|
New to Ham Radio?
My Profile
Community
Articles
Forums
News
Reviews
Friends Remembered
Speak Out
Strays
Survey Question
Operating
Contesting
DX Cluster Spots
Propagation
Resources
Calendar
Classifieds
Ham Exams
Ham Links
List Archives
News Articles
Product Reviews
QSL Managers
Site Info
eHam Help (FAQ)
Support the site
The eHam Team
Advertising Info
Vision Statement
About eHam.net
|
| Reviews Summary for Sounds Sweet Communications Speaker |
|
Reviews: 111
|
Average rating: 4.7/5
|
MSRP: $160 USD
|
|
Description: Speaker designed for use with amateur and two-way radio, shortwave and scanner listening.
|
|
More info: http://www.soundssweet.com
|
|
Email Subscription
You are not subscribed to this review.
Subscribe!
My Subscriptions
Subscriptions Help
|
You can
write your own review of the Sounds Sweet Communications Speaker.
|
W2BLC
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Aug 2, 2009 06:23
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Best speaker I have used
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
I have been using this speaker since late 2006. Rigs change - but this speaker is a keeper.
I have tried all kinds of speakers and even built some over the past 45 years of hamming. Some have been good, some really good, and some worthless. But, this speaker is the best.
The sound reproduction is full and warm. Best of all, the white noise (hiss) is greatly reduced. The speaker is completely passive in design - no controls or switches - and does its job well. It is large, heavy, and some say it is expensive.
By the way, those book-shelf sterio speakers reproduce too full a range to suit me - they allow hiss and white noise to get through.
|
|
TF2JB
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Apr 24, 2009 08:34
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Sounds Sweet; still recommended!
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
I reviewed this speaker on January 26, 2008 when I had only had the Sounds Sweet for a relatively short period of time. I have now had it for 15 months and have not changed my mind and stand by all comments made at that time.
On the other hand, now that I have extended the bandwidth of one of my fixed filter positions for SSB in the IC-756PROIII to a 3.6 kHz (its maximum) I find that I now experience some signals to have too much bass. As a matter of fact some signals can be so uncomfortable that I quickly revert to my usual 2.4 kHz bandwidth.
I would estimate that this low frequency in audio reproduction is though experienced only with approx. 20% of SSB signals when the bandwidth is extended above 2.8 kHz. I have never experienced any discomfort with received signals at the 2.4 kHz bandwidth.
My guess is that possibly some of the criticism raised by a few previous reviewers on the excessive bass might be a reason of the bandwidth used and could possibly be dependent on the make and type of transceiver/receiver.
As a final thought, it is my experience that the positioning of a communications speaker is also very important. As you can see if you type in my call sign on QRZ.Com, the Sounds Sweet is positioned directly above the transceiver in the approx. height as my head. I have tried to position it elsewhere, but I always go back to the current position.
73 de TF2JB.
|
|
KT0DD
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Mar 28, 2009 05:32
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
I love mine !
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
|
I run 2 soundsweet speakers with my Ten Tec Orion II, and I couldn't be more pleased. I've noticed no real trouble copying a wide range of signals, and they are EFFICIENT! My biggest complaint of radio manufacturers these days is their lack of audio output! Most CB radios run more clean audio output than most mobile HF rigs. I get nice loud clean audio out of mine for listening in the other room when I'm away from the radio. I just wish they would make a mirror speaker like home stereo speakers, as the current identical speakers look somewhat goofy standing side by side. I'm keeping mine!
|
|
KE4WY
|
Rating: 3/5
|
Mar 27, 2009 23:44
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Just OK
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
|
Just OK. I have & have used speakers I like better than this large box.
|
|
K3DAV
|
Rating: 2/5
|
Mar 27, 2009 19:23
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
A BIG Disappointment
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
I just got the $178.(w/S+H) Sounds Sweet speaker today. I connected it up to my Icom 706MKIIG. I made this purchased based on the eham reviews. You guys are usually right on the money with your opinions of products. But not this time.
Before I continue, let it be known that while I may be 54 years old, my hearing was checked back in August, and I have excellent hearing from 30Hz to 19,000Hz. Also I realize that many factors may produce different results from a speaker or microphone. Room accoustics, proximity of the speaker to the listener, and most of all, the radio itself. Some manufacturers emphasize bass, and some the high tones. So as the old saying goes, "Your milage may vary". With that in mind, let's continue with the review.
First I listened to a couple of guys on 2M FM simplex. It was OK but lacked the natural high tones normally found with FM.
Then I listened to some music and talking from AM short wave stations, and local AM radio broadcast stations. It was very flat sounding. Very little bass and no highs at all.
Then I gave it the ultimate test for any serious ham operator. SSB! I found a few different QSO's to test with. Some of them were brassy sounding, and 2 of them had nice wide fidelity SSB audio.
With the Sounds Sweet speaker, they all lacked clarity in the higher tones. I couldn't tell the difference between the call sign letters "F", "X" and "S", or a "D" from a "B" or "P" or "T".... well you get the picture.
While one ham with wider SSB audio was in a long key-down, I quickly switched back to my Radio Shack bookshelf stereo speaker, (RS Cat# 40-5001) with a cast metal case, a 17oz. 4" long throw woofer, and a 1" dome tweeter. All of the sudden, I could hear the clean natural bass and highs in his audio. The wide SSB sound came to life. I could hear the call sign letters again.
