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Reviews For: Palstar SP30H

Category: Speakers for communications

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Review Summary For : Palstar SP30H
Reviews: 43MSRP: 220
Description:
An extended range communications speaker
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.palstar.com/en/sp30h/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15435
N6TEA Rating: 2011-08-28
A violin's voice from modern electronics. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Paul Hrivnak created a speaker that truly combines his experience as both a concert violinist and an electronics engineer. The speaker will handle up to 20 W input at eight ohms, more than enough to allow the use of some older vintage equipment that favored giant speakers (a la Hammerlund or Hallicrafters) yet still be driven easily by the two watts from my modern Icom IC-7410. For the cabinet - the core is made of high grade birch plywood, precision assembled with a laser cut grill that adds a bit of a vintage look while protecting the speaker cone from the invariable intrusions of other components or tools. Take your pick; cherry finish (furniture grade no less) or dress black with a soft satin finish (very classy and matches any radio). I chose the black, a new offering. On the back, there are no less than three separate means to connect the speaker to a receiver: red/black bare wire compression clamps; an RC audio jack; or, a 3.5 mm (1/8") mono jack (albeit my stereo plug worked fine, too). Inside is a large speaker and a huge magnet which is shielded so as not to interfere with sensitive radio parts, your fine watch, and so forth. I tried to see if it would distort a cheap compass and indeed, it did not so the shielding works. There is some generous baffle material that lines the entire inside of the cabinet and the wiring for the connectors, all bright and shiny, solidly soldered. The exact size and placement of the baffle, cabinet dimensions in relation to the speaker driver size are where the engineering comes in to reproduce CW or quite natural voice communications. How it sounds, is well, almost musical. It has a voice that rivals a high quality stereo book shelf speaker, say the legendary Dynaco A-50. In replicating sound, the beautifully and carefully made assembly, has the timber, tone and balanced treble with bass and mid-range one might otherwise find in a speaker with a cross over yet is optimized for the audible frequencies one wishes to hear when digging out that distant station from the ground floor noise level. In this, it produces sounds as good as a truly well made headset without the discomfort of wearing them. Simply put, it is well engineered, beautifully crafted, it looks nice, it is easy to listen to and it sounds terrific. For this quality, it is quite fairly priced. You may buy it directly from Palstar on their website or select on-line retailers. Palstar shipped mine the day I ordered it, well packaged to arrive in pristine condition. One cannot ask for more.
N4KZ Rating: 2011-05-28
The best I've owned in 42 years Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After searching for a couple years for a speaker that sounded good on SSB and CW - without rattling, having too much bass or hiss - I have ended my search. That's because my new Palstar SP30H is the best sounding speaker I've owned in my 42 years as a ham. I've been through a bunch of matching speakers from the JA Big Three. Many of them sounded so-so, at best. Mainly, you're buying a matching cabinet with those and the speaker seems to be an after-thought. But the SP30H looks good and sounds even better. Just right for communications use. I even rearranged my ham shack to put the speaker at center stage on my operating desk so that it directs its wonderful audio right at me. I've worn earphones for all these years while operating CW but at this rate I'm thinking the 'phones will soon be retired. (Heck, they were uncomfortable anyway and make my ears hot!) Got my speaker at the Dayton Hamvention. Hauling it back to my car wasn't easy because it's a big box but it was worth every ounce of sweat. I even rigged up a switch box so my Icom Pro 3 and Kenwood TS-590 now output their audio to this wonderful speaker. My Yaesu SP-8 speaker got demoted to my 2 meter rig - which I don't use much.

Typically, matching speakers from the Japanese big three are not cheap. This speaker costs about the same, maybe a little less but it sounds much, much better so spend your money on this one and forget about getting a matching cabinet with an after-thought speaker.

73, N4KZ
KD0ZV Rating: 2011-03-25
Typical A+ as you would expect Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Havent bought anything from Palstar that I did not find top notch. This is no exception. Have to say I thought it was somewhat ugly when I first saw it on their site. But in person its gorgeous with the cherry cabinet.

