill the sound, thus the external speaker. Tks for your opinions/help.


John

 

[Herm]

I use the MFJ Clear Tone Speaker Model MFJ-281. It is cheaply priced and the sound is good.
Herman

 

[baybum]

Save your money. Buy an inexpensive set of computer speakers. They work great.
In fact, I use one in my truck and power it from the battery.
Nice and loud.

Mike

 

[Archie]

REPLY

Try Ebay for a used Motorola speaker. And those old, square metal ones are far superior to the newer speakers. Has worked quite well on my BC785 and they are pratically giving them away for almost nothing. Yes, the shipping costs more than the item itself, but this one is worth it.

Happy Holidays.

Col. Von Ryan

 

[N_Jay]

Re: REPLY

Try Ebay for a used Motorola speaker. And those old, square metal ones are far superior to the newer speakers. Has worked quite well on my BC785 and they are pratically giving them away for almost nothing. Yes, the shipping costs more than the item itself, but this one is worth it.

Happy Holidays.

Col. Von Ryan

The heavy plastic cased Micor, Mitrek, Syntor, etc. speakers are also VERY good. Since they are newer they are likely to be in better shape.

There were some versions with amplifiers in side. These are nice but a pain to get working since they were designed to be controled by the radio (Power and volume).

 

[jhodal]

Speakers

Wow, sounds like everyone is putting their money to better use than speakers. Never thought of the computer speakers. And the Motorola ones I'm sure can be had on eBay for a lot less than the cost of one of the HF station Speakers.

Thanks for everyone's input. That's why I love this place! :lol: Now, here's a question, WHY the heck are those Kenwood, Icom, etc speakers so expensive? I know some of them have DSP components inside, filters,etc. but some I've looked at listed no filters, just the speaker and the case and they were still $80. Is there acoustics in the speaker, or is it the fact that if you bought a Kenwood HF or an Icom transceiver, you can afford another hundred bucks for a matching speaker. Thanks again!

John

 

[N_Jay]

Re: Speakers

. . . or is it the fact that if you bought a Kenwood HF or an Icom transceiver, you can afford another hundred bucks for a matching speaker.

Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner!!!

 

[jhodal]

Guess what?

After reading all of your posts, I was digging around in the closet looking for some cables and ran across an old set of Advent speakers from a computer I had. The plug on it was for stereo, so I cut it off and soldered on a new mono one and guess what. Sounds good enough for me and I can lay the scanner flat. Thanks again to all of you for your input!


John

 

[K5MAR]

John, should have kept the stereo plug and used a stereo/mono adapter. That way, if you get a second radio you might want to use the speakers with, you could use a Y-cable that splits the input to two mono plugs, one speaker for each radio.

Mark S.

 

[jhodal]

John, should have kept the stereo plug and used a stereo/mono adapter. That way, if you get a second radio you might want to use the speakers with, you could use a Y-cable that splits the input to two mono plugs, one speaker for each radio.

Mark S.

Story of my life, cut now, solder later. LOL. A second radio? Hell, I can't hardly figure this one out :lol:

 

[jhodal]

Re: Speakers

. . . or is it the fact that if you bought a Kenwood HF or an Icom transceiver, you can afford another hundred bucks for a matching speaker.

Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner!!!

:lol: That's my keen grasp for the obvious coming out....

 

[K5MAR]

A second radio? Hell, I can't hardly figure this one out :lol:

It's too late, John! You've been infected with the scanning virus! Pretty soon you'll have several scanners, busily monitoring the airwaves. You have been assimilated!

Mark S.

 

[jhodal]

A second radio? Hell, I can't hardly figure this one out :lol:

It's too late, John! You've been infected with the scanning virus! Pretty soon you'll have several scanners, busily monitoring the airwaves. You have been assimilated!

Mark S.

Yep Mark, I have - AGAIN. Back in the 80's/90's I had myself a real "shack" going. The outside of the house looked like a missle defense command base with the antenna farm, Icom R71, Icom R7000, a few Radio Shaft scanners, Packet decoders, and a lot of other "necessities". LOL. Wait, as I remember, it all started with a SCANNER - OH NO, not again. LOL.