With that last test, I put the Sounds Sweet speaker back in the box, and it's going back for a refund. The sad part is, it cost me $18 to ship it to me, and another $18 to send it back. That's $36. to be disappointed. Don't waste your hard earned money on this one. I learned the hard way.
I can not imagine how anyone can think this speaker is that great. It's like any other normal speaker with all the highs removed. Well here's the scoop guys. Sometimes we need to put up with a little hiss to distinguish a "T" from a "P", "B", "D", "G", "C", "E", "V".................
|
|
N7BBX
|
Rating: 1/5
|
Mar 26, 2009 14:18
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Not so sweet
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
I purchased one of these monsters a couple of years ago based on the ratings on this web site. After collapsing the end of my mobile home due to excessive weight I immediately sold it. I found a "bass" speaker at my local Good Will store for $2.00 on Senior Day that is better sounding all the way around than the the Sweetie. Granted it does not match any of my equipment but a speaker is to be heard and not for show anyway.
|
|
KG6TT
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Mar 26, 2009 13:32
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
5 years of great listening...
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
It is interesting to read eHam reviews. I must remind myself and I guess I am reminding those reading this and other reviews that what hams like myself and others express is, in most cases, REALLY subjective, especially concerning devices designed to interface their varied hobby electronics with their person (speaker, headphones, mic, key/paddle, etc.) While one ham says the Soundsweet has too much bass... another too little...one says great clarity... another too little... on and on. How can one product be so inconsistent? Simple, can you think of any part of a typical ham's station that would be more subjective to the individual than the speaker or headphones that couple the sound energy to their ear? Add to that thought the increasing age of today's Amateur Radio operators and how aging effects our hearing and that that aging process is never exactly the same.
I too read the reviews here on eHam very carefully before I bought my Soundsweet. What I was looking for was a speaker that did NOT boom out extra bass (I really don't like listening to sound that wasn't intended to be there - ESSB... Aaauuurrrggghhh! hihi)... I certainly didn't want a lot of output response in the high end either (for the same reason). When I made the decision to purchase my Soundsweet I never planed on using it for FM but rather for CW, SSB, and general Shortwave listening.... and mostly under less than ideal listening conditions. And I feel that for me the Soundsweet has lived up to my expectations with a Rating of 5! For armchair style listening (and FM) I use a collection of Radio Shack Minimus 11 and 7 speakers but that is a topic for a different review. If I were to only have one speaker in the shack it would be the Soundsweet... and it is on a speaker switch that conveniently unites it with six HF transceivers.
Interestingly, my experience with the SoundSweet has not changed over the past four years. And while a lot of other equipment has come and gone the Soundsweet remains.
My listening experience regarding the pros and cons of the Soundsweet has to be as subjective as that of hams and I recognize that. For me the Soundsweet worked out great, although I do have to admit that physical positioning of this speaker is very important. I think the tendency with such a large speaker whould be to put it somewhere more or less out of the way. I've done that too, however, from my repeated experience, if that at-a-distance positioning doesn't place me, the listener, pretty much in the center focus of the speaker then it will sound less defined and noticeably more mussy. At least it does to me (there is that subjective thing again). I find that the speaker's good sound focus to be no more than perhaps 40 degrees off center axis at most with 20 degrees or less being optimum. I can live with that as that is how I get the sound I want.... 'sweet sound'.
Last point, I am not alone in this subjective 'positive' experience. Besides other eHam reviews, I have a number of local ham friends who upon repeatedly visiting my station point out that my station has a clarity and ease of listen-ability that they only dream of having in theirs. My friends have the expensive 'famous ham-maker optional speakers' designed to complement their very expensive ham transceivers too. I have those also but mine are all in boxes now and have been for years.
And that pretty much sums up my subjective review of my Soundsweet experience.
RATING REVIEW
Listenability for CW, SSB, and SWLing - 5
Size and convenience - 3-
Fit and finish - 3+
Overall 5+ cause listenability is all that counts for me.
73,
Jerry, KG6TT
|
|
WQ1Z
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Feb 24, 2009 14:15
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
High Performer!
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
|
Purchased new September, 2006. Performs "best-in-class". If you are a casual phone operator, ragchewer, contester, or pound brass until your knubby fingers bleed, I'm sure many of you will find like me this speaker to be a solid high performer. Well constructed, and price justifies the "value-added" benefits while listening. Highly recommended.
|
|
VK4TZA
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Aug 30, 2008 01:18
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
not so great on SSB
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
|
The Sounds Sweet was purchased based on the Eham reviews. It’s a well built speaker, but just didn’t work well for me. Used exclusively in SSB the Sounds Sweet was not that sweet compared to a Yaesu SP102 or BHI NES 10-2. The unit simply did not work “that” well for me on SSB. Another weakness was the unit too big for my small shack. In my experience size did not prevail over received SSB audio, while other products did.
|
|
K6JEK
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Jul 21, 2008 22:15
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
It's the one I use
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
I've had it a couple of years. I have many other speakers, Hi and Lo Fi. This is the one I use 90% of the time. If conditions are beautiful I might use a hi-fi speaker to listen to a really great AM station, KO6NM for example. But I push the button for this one the most. I have a variety of equipment from an OMNI VII all the way back to an SX-62.
It's big.
|
|
If you have any questions, problems, or suggestions about Reviews,
please email your Reviews Manager.
|
|
|
