Posted: 5/14/2010 3:09:23 PM EDT
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Quick question for you IC-7000 guys.
I bought an IC-7000 and I'm at Dayton looking for an external speaker to use with it in my truck. How many watts of speaker will the 7000 support? I have scoured the manual for the info but it doesn't say. From the manual I see the factory external speakers are only 5 watt... I can get a 20 watt Uniden speaker (8 ohm w/10 ft. Cord and 3.5mm jack) for only twenty bucks... Can the 7000 drive a twenty watt speaker, or would it only put 5 watts into it? Thanks for any help! Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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This isn't car stereo.
Most ham gear uses a small low power chip for the audio, about 2 - 3 watts. It does not matter what the speaker is rated, the audio output is only what it is, about 2-3 watts at most. Also, speaker power ratings are very subjective and for the most part bull$#!+. Bigger is not always better. A speaker with some natural low end roll off (200-250 hz) will actually be easier to understand in the noisy car environment. Low bass is not desirable. Likewise, a natural high end roll off can also make it easier to understand if the roll off is such that it does not reproduce noise in the 5k-8k range, but does have good treble up to about 3.0 - 3.5 khz range. The range from 1.5k - 3.0k is critical for good definition of consonants, making syllables distinct, not muffled. The requirement is not 20 hz - 20,000 hz, like hi fidelity stereo gear. The requirement is clarity in the range of the human voice, particularly speech. The best reason for an external speaker for ham gear in car audio is to aim the sound at the driver. The position of the built in speaker may, like my truck and the way my Yaesu FT-2800 is mounted, fire into the seat, not at me. I have a small speaker, similar to (and looks to be identical) the Icom SP-22, firing upwards. The clarity is outstanding. 
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OK, I mostly understand that. So the 20 watt Uniden won't actually get driven at 20 watts. They also have smaller ones even cheaper (one is 5 watt). Because the Unidens are meant for voice (Bearcat logo with "paw print" in the screen) I'm guessing they'd be OK.
I was hoping for something LOUD.LOL. I'd like to be able to crank it up for monitoring when I'm outside (but semi-near) the truck working or whatever. I see a lot of surplus Motorola speakers up here. I don't know what model, but they're the square ones that we have in most .gov vehicles and they are loud as hell. I'm guessing maybe they are self amplifying or something? If so, could I buy one of those and wire the audio and a 12 volt feed to run it? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Yes, if you find an amplifed speaker, but most of the ones I've seen were only amps to about 3-4 watts.
Why not run a line from the 1/8" speaker output on the back of your ham rig to the 1/8" input of your car stereo (if you have one). Turn the volume of the ham rig all the way down. Turn up the volume control of the car stereo to where you normally set it for CD's, FM, etc. Then turn up the volume on the ham rig to a matching level. If you hear any trace of distortion, turn the ham rig's volume down, and the car stereo's volume up. |
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I don't think my truck ('07 F350) has an external audio input for the stereo. I wish it did though. Thanks anyway though. I'll keep asking around at Dayton tomorrow. Maybe I'll be able to find something that will work that won't cost a bunch (in true Arfcom fashion I've already spent way too much!). :) Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/speakers/1129.html and Radio Shack made an amplified speaker...don't know if the make them any moreor not. Have fun at Dayton!! |
| I'm a big fan of those Motorola EMS/police speakers that are on ebay. Some of them are amplified, but I generaly bypass the internal amp and wire them straight to the radio. They are VERY loud anyway. And, they are tough as hell and don't look to bad. They are a bit large though. Make sure if you buy one to get one that has the mount, as a lot of them on ebay don't. |
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Most of these speakers probably won't list this is a stat on the box, but if it does, you're looking for something that has a high efficiency or sensitivity.
For example: 1 watt into a 100dB speaker is the same volume as 10 watts into a 90dB speaker is the same volume as 100 watts into an 80dB speaker, and so on. The higher the sensitivity, the louder it will be given a fixed output wattage. |
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Quoted:
I'm a big fan of those Motorola EMS/police speakers that are on ebay. Some of them are amplified, but I generaly bypass the internal amp and wire them straight to the radio. They are VERY loud anyway. And, they are tough as hell and don't look to bad. They are a bit large though. Make sure if you buy one to get one that has the mount, as a lot of them on ebay don't. Problem solved! I asked around about the Motorola speakers and got mostly shrugs, I found out one of our local area hams who was there had some buried in the bottom of his junk box... He reached in, fished around, and cut me loose a dark grey one (with bracket) for free! :D I thought the M speakers had more than two wires, but I was wrong. I was dying to see if it'd work so I bought a junky $5.99 speaker with the right 3.5mm plug on it and cut the plug and put it on the M speaker. I plugged it in and "hey presto" it works like a champ! Loud as hell just like I wanted. :D Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Quoted:
Most of these speakers probably won't list this is a stat on the box, but if it does, you're looking for something that has a high efficiency or sensitivity. For example: 1 watt into a 100dB speaker is the same volume as 10 watts into a 90dB speaker is the same volume as 100 watts into an 80dB speaker, and so on. The higher the sensitivity, the louder it will be given a fixed output wattage. That might explain it. Either Icom puts more watts out of the external speaker jack on the backside of the radio, or M has a more sensitive speaker. I don't know which, but the external "M" speaker is definitely louder than the stock one in the radio body. Woot! Problem solved perfectly for a total $5.99! :D. Now I'll tell the wife how much I saved while maybe not so much mentioning the SG-230, the Astron VS50, the AN/URM-120, etc., etc., etc.... ;D. EEK! Dayton is a dangerous place to walk around!!! Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |