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Reviews For: West Mountain Radio ClearSpeech CLRspkr

Category: Speakers for communications

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Review Summary For : West Mountain Radio ClearSpeech CLRspkr
Reviews: 24MSRP: 229
Description:
ClearSpeech (DSP) enabled speaker with adjustable DSP and On/Off DSP and power switch.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.westmountainradio.com/CLRspkr.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00244.3
NY4D Rating: 2020-11-15
Useful Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Over the last several years I have had the opportunity to use several versions of this dsp speaker, as well as the speakers of the same name from Amcom and Heil, who I assume were previous owners or licensees of the product. This is not a review of the other manufacturer's products but I will just mention that I would avoid the ones not sold by West Mountain. Amcoms seem to have no DSP level control and the Heil units do but in my experience are subject to RFI.

I own an earlier version of the West Mountain, one with switched levels of noise reduction. I find it very useful for SSB contacts, even with my IC-7300, as it is capable of reducing the hiss and background band noise to almost nada. RFI into the speaker is nil, while in the same setup the Heil was not useable without muting it during transmit.

The reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is that there is an agc effect that cuts in when there is no signal heard or the next signal is much weaker than the one it has just done its magic to. The agc surges the weaker signal or band noise up to very loud for a few seconds before settling back down to a normal listenable level. I have also owned their DSP box (recent version) without the speaker and noticed the same on it.

I am a believer in throttling the RF gain down to make the band noise almost disappear - SWL 101 and goes back to my 1960s 40 meter Novice days. This helps somewhat with the volume surges.

All this said, I can live with it. I do have a BHI DSP circuit board unit wired into an old Kenwood SP-930 that I prefer, but the Clearspeech is much smaller and handier for portable use so I have kept both of them.

I do like the unit and use it quite a bit. AN AGC level setting would boost my rating on this up to a 5.
NY4DX Rating: 2019-11-03
Overrated plastic mobile speaker Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Purchased brand new 07/2019 from DxEngineering. The speaker has been a poor performing unit for me since purchase.

The speaker would continuously and repeatedly sound a loud "pop" and "shut off" repeatedly during a QSO. The problem was present at all levels of volume. Forget working a weak DX station with the speaker in this condition.

My frustration level was reached. I returned the speaker to West Mountain for evaluation/repair. I received the speaker back after two weeks. West Mountain stated they performed a "software" upgrade to fix the poor audio output and performance.

Why were these speakers released without the latest software upgrade? Why didn't West Mountain advise its customers that the software was an issue?

The speaker was put back in service 11/1/2019. The popping and audio cut out problems appears to be corrected. The speaker now however sounds as if the paper cone had been damaged and is unusable even at medium volume levels. Clear strong signals such as WWV 10Mhz. AM are heard as if a level of distortion has been added instead of removed. This distortion happens with or without "filtering" being added.

I stopped using the filtering function of this speaker as the "enhanced" audio generated in many cases sound worse then the QRM/QRN on the signal which is intended to be removed. I occasionally only use the headphone jack because of its convenient location. This speaker will on the table at the next ham fest.
K1SZO Rating: 2019-01-26
Expensive but well worth the price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
When I first got into HF, I had an FT-450D and was living in an apartment with over 100 units in the building. My noise floor was through the roof, but I wanted to HF anyhow.

The biggest issue I had was listening very hard to hear anything through all the noise. It would literally become exhausting. So one day I found this speaker and picked it up. I will be honest with you. It didn't help a lot in the apartment with all the local noise.

I recently bought a home and setup a dipole' and my FT-450D and was blown away at how clear everything was. (I basically live in the woods now) I decided I wanted to upgrade the FT-450D to a really nice rig (I also own a Flex 6400, but it's remote and have only really used it on digital modes) Anyhow, I picked up a IC-7610 which is supposed to have really great RX and a good built-in speaker. So I set the radio up without the WMR CLRSpkr and was taken aback by the fact that the FT-450D sounded better than my IC-7610!

Anyhow, I decided I would put the speaker on the IC-7610 and boom, I was back in very clear audio business.

Some notes on operation. I pretty much turn the filtering up to max. Anything other than that I sometimes get some underwater sounds. I set the volume on it high enough where I only use the radio volume to control the volume. This works perfectly for me.

