• You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
  • Click here to find out how to win free radios from Retevis!

EXSTENAL SPEAKER'S

Sonar

Sr. Member
Apr 8, 2016
1,501
1,018
173
I always assumed that the speakers in older radios were sufficient. That's definitely not the case.
After replacing the uniden Madison's bookend president speaker with $12 exstenal one I realized that just because it looks nice and came with the rig doesn't mean it sounds good.
I then purchased the Cobra hg s500.
It sounds excellent.
I decided to try the $12 speaker with my sonar fs 2340. Once again the exstenal speaker blows away the sonars original built-in one. I don't own anything new so I can't talk about the sound that comes from a modern radios speaker but if you own something as old as a Madison or sonar you should consider an exstenal speaker. If I'd known how much better a $29 or even a $12 exstenal speaker would've sounded I would have purchased them long ago. 73
 
  • Like
Reactions: rabbiporkchop

I use a JBL two-way speaker (has woofer, tweeter, and crossover), and it will 'blow the doors off' of any speaker that is supposed to be used for radio. A fuller range speaker system like that seems to make less hash and more clear, natural, full sounding receive - IMO . . .
 
Last edited:
I use an external speaker in my truck. It's a cheap little thing, and it doesn't do bass tones very well, but I find it useful to be able to relocate the sound. The internal speaker, of course, points towards my dashboard, and the radio is in the center of the dash. My external speaker, however, is ziptied to the top of my driverside grab bar, and looks right at me.

Come to think of it, I actually do have another speaker, that's a bit larger, that I've been meaning to try out. I've also considered a decent pair of smaller computer speakers, with volume and tone adjustments. I just don't know where I would put them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sonar
I use a JBL two-way speaker (has woofer, tweeter, and crossover), and it will blow the doors off of any speaker that is supposed to be used for radio. A fuller range speaker system like that seems to make less hash and more clear, full sounding receive - IMO . . .
Space is a premium at my qth. It certainly would be nice to be able to use something like the speakers you use but the difference between what I was using and the exstenals are night and day. I hear stations I couldn't hear with the original ones. Much quieter. Much Less background hiss from the exstenals. Of course the west mountain DSP I once owned was incredible but these are doing the job and better than i imagined or expected. 73
 
I use a Cobra hg500 external speaker in my pickup and my house and they are great. Very good sound quality, plenty loud. In my semi i use a midland 21-404 and it is small enough to mount just about anywhere and has plenty of volume even with all the noise from the truck. A few years ago, when my boys went with me during the summer I'd hook up the external speaker to the p.a. jack to wake them up with my echo and nonsense. Those speakers can get really loud. I'm not sure if my kids appreciated it though. Haha
 
You'll be surprised what you hear if you use some cans(headphones)
I don't really like the feel of headphones but out of curiosity next time I'm on the air I'm going to give my $20 Dragon's a try. They sound excellent on my smartphone. 73
 
Hi,
Not sure where you're going, but for just an external speaker, I use this one.

Mounted it facing me under the dash and it is markedly better than the radios and cuts through road noise well!
 

Attachments

  • bc23ag_xlarge__61067.1420828470.1280.1280.jpg
    bc23ag_xlarge__61067.1420828470.1280.1280.jpg
    94.8 KB · Views: 9
  • Like
Reactions: Sonar
I just got a cobra hg s300, and it sounds about the same as the Taiwan 148gtl internal speaker. Only difference is it's pointed at me so it is less muffled. Overall, not the improvement I was looking for.
 
I haven't seen where y'all are taking about tyhe Ohm of the speakers. Does it matter what Ohm it is. I have seen 8, 12, and 16 Ohm????
 
For home I use the RCA 40-5000 2 way book shelf speakers that RadioShack used to sell. The Optimus brand PRO-X33AV is the same. These are compact and shielded so they can be used near computers. You can still find these on Ebay for usually less than $30 for a pair.

1327.jpeg

For mobile, nothing beats the Westmountain radio Clearspeech with DSP. This is amplified with plenty of LOUD audio for noisy environments like my Semi-truck. Sound quality is not HI-FI, but it is real clear and loud.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: rabbiporkchop

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • dxBot:
    Greg T has left the room.
  • @ BJ radionut:
    EVAN/Crawdad :love: ...runna pile-up on 6m SSB(y) W4AXW in the air
    +1
  • @ Crawdad:
    One of the few times my tiny station gets heard on 6m!:D
  • @ Galanary:
    anyone out here familiar with the Icom IC-7300 mods