Speaker blown on 396 xt ?

[DannB]

It works pretty good but i can say its not as loud as the one that uniden put in, i usually had my radio on volume 10 and now with the headphone speaker in i have to put it on a 12 setting to hear it ok, but what other option do we have ya know ? im not waiting until november for uniden to get the part in that i think they should already have for sale but they dont ? im not too happy about that part with them, but i guess thats there way of making money by charging everyone the $60.00 to replace the speaker so what can we do ya know ? i just dont think its right to not have it available to the public but they can charge to put it in, and for the $500.00 i paid for the radio i think the speaker should have been a little better than what there using too!

It is aval. to the public they are stating they are back ordered .the part is listed in there parts list that anyone can order from...here is the link below to order it ,if it was in stock

Uniden Online Store - Accessory Detail



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[al95]

It works pretty good but i can say its not as loud as the one that uniden put in, i usually had my radio on volume 10 and now with the headphone speaker in i have to put it on a 12 setting to hear it ok, but what other option do we have ya know ? im not waiting until november for uniden to get the part in that i think they should already have for sale but they dont ? im not too happy about that part with them, but i guess thats there way of making money by charging everyone the $60.00 to replace the speaker so what can we do ya know ? i just dont think its right to not have it available to the public but they can charge to put it in, and for the $500.00 i paid for the radio i think the speaker should have been a little better than what there using too!

Uniden always have backorder status in most of there parts. Speaker, belt clip etc...

 

[Danny6569]

Speaker

Thats what i mean how can anyone ever get anything if everythings back ordered ? i called uniden one time to get a case from them for my 396 xt and that was on back order too, and i still dont think it came in and that was a year ago, dont get me wrong here i love unidens radios im just saying the company needs to get some supplies in, i dont think everyone should be waiting for months to get something they need right away, all the other companies like scanner master and etc... carry different acessories all the time i just dont see why uniden cant be stocked up on stuff ? and its kinda hard to find certain parts at other companies so we have to wait on uniden anyway, its just getting to be too long of a wait anymore!

 

[cowand]

FYI, I ordered my 396XT speaker on January 13, 2011. I'm still waiting here as well. I called about one month after ordering, and they stated that the speaker was coming from overseas, that it was on back-order and that it would probably be in sometime in April. All this after sending the scanner back to the depot two times for main board replacements (under warranty). I can't believe that this is taking this long.

I have searched quite a bit for the correct speaker replacement, with no luck. If anyone can find one that works, I'd love to know about it. I'm replacing mine myself.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Danny6569]

FYI, I ordered my 396XT speaker on January 13, 2011. I'm still waiting here as well. I called about one month after ordering, and they stated that the speaker was coming from overseas, that it was on back-order and that it would probably be in sometime in April. All this after sending the scanner back to the depot two times for main board replacements (under warranty). I can't believe that this is taking this long.

I have searched quite a bit for the correct speaker replacement, with no luck. If anyone can find one that works, I'd love to know about it. I'm replacing mine myself.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Mine is still working ok the one i got out of the headphones, not as loud as the original speaker but what choice do we have ?

 

[cowand]

None if we're waiting on Uniden. I couldn't find a speaker on the site listed in this thread.

 

[RickS31]

Being an EE and Tech with a lot of years of experience, I can say that this speaker will definitely be fairly hard to find as a replacement. 24 ohms is a relatively difficult value mini-speaker to find. Most are 8 ohms. If one of you guys that have pulled one could take an accurate diameter measurement of it, we can keep our eyes open for hopefully an inexpensive replacement.

I know I'm an RS/GRE user but I try to help all where I can. Unfortunately, any lower an impedance speaker than the 24 ohms will result in somewhat a lower volume output and indeed may overload the output stage of the unit. Hard to say without seeing the circuit. Anyway, that missing piece of data from one of you (size in either mm or accurate inches) makes it even more difficult to replace.

As to crap coming in through the front grill of the 396, a small circular piece of speaker grill cloth (available from an old speaker box or many suppliers) would stop that issue. Would not interfere with the sound at all. Most decent speakers have a paper voice coil cap glued over the magnet area as a permanent part of the speaker cone to prevent any entry of foreign debris into this critical speaker area.

Anyway le us know and we'll continue to try and help find a replacement.

 

[dgoodnough]

Is there room inside to add a small resister to an 8ohm speaker? Might be easier to find the right size and just add the resistor. Would solve the waiting for a replacement.

 

[RickS31]

Is there room inside to add a small resister to an 8ohm speaker? Might be easier to find the right size and just add the resistor. Would solve the waiting for a replacement.

