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Reviews For: MFJ ClearTone 281 Speaker

Category: Speakers for communications

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Review Summary For : MFJ ClearTone 281 Speaker
Reviews: 61MSRP: 12.95
Description:
Communication Speaker
Product is in production
More Info: http:// http://www.mfjenterprises.com/products.php?prodid=MFJ-281
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00613.9
N4MJG Rating: 2023-05-18
sti l going since 2001 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I, had this speaker on it still going great the 218 sounded better then built in on my scanner bear cat 880 this spear is here to stay !

73
Jackie
N4MJG

Some of guy don't like mfj everyone is differnce then others !!


73
Jackie
N4MJG

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N4MJG on 2009-12-20

I brought mine back 2001 when i first got into ham radio,i love that how it sounded no noises at all.


73
Jackie
N4MJG
Tullahoma,Tn
WWW.N4MJG.COM

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N4MJG on 2006-01-06

I see 1/5 rating it make me thinking thought it was bad,not me sound good to me never a problem .I have 2 speakers one in the house and other in my truck, those are good speakers.



73
Jackie
KG4ORX
KF4KQS Rating: 2022-11-17
Good little speaker Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I am a truck driver and avid HAM. I have two of these little speakers in my truck, one on my 706 and one on my chicken band. I also have one in my home shack hooked to my two meter radio. These speakers work wonderfully and take a beating.
VE7REN Rating: 2022-11-16
excellent for base,mobile,shop,etc Time Owned: more than 12 months.
UPDATE NOV 16/2022
still own both these speakers,and have 1 in use in the shop,the other in my 2017 silverado connected to a yaesu ftm-400dr. work fanatstic. i highly recommend this model speaker. FYI-dx engineering also sells one just like this with their brand name on it.
nov 23/2015
I purchased 2 of these on a friends request,and I am pleased! needed something in the mobile to use on my ft8800 mobile,as the 8800 ,8900 series radio suffer from lack of loud volume. This little speaker did the job! I mounted it under the radio itself on a homemade bracket,tilted toward me,and BANG there was the good loud audio! more than pleased with it so far,the other will go in the shop.
WB8YQJ Rating: 2022-04-27
Efficient++ Speaker Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The MFJ-281 will get very loud with minimal drive.

On CW the received signal is louder than most speakers and the background noise is similarly reduced. It's a great improvement for the internal speaker of my FT3K on CW.

If you want more fidelity for phone modes (in the shack) and you have plenty of audio power coming from the rig maybe a better choice is a larger bookshelf speaker.

I switch in this speaker for CW and use a Drake MS4 for phone modes.

de Wb8yqj Don
Carlsbad, Ca. USA
KQ9J Rating: 2021-04-09
OK for CW Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have one of these. Like the title of my review says, it works fairly well on CW but for phone, it sounds high pitched and tinny. Some would call that “communication quality audio” but I call it lousy. Might be good in a mobile install. I’d probably use it on my HW-16 but I have a matching Heathkit speaker. For $12 the MFJ is an OK speaker, I guess.
K6JGV Rating: 2021-04-08
Works for my usage Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Some of the responses here remind me of when we tried to bottle some cold coffee for starbucks. All our tasters were unanimous. We nailed it. Their taster was thumbs down.

For those of us who attended rock concerts, listened to our headphones way too loud etc. Its a fine little speaker at a good price.
KB9NGX Rating: 2021-04-08
Poor for Phone Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Tried it on several Receivers: It makes voice reception annoyingly constricted. Steely.
Having experienced this speaker; statements about it working 'better' in a Vehicle. Read as tantamount to a Vehicle's ability, to turn spoiled food into fresh.





KN6SU Rating: 2021-01-03
The Best Low Cost Speaker Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have purchased a couple of these over the years. Very solidly built and they reproduce speech and CW tones quite well. The support bracket seems a bit flimsy compared to the rest of the unit, but I don't think you can find a speaker that works as well for the price of this one. The price has gone up a little since they first appeared, but not that much. I currently use two in my shack, one for HF and the other for VHF/UHF, inplace of the internal speakers on my rigs. This is one of MFJ's better products.
NN3D Rating: 2017-01-30
Better on CW Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Currently I'm using this speaker on a Yaesu FT-990. I found that CW sounds better with this speaker than the internal speaker. But the internal speaker has it beat on sideband, no question.

Overall I was happy enough with it to go buy another, I enjoy CW and sideband equally but I'll take the punchy CW with it as a win in my book. It's not perfect, but for what you get out of a speaker it's size, the price sure is. I just paid 12.95 out the door at HRO for each one. You can't beat that.
KU3X Rating: 2016-10-11
Great value for $12.95 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First let’s put this in the proper prospective, “This is not a $300 Bose speaker. “ This is a small four inch square speaker that sells for $12.95.
I attached it to my TS-590SG and found it to be a much better speaker than the one inside of the radio. So that’s a plus. I turned up the audio level in the radio to a very high level. The speaker did not distort. Yet another plus.
I think the frequency response for the speaker is what is to be expected out of almost any 4 inch speaker, in a small package sold for ham radio.

For what you can expect out of a 4 inch speaker that sells for $12.95, I feel that this speaker is a 5 all the way around and a great value for the price. If needed, I’d buy another one in a heartbeat !
Barry, KU3X