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Reviews For: Kenwood SP-230

Category: Speakers for communications

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Review Summary For : Kenwood SP-230
Reviews: 10MSRP:
Description:
Matching speaker to the TS530 and TS830 HF transceivers. Selectable filters from the front panel.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00105
N5XJT Rating: 2021-12-10
Great With Any Radio! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have used this speaker with a TS-530, TS-450, Tempo 2020, Yaesu FT-840. 890, 900, 950 & Mark V. Filters are a great help, audio is always clear and readable. A great addition to any radio, old or new and it is designed to handle two radio inputs. Can't beat it.
KI5GKD Rating: 2021-11-26
Great speaker for the money Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have two of these bought second hand. One has some cosmetic "issues" but still works great. I paid well under $100 for the nice looking one and about $60 for the "cosmetically challenged" one. Compared to what new speakers cost I feels these a real bargain.

The SP230 has an A/B input switch and a low and two high freq. filters so it helps the copy on some signals.
N4EEB Rating: 2021-11-23
Great Speaker Time Owned: more than 12 months.
One of the best "matching" speakers ever to be offered by Kenwood. Great build quality and sound.
N3IPN Rating: 2017-12-15
Surprisingly effective! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Matches the later hybrids, the filters do help with the reception. That "cast and steel case" resonates like the internal speaker as the cases are similarly built, and just looks so darn good next to the Rig(830S) and the matching tuner, all in all worth the search for a 40 year old speaker!
MM0HRL Rating: 2015-10-31
Very nice indeed Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Mine's quite old, an ebay punt. Was tired of how inbuilt speakers sounded, and had only experienced cheap add on speakers previously. This one's just the job. Its original price is an outrage, but mine was around £45 so no moans there - but I'd have found it tough to shell out the full retail for what is in essence a simple single driver in a tin box with some extremely elementary electronic filters and switching inside. It's a great example of paying for the name. So the way to go is - get one on the used market.
With my TS-50 & 590s, it's excellent - exactly what voice audio needs. With my FT857d it's okay but lack of decent NR in that rig means I put a BHI NR speaker inline but bypass the BHI speaker - so I get the useful BHI NR played through the better quality speaker unit - sounds so much better.
Most useful question with gear is - would you buy it again? Yes, although they're getting elderly and less easy to source now; ham fairs and ebay/Gumtree may be the only way to get one now. The SP23 is a simpler device, I think lacking the filters that the 230 owners like so much. it's cheaper too. Might be worth checking out one of those since the 230 is not so easily found any more.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by MM0HRL on 2015-07-14

The speech repro in this speaker is just what's needed to make your radio regardless of brand sound like you wished it sounded out of the box.

The filters on front switches are very useful indeed to help isolate the sounds of the speech that get swallowed up in hash and unhelpful frequencies. Only comment I'd make that's negative is - they're coloured the same as the box so it's too easy to forget you have one pressed in - if they were say hot orange the fact that one is pressed in would be visually obvious. As it is, it's all too easy to leave one pressed in which may not match the needs of the next operator you receive. Small potatoes however - if this one dies I'll try to source another.

Something I've done to improve things with my RX audio is to add a BHI speaker. I don't as a rule use the speaker on its own, I route its audio via its earphone jack to the Kenwood 230, which makes it more mellow, less tinny in quality. So now I have a working noise filter that doesn't weaken the RX audio as well, like some DSP routines do.
KX7P Rating: 2010-12-02
PERFECT MATCH FOR TS-530S & TS-830S Time Owned: more than 12 months.
A good solid speaker with filters that work. It works very well with any radio, but especially well with the older Kenwood rigs like the TS-530S and TS-830S. It not only works well, but also matches the older Kenwood HF radios.
AC2N Rating: 2008-06-02
It's Good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned a SP-230 for several years used with a few Kenwoods and now a Yaesu 897D. With the headphone jack, 2 input switch and low and 2 high filter selections it is a good addition to any shack.The speaker sounds great as mentioned before.It's not a hi-fi speaker, it is designed for radio.I often plug my headphones into the SP-230 and use a combo of the radio's noise reduction and the speaker's filters with good results.
N5KNG Rating: 2008-06-02
Surpising what this will do for your reception! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been testing the Kenwood TS-830S against the Icom 746 Pro for several days now, and I have used the Kenwood SP-230 speaker as part of the test. I won't even talk about the stock speakers on these radios, since they are merely adequate - they reproduce audio, but that's about it.

There is no doubt that the audio filtering capability in this speaker can make all the difference when it comes to understanding a weak signal plagued by QRM. I have some Sony professional headphones that I used with both receivers, bypassing their speakers, only to find that having a wide audio bandwidth might be great when you are listening to music, but not when you are listening to the human voice. There were several instances when I found that using this speaker rendered weak signals more legible than what I heard with the Sony headphones. The filters in this speaker (low, and three hi-pass choices) can be used to cut out a lot of noise, turning a trying listening experience into one that is more easily bearable. Indeed, when I write my report on the comparison between the two transceivers, part of it will include the fact that teaming this speaker with the TS-830 provides a combination that in many cases provides a signal that is easier to read than that provided by the IC-746 Pro. It adds that little bit of extra readability that makes listening over a long period of time less tiring. Anyone that owns a TS-830 (or any other transceiver) that prefers to listen without headphones clamped on their ears would do well to purchase one of these.
N3EON Rating: 2008-01-08
Excellent Speaker Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I initially purchased the speaker to complement my TS-830. However, through the years, I've used it with a Kenwood TS-130 and TS-570 with excellent results. The SP-230 is far superior to my rig's internal speaker and provides greater audio clarity and filtering. This speaker would be an excellent addition to any ham shack.
VE7BDO Rating: 2008-01-07
Great speaker - workhorse Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Not sure about previous reviewer's comments but mine is excellent. I have owned it for 20+ years and it works very well indeed. I also the SP-31 but rarely use it. No appreciable sound difference between the two.

I use the 230 with my TS-830S and FT-897D. The sound is very good and the filters work well. I get very good frequency response overall and good low end - especially noticeable on 2M FM (from the 897D).

The two inputs are useful especially when I am spotting activity on other frequencies or other bands.