Yesterday I bought at R&L Electronics (not endorsing them, just happen to live in the area) and bought two extension speakers to use in my car:
MFJ-383 amplified speaker with volume control
MFJ Enterprises Inc.
President CB-1000 (though the box says Pyramid brand) passive speaker (can't find a website)
Both speakers have mono 3.5mm plugs for easy use with nearly any type of scanner, CB, HT or mobile. The MFJ speaker has a cigarette lighter plug for power (5 watts). On that note, we'll start with the MFJ.
I'm using it with an ICOM V-80 handheld I use as a railband scanner, which on its own has a pretty loud speaker, but not loud enough for highway speeds. Is the MFJ speaker loud? Yes. Can I audibly hear what I'm receiving? Yes. But above a certain threshold the audio echos within the speaker so it can get muffled. I don't know if it's cheap electronics or what but it is kind of annoying. And the speaker is kind of tinny.
Now for the Pyramid/President one. It was quite inexpensive. I think R&L price is only like $8. It claims 25 watts which is a lot for a passive speaker (at least in my experience). It's pretty large in size (which I like), but when I picked it up it was pretty light -- it "has a lot of air in it" as I like to say. However when I plugged it in it produced more robust audio than the MFJ but not as loud as the amplified speaker (obviously), if that makes sense. I'm sure it would blow off your doors if you were using it with a mobile, but with a handheld in a vehicle it just doesn't cut it.
I'm not sure if I'll keep the MFJ speaker. It does okay, and the volume control is redundant in my opinion. I think there are better amplified extension speakers that I don't have to put together myself to use with a scaner (I'm talking about those Moto ones).I was pleasantly surprised by the Pyramid one considering the price.
Thanks for reading!
MFJ-383 amplified speaker with volume control
MFJ Enterprises Inc.
President CB-1000 (though the box says Pyramid brand) passive speaker (can't find a website)
Both speakers have mono 3.5mm plugs for easy use with nearly any type of scanner, CB, HT or mobile. The MFJ speaker has a cigarette lighter plug for power (5 watts). On that note, we'll start with the MFJ.
I'm using it with an ICOM V-80 handheld I use as a railband scanner, which on its own has a pretty loud speaker, but not loud enough for highway speeds. Is the MFJ speaker loud? Yes. Can I audibly hear what I'm receiving? Yes. But above a certain threshold the audio echos within the speaker so it can get muffled. I don't know if it's cheap electronics or what but it is kind of annoying. And the speaker is kind of tinny.
Now for the Pyramid/President one. It was quite inexpensive. I think R&L price is only like $8. It claims 25 watts which is a lot for a passive speaker (at least in my experience). It's pretty large in size (which I like), but when I picked it up it was pretty light -- it "has a lot of air in it" as I like to say. However when I plugged it in it produced more robust audio than the MFJ but not as loud as the amplified speaker (obviously), if that makes sense. I'm sure it would blow off your doors if you were using it with a mobile, but with a handheld in a vehicle it just doesn't cut it.
I'm not sure if I'll keep the MFJ speaker. It does okay, and the volume control is redundant in my opinion. I think there are better amplified extension speakers that I don't have to put together myself to use with a scaner (I'm talking about those Moto ones).I was pleasantly surprised by the Pyramid one considering the price.
Thanks for reading!