Very pleasing to listen to and seems to cut noise without cutting highs. I also have a Sounds Sweet speaker (now in the basement) and the Palstar is 10 times better sounding and 100 times nicer build.
KM6CQ Rating: 2011-01-09
Awsome Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is like a JBL 3411B studio monitor. It does not add to the sound. It simply reproduces the sound in its entirety. It is the very best speaker I have ever used on HF. SSB signals come alive and CW is soothing. You really have to hear this speaker. Fit and finish and build quality is very good, and even if it was not I would still buy it for the sound is so good. There is no bassy or muffled sound. What you hear in the voice range is very clean and life like. Using this with a TS-950S really shows it off. This is one of those products that has no flaws. Every thing about it is good. I highly recommend it.
K2VF Rating: 2010-10-07
Built well great sound Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
It was a bit of a journey before I purchased this speaker. I started with the Icom SP-23 it was ok but as a audiophile I knew it was missing on the low response side. Next was the Minimus 77 Radio Shack speakers. Please note these were discontinued from Radio Shack years ago but were fantastic in its day. Still not happy, I ordered the Palstar SP30H. Great build quality right out of the box and multiple ways to make a connection. I hooked them up to my Icom 7600 and was blown away at the sound. Great lows and the tonal quality and range made a big difference in speech Intelligibility on SSB modes. I would highly recommend this speaker. Please be aware that they are a bit over sized so its best to measure to see were it fits.
N9NJM Rating: 2010-10-06
Outstanding! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Great craftsmanship and great customer service. It's worth the extra money for a Palstar speaker. The SP30H is very well made. They are very fair and easy to work with. I will definitely buy from them again.

Kyle N9NJM
N0GBR Rating: 2010-08-14
Comfortable listening! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I too have tried many speakers over the years and have finally found the last one. The sound is best described a perfectly balanced and comfortable. There is no booming base or shrill treble. I was dubious that my 61 year old ears could distinguish the difference. I am no longer doubtful. I planned on keeping the Icom speaker for a couple of weeks to see how they compared but and after 2 days I never went back to the little 756 matching speaker. I sold it on eBay.
N0AH Rating: 2010-06-05
Great for CW Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Finally, after a year long search, I found an awesome speaker for my CW work- Deep rich sound and is also perfect for local AM Oldies station, 1340 a.m..Speaker is driven with audio output jack in back of rig. I can turn it up in the basement and the whole two story house csn hear it- very fb!!
N9ZI Rating: 2010-05-17
Awesome Speaker Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Great sounding base station speaker, rich, clear sound very pleasant on the ears, both on CW & SSB.
Looks nice, well made, much better than the ones usually sold.
Have two Palstar tuners, all top quality, am a very satisfied user.
K4ROZ Rating: 2010-03-28
AMAZING COMM. SPEAKER! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Not since the days of the hugh Hammerlund speakers that looked like movie theatre speakers, have I been able to find a speaker for my ham radio rigs that I liked. The ones that come as optional boxes from the mfgrs are simply junk and not worth the money. In fact I have been using a Radio Shack cheap speaker in a wooden box for many years and the OEM speakers sit on the shelf.
I have a Palstart Auto Tuner (1.5 kw version) and I was so impresses with their quality and service that I ordered one of the new SP30H speakers and it came in just in time for the CQ DX SSB contest this weekend. I love it! It's the best speaker I have ever used for amateur radio.
I could fileter out tremendous QRM with my ICOM 7600's DSP filters and notch controls, and a very weak signal in a pile-up with lots of QRM
would suddenly come alive and Q-5 copy. The frequency range of the speaker is just right and the speaker has a lot of presence. It seems to filter out the static crashes and hiss. It is about 12 inches by 10 inches in the front and sits on top of the rig nicely. The wood cabinet is like a fine piece of furniture.
It's worth every penny! Get one ASAP.