Cabin speaker

[NotarPilot]

I recently had the headliner opens up and noticed my cabin speaker is one of those old Realistic (Radio Shack) paper speakers. I looked in the parts manual for the M20J and saw that they have two speakers listed as approved parts. One is a Realistic the other is a Blaupunkt which looks like a better quality. 

Has anyone replaced that speaker with the Blaupunkt model? Was there any improvement on the sound? Mine works but I'd like to replace it with a better product, probably due to my acute OCD.

[Hank]

I'm not sure I've ever heard anything come out of the cabin speaker in the almost nine years I've owned mine . . . Wonder if it's hooked up to the intercom? Now I've got to test it! (If it ever quits raining . . . )

[jclemens]

I think I have one of those Blaupunkt speakers in stock.  Couldn't say whether the sound quality is any different or not.

[Piloto]

The size of the speaker magnet determines the audio quality at high volume. But in planes too big of a magnet can affect the compass. When installing a new speaker check for compass deviation.

José

Edited April 14, 2016 by Piloto

[NotarPilot]

5 hours ago, Hank said:

I'm not sure I've ever heard anything come out of the cabin speaker in the almost nine years I've owned mine . . . Wonder if it's hooked up to the intercom? Now I've got to test it! (If it ever quits raining . . . )

I will turn on the cabin speaker if I have to adjust my headset and don't want to risk missing a call from ATC. I also use it to make announcements to passengers "From the flight deck" while flying over the Grand Canyon.

[rbridges]

6 minutes ago, NotarPilot said:

I will turn on the cabin speaker if I have to adjust my headset and don't want to risk missing a call from ATC. I also use it to make announcements to passengers "From the flight deck" while flying over the Grand Canyon.

I was going to ask if anyone used cabin speakers.  To this day, I have yet to use mine (if it works).

[NotarPilot]

I figure it's a good thing to have should my headset fail or plug fail, however unlikely that may be.

[Mooneymite]

Ha!  The guy who brokered my plane was an old codger who never used seat belts (much less shoulder harnesses!) and only used a hand-held mic and the overhead speaker.  He died of old age with his hearing sharp as ever.  I guess he was from that amazing generation, not at all like us guys who buckle up and wear hearing protection!  

[N201MKTurbo]

I have a bunch of speakers. They are military surplus, they are the same part number as the Mooney speaker with a different dash number. They are the same size and electrically and acoustically identical. They were used in a tank. They have a waterproof cone, the leads are rotated 45 degrees and they don't have the extra screws to hold the magnet on. They are still sealed in the mil    spec packaging. My hangar fairies say they fit perfect and sound great. $25 + shipping will get you one.

[BillC]

On April 14, 2016 at 2:40 PM, Mooneymite said:

Ha!  The guy who brokered my plane was an old codger who never used seat belts (much less shoulder harnesses!) and only used a hand-held mic and the overhead speaker.  He died of old age with his hearing sharp as ever.  I guess he was from that amazing generation, not at all like us guys who buckle up and wear hearing protection!  

I was just going to respond about this very thing. While getting my PP license almost 50 years ago, we never wore headsets. No one did. But we did use seatbelts. Shoulder straps weren't available yet.

I always use my speaker to check ATIS, traffic at uncontrolled airports, etc while I'm still talking to ATC. Also, military and airline training has us put the ILS, NDB, VOR morse code identitier on speaker through out the approach. In the event the signal is lost, we would know about it before something bad happened.

[Hank]

I track the identifier through Nav 2, piped into my headset along with whichever radio I'm talking on.

[Andy95W]

17 hours ago, BillC said:

I was just going to respnd about this very thing. While getting my PP license almost 50 years ago, we never wore headsets. No one did. But we did use seatbelts. Shoulder straps weren't available yet.

It still surprises me how quickly the change to headsets happened.  When I got my license in 89-90, nobody wore headsets.  I got stationed in Korea for a year and a half, and when I got back and started my instrument training in 1992, everybody had headsets and an intercom.  My instrument instructor wouldn't even fly with me unless I borrowed a headset or bought my own.

[rbridges]

12 minutes ago, N1395W said:

It still surprises me how quickly the change to headsets happened.  When I got my license in 89-90, nobody wore headsets.  I got stationed in Korea for a year and a half, and when I got back and started my instrument training in 1992, everybody had headsets and an intercom.  My instrument instructor wouldn't even fly with me unless I borrowed a headset or bought my own.

I didn't know it was that recent.  My original CFI was an older fellow (in his 70's in 2010).  He had bad hearing and blamed a lot of it on flying without headsets over the years.  Anyway, I assumed it was something that transitioned during the 60s or so, not as late as the 90's!

[gsxrpilot]

I got my PPL in 2008 and my instructor wouldn't use headsets at all. But now I'm headsets only. I've never used the speaker in my C for anything other than this...