What was the MSRP of the Grove SP-200? When were they available on the market?
External Speakers, what is everyone using?
- Thread starter iMONITOR
- Start date
- Status
TailGator911
Silent Key/KF4ANC
Not sure when it was first manufactured, but the retail price was stiff at the time, about $200.
I posted this a couple of months back,
My son changed the OEM speakers out of his 2001 Ranger for higher wattage ones. The speakers sat on a desk in my shop for years and I saw them one day right after I had got my technicians license. Looking at them I saw they were 25 Watt, 4 Ohm speakers, roughly 6"x 9" oval. Hmmm, I said to myself, since the audio output of my 2 meter was less than five watts, I hooked them up and tried one. It sounded very good and the loudness for my aged muffled, ringing ears was great. I told a good ham friend that was more into electronics than I am.
He said the speakers should be OK as long as I didn't exceed 12.5 Watts. None of my radios put out more than 6 watts, so its OK there.
That was 4 years ago, and I have since have put both speakers in a plastic box I got from Hammond Mfg. and placed them on a shelf over my FT-2900 and FT-991A. Excellent sound!
I made the mistake of taking one to field day about a year and a half ago and hooking it to an IC-7300. Three hams there offered me a substantial amount for it. I didn't need the money so I turned them down, but, I did tell them how to make one and where to source the parts.
My son changed the OEM speakers out of his 2001 Ranger for higher wattage ones. The speakers sat on a desk in my shop for years and I saw them one day right after I had got my technicians license. Looking at them I saw they were 25 Watt, 4 Ohm speakers, roughly 6"x 9" oval. Hmmm, I said to myself, since the audio output of my 2 meter was less than five watts, I hooked them up and tried one. It sounded very good and the loudness for my aged muffled, ringing ears was great. I told a good ham friend that was more into electronics than I am.
He said the speakers should be OK as long as I didn't exceed 12.5 Watts. None of my radios put out more than 6 watts, so its OK there.
That was 4 years ago, and I have since have put both speakers in a plastic box I got from Hammond Mfg. and placed them on a shelf over my FT-2900 and FT-991A. Excellent sound!
I made the mistake of taking one to field day about a year and a half ago and hooking it to an IC-7300. Three hams there offered me a substantial amount for it. I didn't need the money so I turned them down, but, I did tell them how to make one and where to source the parts.
Ubbe
Member
Did he mention what would happen if you put 13 watts to that speaker?
It's music power, a very short burst of audio, and a sinus wave tone would have to be at a much lower wattage without going into distorsion. The stamped wattage isn't that important, even if you have a 100 watt amplifier. Adjust the volume control so that you do not get distorted audio. That goes for any kind of speaker and audio amplifier and you are within the limits of what the audio system can produce without getting overloaded that potentially could harm it./Ubbe
Here's a tip for an IC-7300: take a small wedge from a styrofoam cup and place it above the speaker with the cut out facing the front. It's amazing how much better the audio is!
Here's a tip for an IC-7300: take a small wedge from a styrofoam cup and place it above the speaker with the cut out facing the front. It's amazing how much better the audio is!
I guess ICOM couldn't afford the stytofoam! Or a couple of sponges.
Here's another vote for the old Minimus 7 speakers from the late Radio Shack stores.
I have a pair that have to be close to 40 years old and they still sound great. One is connected to a scanner, the other to a 2M/70CM radio.
They were in several vehicles over the years, and then sat in the garage for a long time. When I returned to radio I hooked them up. The paint is worn, but they still work just fine.
I have a pair that have to be close to 40 years old and they still sound great. One is connected to a scanner, the other to a 2M/70CM radio.
They were in several vehicles over the years, and then sat in the garage for a long time. When I returned to radio I hooked them up. The paint is worn, but they still work just fine.
The Motorola HSN4031/4032 ( I just looked up the current model number) equivalent has been around for a long time. They're plentiful on the used market and I use them for my VHF/UHF FM transceivers. For HF, I built my own with a 5" full range speaker and a piezo horn tweeter to add a bit of clarity.
bucks83
I Remember DOS
OontZ Angle 3 Bluetooth Portable Speaker, $30 on Amazon.
Ancable 2-Pack 3.5mm 1/8 TS Male Mini Plug to Male Mini Plug Monaural Mono Audio Cable 3ft $9 on Amazon.
Use USB to charge. Doubles as blue tooth speaker for music from Amazon eho.
BUILT-IN Microphone for personal handsfree speakerphone calls from a smartphone, 10 watt amp built in.
Works great for me.
Ancable 2-Pack 3.5mm 1/8 TS Male Mini Plug to Male Mini Plug Monaural Mono Audio Cable 3ft $9 on Amazon.
Use USB to charge. Doubles as blue tooth speaker for music from Amazon eho.
BUILT-IN Microphone for personal handsfree speakerphone calls from a smartphone, 10 watt amp built in.
Works great for me.
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2008
- Messages
- 474
JBL Control 1 Pro speakers. Once you hear them, you'll never go back.
