Extension Speaker - Homebrewing Ol' Ned.

Ol' Ned, the speaker(s)

Listening to amateur radio signals with tin cans (headphones) is not always very pleasant, especially over long periods of time.  Tin cans also isolate you from other important duties, such as attending to matters when the XYL shouts for a coffee!  The result of not hearing can be disastrous.

So, for a while, I've been using these two speakers from a binned CRT television set, just hanging around on the desk loosely. Hooked up together, they form a nice 8 Ohm match to the output of the rig.

I've also been looking at the price of extension speakers.  They are not cheap!  A small desktop unit can cost well over $200, a classic example of "you will pay lots for any simple stuff because you are stupid, rich ham operator."

So, time to tidy up the speakers over the weekend, when I cut-up some old plywood and laminate kitchen flooring to come up with a cabinet for the two speakers that looks, in the end, rather neat.

I've named the unit  Ol' Ned.  Why?  Because it is internally damped with a large amount of horse hair - an excellent material for the job.  This was, of course, left over from lime rendering and plastering!

Total cost of Ol' Ned?  Zilch.  Result?  Brilliant, rich sound with much-attenuated high frequency hiss. The experience is much more like a landscape in front of you, rather than just plain sound.  Much better reproduction than even my best headphones, and doesn't hurt your head.  Unless you try to wear Ol' Ned around your ear.  In which case, it will hurt.  A lot.

UPDATE: I am listening to AP2MB, a long, all-terrestrial path to Pakistan on 12m just after my breakfast.  He is very weak, but readability 4 whilst listening on Ol' Ned.  I quickly switched to my best Sony headphones and...he is undetectable!  The difference between copy and no copy.  That's the power of Ol' Ned!