The only problem with putting a resistor in series with the 8 ohm speaker to match the 24 ohms of the OEM speaker is that roughly 2/3 of the speaker drive voltage would be across the resistor. That would equate to about 1/3 the volume from the 8 ohm replacement speaker. It would protect the output circuit from possible overload but you better be listening to it in a very quiet area.

 

[Danny6569]

Speaker

The only problem with putting a resistor in series with the 8 ohm speaker to match the 24 ohms of the OEM speaker is that roughly 2/3 of the speaker drive voltage would be across the resistor. That would equate to about 1/3 the volume from the 8 ohm replacement speaker. It would protect the output circuit from possible overload but you better be listening to it in a very quiet area.

What would happen if the circuit did get overloaded rick ?

 

[CoolCat]

What would happen if the circuit did get overloaded rick ?

Your scanner would become a very expensive paperweight.

 

[RickS31]

What would happen if the circuit did get overloaded rick ?

As Coolcat said, it could become a very expensive paperweight. Wihout getting too technical, basically the audio output stage is designed to deliver only so much current to the voice coil of the speaker for maximum volume. With a 24 ohm speaker and assuming about .3 watts for full output sound, audio current output would be about 110 ma peak. Taking that same circuit designed for a 24 ohm speaker and slapping an 8 ohm speaker into it nearly doubles the amount of current output to close to 200 ma.

Depending on the design and how much safety margin is built in, the 8 ohm substitution could exceed the maximums of the solid state audio output device and it only takes a few milliseconds and zap, no more device. There's a lot more to this in reality but this gives you the gist.

 

[Danny6569]

Speaker

Ok so let me ask you this rick, say i just took the speaker back out the one i put in their and leave it out until uniden finally gets them in, and i just use for now a amplified speaker set i have to plug into the top jack would that hurt anything ? ive already used it before i put the headphone speaker in the radio, its a small pair of speakers meant for stuff like mp 3 players and etc... and i also have a scanner speaker from radio shack too im sure you probly seen it before its a square speaker an amplified one that gets real loud and works good, would using these sets in the jack on top hurt anything for now ?

 

[RickS31]

You could probably leave it alone for now. Don't know what the impedance (resistance) was of the one you put in but as long as you don't get carried with the scanner volume, it probably won't hurt anything. By plugging your amplified speaker into the top jack (headphone jack) you'll disconnect the internal speaker anyway. It's (amp'ed speaker) impedance is much higher and would be fine. You can hold off till you get the Uniden replacement. You don't want to pull these things apart too often. May really break something.

 

[Danny6569]

Speaker

I went ahead and took it out before you reposted, i was kinda worried about ruining the radio so its out,everything went good while doing it, im just gonna use the amplified speakers for now until uniden decides to sell everyone the speakers, thanks for you help, i kinda figured the speaker i put in their wouldnt be good for the radio but i didnt think it would ruin the whole radio so its gone, im just not so happy with uniden for not having these speakers availiable for the public right now but if you send the radio in to them they will fix it for $60.00 ? so they do have the speakers but i guess there just trying to make money off everyone!

 

[Danny6569]

Speaker

One thing i forgot to tell you rick is that i had to have the radio on at least volume 13 to hear it pretty good so i think its good that speaker is out!

 

[Danny6569]

Speaker

Ok after some 2 hours of searching online today i found the original speaker in this website for sale, but just like uniden it is for pre order right now so far so im not sure when its coming in stock, maybe they will get it in stock quicker ? if anyone wants to try, BSPG0590001 Uniden Scanner, Parts, Speaker,

 

[nanZor]

One option might be to get a Uniden / RS Pro-137 race scanner and use the speaker out of that. it is a rebadged uniden with the same 346/396 casing for the most part.

RS used to sell it - blue and silver case "Race 1000", but anyone with a 346/396 will recognize it immediately. It actually makes a great low-buck analog scanner for us Uniden fans. I won't go into it deeply, but no pl, no milair etc.

Not sure what the speaker specifications are, so beware. Might be something to look into while you are waiting for the back-ordered speaker to come in. When it does, you'll have a nice little analog backup.

 

[kb8rvp]

Friend of mind has a blown speaker in his BCD396XT and ordered a speaker back about 5 months ago and after calling Uniden and spending 30 min on the phone and getting passed around to different departments they found his order and said they should be shipping his speaker in June. I never turn my volume past 9 and have had no issues and use headphones when is loud places or walking outside and use an amplified speaker in the car.

Mike

 

[Danny6569]

Speaker

Well i see uniden never got the speakers in yet! i would like to carry my radio around sometime this decade!