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Reviews For: Clear Speech Noise Reduction Speaker by West Mountain Radio

Category: Speakers for communications

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Review Summary For : Clear Speech Noise Reduction Speaker by West Mountain Radio
Reviews: 16MSRP: 219.95
Description:
The CLRspkr is a 4-inch loudspeaker containing a ClearSpeech® adaptive noise reduction circuit and audio amplifier. The DSP passes the voice and CW sounds, while attenuating noise, such as hum, hiss, whistles, and static. It effectively removes heterodynes, ignition noise, lightening crashes, power line noise, and hum. The process is dynamic and changes with the interference and the signal. Mobile voice operation is fun without all that background noise. It is ideal for mobile radio operation.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.westmountainradio.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00164.5
N5UD Rating: 2010-10-21
Cleans up audio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I use this mobile. It really helps eliminate background noise. This includes ignition, and power line static. Helps eliminate adjacent QRM. Makes listening to radio much more fun. I have it mounted on the dash, and the plastic mount does allow some vibration.
I am using a Kenwood transceiver with the noise blanker always on.
KG6YRC Rating: 2010-06-16
works so good I bought two of them Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have 2 of these speakers one on my Icom 746 pro and the other on a FT897D. I set the dial at medium or low eliminates about 75 percent of the background noise and am still able to hear weak stations. They are wonderful if you live in a noisy area.
AF4KK Rating: 2009-07-01
Wow, whatta' speaker!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Clearspeech speaker is a wonder when it comes to noise reduction! I don't have any scientific data or clinical trials but I -DO- know that it works! And very well, too! Using this speaker really clears things up and helps to "pull" signals out of nowhere! The "MAX" DSP setting isn't too useful (too much "underwater" effect) but the other settings are just right! The only con? That cleap plastic mouting bracket. If it HAS to be plastic, can it be a bit thinker and more durable?
K0CBA Rating: 2009-06-05
Big help for big noise Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I seem to have a lot of HF noise in my area so any little bit of noise relief is a Godsend and the Clear Speech is a most welcome addition.

The multi level processing settings and the much faster digital processing has made great improvements over the original Am-Com units...not that they wern't good, it's just that now I think the West Mountian design has made them great.

When using the maximum setting the digitized voice qualities and some of the holes in the audio as it processes out particuliarly strong noise spikes does take a bit of getting used to but under those severe conditions it's usually 'fair copy' vs 'no copy' so you are still ahead of the game.

There is no product nor device that is going to pull a S-1 signal out of 20 over 9 noise so don't expect miracles but for most day to day noise it earns it's keep. It's fantastic on my base station so I can only imagine how invaluable it would be in a mobile environment.

One thing I wish it had was a by pass for the audio...as it is now when the unit's power switch is OFF no audio is passed. Obviously there are times when it's not needed and unplugging the speaker from the rig's 'speaker output' is the only option. At some point I may add an audio by pass switch but for now it is not that big of a deal.
N0YD Rating: 2008-08-30
Works extremely well Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is the third ClearSpeech speaker I own. The first two were made by Am-Com and work well. One is used in my mobile installation and the other in my main station at my QTH.

This third one was built by West Mountain Radio and works "extremely" well, better than the other two.

It is really effective in reducing background noise. All my transceivers are DSP-equipped and all benefit by having a ClearSpeech speaker. The ClearSpeech DSP is better at removing background noise than any DSP built into my Icom-706 Mark II G or built into my Icom 756 Pro receivers.

I can hear weak stations on the bands that were previously covered by the noise and can listen to the Ham bands for extended time periods without the fatigue caused by background noise.

All my stations have a ClearSpeech speaker and I don't think I would have a station without a ClearSpeech speaker.

And the one built by West Mountain Radio is the best I've used so far. It is better at noise reduction and has a Power switch as well as a rotary switch for different levels of noise reduction.

I recommend this unit to others who want to reduce background noise on their transceivers.

Tom, N0YD "Yankee Doodle"
W7KPQ Rating: 2008-01-04
Great for Mobile Use Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
While using the West Mountain DSP speaker more extensively, I would like to provide an update on a comment I made on my prior post. I indicated at the time that I didn't detect "much if any difference in reducing ignition noise," which isn't entirely correct. By increasing the DSP setting on the speaker the ignition noise is reduced and West Mountain’s advertising states it will “effectively reduce ignition noise” is exactly what it does. But it does not entirely eliminate ignition noise. Fortunately the Kenwood TS-570S(G) in my 2002 Toyota Tundra eliminates what ignition I have left over. In using the West Mountain DSP speaker more extensively I wouldn’t be without it! It really does work that well!

Richard
W7KPQ

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Earlier 5-star review posted by W7KPQ on 2007-11-17

This 4-inch DSP noise reduction speaker is effective at reducing background noise. When comparing it with a non DSP speaker there is a dramatic difference in noise reduction particularly in a mobile setup. However, I wouldn’t say that it does everything that West Mountain Radio indicates it will do. West Mountain advertises that it will “effectively reduce ignition noise.” Honestly I didn’t detect much if any difference in reducing ignition noise.

My mobile setup, a Kenwood TS-570S(G) does eliminate my ignition noise with the Noise Blanker on, so it’s not a big deal to me, but it would be nice if the speaker was capable of doing this. Otherwise the speaker does exactly what it is suppose to do—reduce the background noise. It does this quite well. There is an on/off switch in addition to LO (-6db), MID (-10db), HI (-13db), and MAX (-17db) for the DSP settings. It really makes for more pleasant listening with the DSP on.

I also briefly compared it to my Icom SP-20 speaker and even though it doesn’t have the rich bass the SP-20 does, the communication quality of West Mountain DSP speaker does remarkably well. I would definitely recommend this speaker for mobile use or possibly for a fixed station setup for those interested in a DSP speaker for their home station.

Richard
W7KPQ