If you can afford it. It's worth every penny. I paid $179 for mine, but I've noticed some now sell for $220 and above and I still think it's worth it. (shop around, I still see them for below $200)
K7BJS Rating: 2018-01-02
A neat Gizzmo Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
So I get this thing as a Christmas gift, cause I played with one at the Ft.Wayne Hamfest.
I hooked it up last evening; hit several noisy bands, and it seems to do what they say it will do. Not so sure that I like the chezzy plastic mounting bracket, however the cables included are very nice.
It seems to me that the digital noise suppressor can be turned up too high, resulting in other digital noise.
Its neat, it is easy to hook up and install; it works, and I am not in a hurry to get rid of it..
W8EZI Rating: 2016-07-14
Works Very Well Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was impressed enough to write a review the day after I started using it. First off, mine does not look like the picture at the top of this review column. Mine has two knobs. One for volume and another for the amount of noise suppression. I find myself just turning it up all the way and leaving it there. It works just fine at max. I use SSB exclusively. I leave my 751A on a single frequency and listen for my group to come on in the evening. The noise suppression turns the loud static into a lower volume sound of water running. This sound is at a much lower volume level than the original static and is far more comfortable on the ears. If a station comes on the air with a big signal like S7 or so, the DSP basically shuts off and does not process the audio. When a weaker signal appears you really appreciate being able to copy the weak signal when without this speaker it would be unintelligible. There are artifacts produced with weak signals. These artifacts seem insignificant to me compared to blasting my ears with static trying to hear a weak station. This was worth the 180 bucks I payed DXEngineering for it.
AF4KK Rating: 2014-03-01
Does what it says! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It's simply a great speaker with a superior DSP built in!! I've had positive experiences in ALL modes without that robotic sound common in many DSP units!! The only reason I didn't give it a rating of "5" is because of the plastic mounting bracket!
AK9S Rating: 2014-02-28
Pretty good... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have mixed feelings about the CLRspkr. It does a good job on SSB reception, but is mediocre for AM reception (i.e. shortwave broadcasters) and could be ergonomically improved.

The main issue is the amount of audio response clipping from the DSP filtering, which reduces intelligibility. In addition, noise and static are merely replaced with digital artifacts, which further reduces the listeners ability to clearly hear a transmission.

On AM transmissions, I sometimes find turning off the DSP filtering provides improved intelligibility compared to having it on.

That said, I do like the wattage of the speaker, as it is loud and clear but dislike the knobs being so close to each other. The LED light a millimeter away from the CLRspkr label further promotes the perception of sloppy ergonomics in what is a pricey speaker.

Due to the less than spectacular performance and minor ergonomic issues, I feel the speaker is overpriced. However, if you are into SSB communications, it may be of benefit.
KD5NDU Rating: 2013-09-01
great speaker Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got the DSP speaker a few days ago. I got it hook up to a ICOM 718. The first day I got the speaker it was noise on the radio. I it was around s-8 s-9 on the noise level. I was going to find out how good these speaker was. I got it hook to the ICOM 718 I got in the shack first. I was impressed on how the speaker work. If station listen to is strong coming in. It would knock all the noise out and sound like FM all most. With a weaker station it would help a lot on the noise level. And far as volume it got plenty of that. And it works better than the DSP in the ICOM 718. I tried it in my truck were I got a ICOM 718 that I use has a Mobile radio. I got two icom radio's The sound quality was good again. knocking down the noise level. And pleanty of volume coming out the speaker.I would buy one again.
KJ4KBC Rating: 2013-06-21
Doe's what it was designed to do! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had mine for two years. I currently use it with a Ten-Tec Paragon and sometimes my TS2000. Yes it's DSP is better than the IF DSP on my TS-2000. I usually don't use the speaker but plug my station speakers into the CLRspkr unit.It really reduces static without coloring the voice audio too much as some outboard DSP units will. The built in amplifier helps drive larger lower toned station speakers. Position one takes care of most Static and all Het's. If things are really bad then I'll use position two. Good purchase. Would recommend it.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KJ4KBC on 2009-09-02

This is the "best" item I could have ever purchased for my ts940s! The noise reduction is nothing short of amazing and because of this I am hearing hams that weren't there before. You can say good-bye to static crashes without sacrificing audio.
KD8NCP Rating: 2013-06-13
Wish I had bought two of them Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I picked up one of these at the Dayton Hamvention this year and within 15 minutes had it hooked up to my Werker 100AH battery and Kenwood TS-440 for the ride home. I am very impressed with the unit's ability to separate speech from noise and it clearly does the job as advertised. It is very easy to use and I consider it an indispensable part of my shack (and mobile) operations. I wish that I had two of them so that I wouldn't have to move the unit back and forth between the mobile and the shack.