I first learned about these speakers when Bob Heil did an in depth review in one of his podcasts. Figured if Bob Heil made the choice, they must be pretty good, and of course he was right.
I first learned about these speakers when Bob Heil did an in depth review in one of his podcasts. Figured if Bob Heil made the choice, they must be pretty good, and of course he was right.
That's exactly what I was looking for! Not too pricey either for two either. The only problem I no longer need one for the Kenwood TS-590SG, I returned it. I quickly found out that I would need a much later antenna than I can have under the HOA to be able to receive decent MW/SW.
But I might pick up a set of those speakers and listen to music on the internet instead.
Thanks everyone for your input!
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2008
- Messages
- 474
If you do that, throw in a Topping VX1 amplifier. You won't believe how good internet music will sound with this combination.
I just might get that!
wfiedelman
Member
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2008
- Messages
- 28
I recently acquired a Kenwood TK-880, 450-490 MHz (receive only, no mic) to monitor public service bands indoors on a desktop. The internal speaker (4 watts, 4 Ohms) is excellent -- almost crystal clear. But I decided to use an external speaker because the sound from the internal speaker was unavoidably directed away from me. I tested three external speakers: 1) Uniden BC7 (7 watts, 8 Ohms, $16 on Amazon), 2) RoadPro RPSP-15 (5 watts, 8 Ohms, $14 on Amazon), and 3) ICOM SP-35 (5 watts, 4 Ohms, $48 on Amazon). All have a 3.5mm mono plug on an approximately 6' cord, and all are provided with an adjustable bracket. The Uniden is the smallest, followed by the ICOM and then the RoadPro. I found the audio from the Uniden not to be as clear as the other two and don't use it. The audio from the RPSP and the ICOM essentially is identical. I can't discern any difference switching back and forth between speakers. If size is not an issue, I'd give the nod to the RoadPro only because it's much less expensive than the ICOM, although both are well made and appear to be of high quality. However, I admit that I use the ICOM because I prefer it's smaller size and appearance, and it has the same impedance as the Kenwood TK-880. I use an external volume control (Volbox inline audio volume control attenuator 3.5mm 1/8" aux mini, available on Amazon) to adjust the audio level because the up-down volume control of the Kenwood is difficult to adjust on the fly 
(see photos).
(see photos).I do the same thing. Seems like Motorola speaker are everywhere, and cheap/durable.
I use these speakers, which I have found under different names, and various vendors. They are decent for FM voice use, and not too expensive.
JTSP-10 JETSTREAM JTSP10 EXTERNAL SPEAKER
JETSTREAM JTSP10, JTSP-10, EXTERNAL SPEAKER
store2.rlham.com
I've tried those too. In my experience they're hit or miss. Some sound okay other are "tinny" and buzz like crazy. Maybe I just got in the middle of a bad batch.
Since this thread, I went to a local ham fest and score a pair of Minimus 7 speakers, like new, for $30.
They're in much better shape than my close to 40 year old speakers, which show their age but still sound great.
They're in much better shape than my close to 40 year old speakers, which show their age but still sound great.
wfiedelman
Member
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2008
- Messages
- 28
Follow-up to my July 14th post: After more back-and-forth switching between the RoadPro RPSP-15 and the ICOM SP-35, the RPSP provides very slightly clearer audio. At less than one-third the price of the ICOM, it's a best buy. As others have noted, however, the RPSP seems to be manufactured by different companies and my experience may be different from yours.
mitaux8030
Silent Key
The prices being asked for matching speakers by The Big Three manufacturers is, for what you get, frankly insulting. No way is a run-of-the-mill speaker, an enclosure and perhaps some simple switchable filtering caps worth the asking price tag. It puts those matching external speakers into becoming a bit of a status symbol.
No, a better and more cost effective solution is a surplus home hi-fi speaker from a second hand ("thrift" I believe you call it in the USA) shop. Often you see 'orphan' single speakers there, missing it's other paired brother. They can be bought for as little as a few bucks, and if you choose the right one, sound magnificent. Don't go for the plastic case or compressed chip board timber types, the older solid timber case is a sign of better quality overall. Go for a speaker with 8 inches minimum diameter, place it on the floor and it will sound wonderful - far better than any manufacturers matching speaker. Rich, warm, room filling audio quality.
For mobile use, a surplus speaker from the two way radio manufacturers like Moto, Harris, Tait etc are good choices.
No, a better and more cost effective solution is a surplus home hi-fi speaker from a second hand ("thrift" I believe you call it in the USA) shop. Often you see 'orphan' single speakers there, missing it's other paired brother. They can be bought for as little as a few bucks, and if you choose the right one, sound magnificent. Don't go for the plastic case or compressed chip board timber types, the older solid timber case is a sign of better quality overall. Go for a speaker with 8 inches minimum diameter, place it on the floor and it will sound wonderful - far better than any manufacturers matching speaker. Rich, warm, room filling audio quality.
For mobile use, a surplus speaker from the two way radio manufacturers like Moto, Harris, Tait etc are good choices.
- Status