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Reviews For: Clear Speech Noise Reduction Speaker by Am-Com

Category: Speakers for communications

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Review Summary For : Clear Speech Noise Reduction Speaker by Am-Com
Reviews: 91MSRP: 179.95
Description:
A quality speaker with built-in DSP noise reduction.
NOTE: Will now be produced by Heil Sound:
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.amcominc.com/productdetail.cfm?Prod_ID=16
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00914.4
N1OU Rating: 2002-01-13
Still Nothing Quite Like It Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I first bought the Clear Speech speaker about a year ago to go with my Alinco DX70TH. That rig has no DSP and the speaker is a vast improvement.

Funny thing is that I just upgraded to a 756PRO and I still use it! The DSP in the 756PRO is among the best available, solving the old AGC pumping problems and providing virtually limitless filtering capabilities. To me, the problem is the "basseyness" of the built in speaker and the fact that it fires straight up, cutting off high frequency response.

No problem! I plugged in the Clear Speech and the crispness is right back. The speaker still does what it is supposed to do and, in combination with the great DSP in the rig, the results are awesome. The moral of the story: This little speaker unit improves even great radios! Don't think it won't improve your high-end rig--it probably will.
KB6HRT Rating: 2002-01-13
Just keeps on working great Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have been running two of these speakers one on my ICOM 706MII in the mobile and on on my ICOM 756PRO
at my station in my home, the speaker does such a good job in both places i don't have to use any other type on noise reduction devices on eather radio. Have been using the CS speakers for a year and a half with GREAT results on the HF bands on SSB. One could by a lot cheaper radio than the radios i use and still get great results with this speaker.
KJ9R Rating: 2001-11-24
Excellent choice Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I purchased the Clear Speech BASE and use it with my Kenwood TS-440S/AT and an external RS Optimus(40-1991) Speaker. It does a great job and doesn't require a number of adjustments like some external DSP Units.
I leave it on most of the time and it eliminates a lot of noise in my location. There are a lot of power lines around my QTH and it definitely helps me hear some of the weaker stations. I have a high noise level here and the AM-COM Clear Speech BASE is a great help.
I give it a 10!
KC6VCH Rating: 2001-11-23
A clear speech noise reduction speaker base. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Clear speech base had some problems. When I first bought he unit I used a small power supply. It was drifting and very noisy. The problem was I had to use a larger power supply. Now it is rock solid. I was using amp and a half. I went to 4 amps and it cleared the problems up. This unit is good buy I would highly recommend it.
KC2HWX Rating: 2001-11-02
Still noisy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I dispute the claim that it eliminates 95 percent of all noise but what a difference. Sometime it leads you to feel that you have a receive pre-amp in the line because you hear signals that often were lost.

I wish they would eliminate all of the noise. Overall a good product, worth the money , but not all that we should expect.

Tony
W9BS Rating: 2001-11-02
Blew my socks off Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was never a believer in the effectiveness of DSP Audio noise reduction until I heard this speaker in action. It blows away the Audio DSP in my Icom 756 Pro, and in the mobile I use this speaker with, an FT100D. It will actually pull signals out that are unintelligible with the Internal speaker and DSP engaged on the 100D.
This speaker made a believer out of me that Audio DSP CAN be quite effective if implemented properly. AM-COM has done a fine job with their DSP. Fortunately, I have not been victim of the bad production run of speakers that I have read about.

73
K0PSK Rating: 2001-10-26
UPDATE review Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have read some reviews that said the voices were hard to hear above the road noise, watery sounding audio, etc. I couldn't believe my eyes.

After recommending and demoing the unit to
another ham, he bought one from the Am-Com booth at Pacificon. He got it and plugged it in and it sounded HORRIBLE. Hissy, buzzy and unlistenable.

To make a long story short, we plugged in another external speaker into the supplied connector. Now it sounds just like mine does.

Aparantly some blown/bad speakers have made it into their production run. If you left a scathing review of this product for theese reasons, please (if you haven't thrown it away) as a test, plug it into a "known good" external speaker.

It is my belief that a fairly large number of theese units may me out there and accounting for the poor reviews.

I have tried several other AF DSPs and also have
used the IF DSP on the Icom-746. Is it me or does turning the IF DSP NR knob anywhere past 12o'clock make any signal completely unreadable on the 746?

This is still the best money I've spent for (bang for the buck) an "add on". I use it everytime I turn the radio on, and never turn it off. Unless I think I have the dummy load selected when I occasionally can't hear "any" white noise HIHI. This is a good kind of problem to have.

I use a Motorola "mobil" speaker that someone
gave me a long time ago. The stock speaker IMHO is "decent". There must be a reason the one with the speaker costs the same as the one that doesn't have a speaker.

BOTTOM LINE. BUY IT. IF YOU ARENT IMPRESSED, ITS BROKEN. Its not perfect. There is some low level digital "hash" noise, some digital/dsp artifacting, and a "5/9+60" signal can make it
overshoot/clip/click a little bit.
KR6AZ Rating: 2001-10-26
magic speaker Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my speaker now for over a year and a half and I don't know how I went without it before. The first rig I used it on was my TS-450s and what difference it made on it , it was like night and day , then I tried it on my 706-MKII and now I don't even use the DSP in the radio anymore. The ClearSpeech is the best accessory investment I've made and I do intend to buy at least 1 more......It's simple and it works great
W8OB Rating: 2001-10-22
dont walk on water Time Owned: more than 12 months.
i have owned one of these units for going on 2 years now mine was used for 2 months in a mobile setup with a ft100 switching in the filter results in waterly sounding audio and hard to hear above road noise (who drives with windows up in 95 degree wx?) i switched it with a cheap radio shack amped speaker with better results. yes mine too developed the annoying rattle and in addition applying power to it it sometimes takes 15 minutes before you hear the pop and it will work. i think for the amount of bread they are getting for this think a little audio amp would be in order as well a little more reliable electronics. i have noted no problem with cw sigs with the speaker though
W6EZ Rating: 2001-10-21
Works just fine. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just got one of these little gems for my very own. Friends of mine have them and I have been able to play with these DSP units quite a bit. They work really well for something you just plug in and turn on. I can make my NIR-12 sound better, but it takes a lot of work to set everything to get that result.
Interestingly, I read a letter of complaint that the Clearspeach unit will not work with CW. Hmmmm, I just tried CW with my radio and it works just fine. I can hear both the CW received signal and my own side tone.
In any case, this unit is very good for a "plug and play" DSP box/speaker.
Buy one.