Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes
Reviews Home

Reviews For: Palstar SP30

Category: Speakers for communications

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Palstar SP30
Reviews: 37MSRP: $59.95
Description:
Communications speaker
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.palstar.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00374.4
W4BUZ Rating: 2021-08-21
Great sound Great quality Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have tried several of the radio manufacture speakers in the past and none of them compare to the SP30H. I have 2 of these in the shack and 1 in the mobile. I highly recommend this speaker for communication quality sound.
N7AG Rating: 2016-03-16
Very good speaker Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Great speaker for the money. Substantial magnet, seems to cut high frequency. Too bad new model is 2x $.
KC9YY Rating: 2016-01-29
Excellant Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Great sounding speaker
Not often needing my earphones even in QRN
K9RFZ Rating: 2016-01-09
poor sound quality at low drive power Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Mine is the same type mentioned below with the foam and plastic spacers. It doesn't have connection versatility as the previous reviewer mentions (he probably has the newer SP-30B). Mine has a single integrated cable with a 1/4" mono plug on the end. To drive the speaker so it is loud enough to hear a few feet away, the speaker starts to vibrate like a loose muffler on the car and sounds very tinny. I may try the mod suggested below to remove the foam and plastic spacers. In its present configuration, my Bearcat 20W mobile speaker beats the Palstar SP-30 hands down.
AD5HD Rating: 2015-07-04
Sounds great Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Having tried various external speakers this one comes out on top by a large margin. Perfectly tailored to comm bandwidth. Heavy, excellent workmanship, versatile connectivity, so far the best I've heard in the shack.
W8PMR Rating: 2013-09-15
Very clear sound reproduction! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have a Ten Tec Omni VII. Using the Palstar speaker has made contesting much more pleasurable! A couple of hours in, you realize that you are less tense, and nervous. When you use another radio, without the SP30, you find yourself struggling to understand. If you are not using a headphone, you should be using this speaker!
IT9YHR Rating: 2010-11-02
SP-30 in now ok ! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Hi, I wrote an article some time ago, giving a very good opinion about this speaker.

I have bought another SP-30 for my second rig, but what happen ? Why this second speaker is not good such as the old version ?

Palstar have changed the speaker cone ? Yes it is, the speaker cone is now different, but the problem is not the cone.
I understand the reason why the sound speaker is not good now !

Palstar put a foam between the speaker cone and front panel using four plastic nuts spacers.

For this reason the speaker don't close watertight the cabinet so the speaker sound became without low tone.

I have removed the foam and the plastic nuts spacers. Now the speaker seals the cabinet and the sound NOW is fantastic again such as the old model (in fact the earlier version of the speaker don't have the foam and spacers).

Now I have two SP-30 speaker (the old one's and the new one with sound ok).

Best regards.

Alex it9yhr

(sorry for my poor English)
K3JB Rating: 2010-10-29
FOR SALE !! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I was researching what speaker to use with my FT-950 when I saw the review of the SP30. Thought I would check to see what the general opinion was.
I have had one more than a year, purchased it based on the comments made on this site from HRO (great to do business with) Mine sounds terrible TO MY EARS and sounds worse than the speaker in the FT-950. Maybe that is why Palstar has a new model.I am currently just using the 950's speaker. This SP30 will be on a table at a Hamfest in the near future, Buyer beware !!
BADMEYERS Rating: 2010-10-28
Don't Bother Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just don't understand the positive reviews for this. The speaker I just got sounds awful with a couple of my rx (2 different Yaseu) and just fair with my JRC and Drake R8. I mean worse than the internal speaker in 2 of the 4 rx I use. Much worse than my Ten Tec speaker and light years worse than my Voice Master. While the unit appears well made it sounds like the speaker itself came out of a 1970's transistor radio.

I actually feel kind of bad about slamming it because I think Palstar tries to do the right thing and I like that they still make stuff in the good old USA. I can't even bear to listen to this speaker though.
KI6OSH Rating: 2010-10-07
Very good... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Sounds great after almost two years of use. I would give it a five if it had a slightly more polished look but for the price, impossible to beat. Doesn't wear out my ears as other speakers do. I use it with my Kenwood 480 SAT and have no complaints on the sound at all. A bit bassy but the more one listens, the better it sounds.