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Reviews For: Alpha Delta VRC

Category: Speakers for communications

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Review Summary For : Alpha Delta VRC
Reviews: 11MSRP: 250.00
Description:
Station speaker and Audio Response tailoring circuitry.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.alphadeltacom.com/pg12.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00113.3
VK6NU Rating: 2021-08-27
Much better than I thought... Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Bought this as I thought it would be good with my QRP rigs. After a quick test after I purchased it I was not that impressed. I was thinking of selling at our local Hamfest and decided to check it was working ok and found its a pretty neat speaker.

If you are into CW then the peak feature is great and will be very useful. So its a keeper now and I'm sure will be great with some of the older CW rigs.
DXACE1 Rating: 2015-02-06
Fantastic Audio Tool Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The VRC is one heck of a audio tool -- if you can obtain one on the used market, by all means give it a try, though make sure it does not suffer from aging components or is beyond a cleaning of the switches/buttons. I have two of these and it makes listening to SW (what remains of it) a pleasure.
WR1H Rating: 2006-02-24
This is an excellent device Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned and used several of these units.

Don't listen to the people below.

This device works and works well. Its a magnitude better than any built in speaker and the filters work very well.

It will not work as an IF nor can it. Most people think that this device will magically "pull in" signals from the noise.

It will not, nor was it designed to that.

It is a good speaker and cabinet, with a good sound and can be augmented to the listeners prefference.

I highly recomend it.

G4OFV Rating: 2004-05-21
Excellent peak filter for CW use. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Model VRC

Well what can I say brought one of these from a boot fair for $40 in very very good condition and yep the power switch didn’t work.

I’m a CW buff and cant say how good this box is for pulling the signals out of the noise using the peak filter absolutely blinding, also the manual notch is top’s.

I running this from a 756p2 which have excellent filters by it’s self but when I hear a CW signal deep down in the noise and I use the peak filter it just pulls the signal out of the box, it booms out with no ringing compared to so many other analog filters I’ve tried.

Even the high frequency cut off as you turn it back it has no ringing like other filters I’ve compared against, two other filter’s I have at the moment the Datong FL1 & FL3 and this box wins hands down for CW & SSB use, ok it has no auto notch but cant have every thing and you cant use auto notch on CW anyway, but I’m thinking of putting the auto notch from the FL3 into this box for SSB.

I haven’t compared this against newer DSP box’s as haven’t had the privilege to try but for this sort of price $40 I can’t complain.

Goods points

Excellent peak filter without ringing.

Good internal speaker sound compared to couple of other branded speaker box’s I have.

Now the down sides

Looks butt ugly.

No external Speaker socket.

Quit big so stands out against most rigs.

Small speaker audio level pot adjustment, would have liked a control knob the same size as the other controls as you always going back and forth between the rig volume and the box.

Power switch duff

Conclusion.

If you’re into CW and need a peak filter this is great, also sounds good as a stand-alone speaker which can be tailored to your listing preferences, unlike a lot of these passive speaker box’s you see around.

I haven’t looked inside yet but might be tempted in putting the guts into a smaller box and using it with my favorite speaker.

Bottom line is I like using it a lot and is in line all the time.


KK7WN Rating: 2003-08-29
Good performance Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have tested audio equipment for many years. In my estimation this unit is at least the equal of, if not much better than, the speakers containing filters maketed by Kenwood,Yaesu, etc. It was not designed as a noise reduction unit and should not be evaluated as such. It does however provide superior sound reproduction given the quality of the audio input.Unfortunately a few earlier reviewers seemed to miss these points.Teamed up with a good outboard DSP unit this device works extremely well. The principal drawback was its too high new price. However, at a used price below ,say $100, it is a very good value.
W7UIV Rating: 2003-01-10
I'm happy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
When I saw one of these used on eham I jumped over here to read up on it. Not too good but I decided to give it a shot anyway, and since being an old audio buff I figured if they work as bad as some reviews indicate maybe I could fix it. Descriptions are typical of indicating an impedance mismatch or overdriving the input.

At first I thought "oh oh" when I tried the easy way of plugging it into the front phones jack on the rig, and it was just exactly as horrible as described in some reviews here.

Then I decided to drive it with the speaker output, and lo, it came to life. No distortion and no tinny sig anymore. Peak, Notch, Hi and Lo cut controls all work. The peak is smooth and not so deep as to cause ringing. Notch is good too. I don't expect an audio filter to do everything anyway. When it comes to audio filters I just like a little added bias in the direction I'm after. Let the I.F. filters do the real work.

It works fine. Just what I wanted.


K1ZYW Rating: 2002-04-06
I LIKE IT Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The reviews have all been poor but I beg to differ.

I have had this speaker for several years. The notch and peak filters work very well - are variable from very broad to very sharp. The switch for these filters, however, is low quality mechanically.

The other filters work well too.

The audio quality is fair but for communications (especially CW) I can pull 'em out of the mud. The 'cans' plug in the front and use all the benefits of the filters.

On balance it does just what I needed.

DE Ken K1ZYW
N4LQ Rating: 2002-01-25
Don't bother Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
What a waste! I sent mine back. The cabinet resonated at cw frequencies...buzzzzz. For cw get an MFJ-281 ClearTone or mil LS-166.
W7RTY Rating: 2001-06-28
What an insult! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I played with my new Alpha Delta VRC for a day and found it to be an insult to my ears. If you try to increase the volume, your signal just gets distorted. Alpha Delta, please take this product off the market. It is junk. Though....it would make a great boat anchor, but the price would have to come down just a little! Radio Shack speakers work great....(RCA Pro x33, x44, x55 and the x88 mini speakers). Anything would be better than the VRC.
K7FD Rating: 2000-07-10
Think Twice about this one... Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
After a year of fiddlin' with the speaker, I can say without hesitation it is probably the worst accessory speaker I have owned in 34 years of hamming. Save yourself some dollars and go to Radio Shack and pick up a better sounding stereo speaker. The VRC is easily overdriven and produces distortion at the drop of a hat. The power switch works 50% of the time after one years use...

Plus the aluminum cast enclosure looks like it was machined in someones basement; definitely hokie looking.