Cheap speaker and mic for your armor

[AoBfrost]

Radioshack.com and instore has this portable stereo speakers that fold and are thin.

http://www.radioshack.com/sm-portable-fold...pi-2103838.html

This will run off a battery or a ac adapter plug.

Because it uses a stereo 3.5mm jack, it can be converted with a adapter to have a mic be plugged in. The the sound from the mic should be directly transfered to the speakers.

This may not fit inside a helmet, but can fit behind the chest piece of almost any suit of armor.

THe total cost will be around 30 dollars if you dont have the mic or adapter.

Sorry I couldnt post a pic of the adapter, I have one, but I dont know the exact name of it.

EDIT:

I found a cheaper speaker with good sound quality according to reviews. 16$ from amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Cyber-Acoustics-Port...1093&sr=8-3

 

[Adam]

I have this speaker. Sounds OK, and I use it in the garage to listen to my Zune.

 

[AoBfrost]

Ya, the reviews say it's a good speaker, some say it's decent but not loud enough for a party, but loud enough to fill the room.

I have a small speaker like this but it doesnt run off batteries, it runs off the power coming from whatever you plug it into, which then makes it useless for armor since the way it is is useless, I dont feel like rewiring it when it itself isnt that great of a speaker.

I might just go and see what radioshack has for 20 dollars or less, play around and test different models and brands, anything loud, clear, and runs of batteries works for me.

 

[PillowFire]

make your own speaker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m8fbnShPcw

 

[AoBfrost]

Tested and fake, tons of people have tried it, none can get it to work.

 

[Radioactiv]

Ooh... I think I might get this for my helmet when I finish detailing it and putting on the final touches...
Since it'd be kinda hard to hear my voice outside of my helmet, I think I might put in a small mic and put the speakers in the back pieces above the shoulders (you know what I'm talking about.) And yeah... that'd be really sweet. I can imagine it now XD
Sneaking up on someone with the speakers on high and yelling "BOO!"

 

[AoBfrost]

I'd put this in the chest area or in the crotch piece, but I'd say chest would be alot better.

You will need a adapter with both ends having input for a 3.5mm stereo jack, it connects to the speaker's jack, and on the other end, you attach a headphone jack which will allow you to talk into it and have others hear you from the speakers.

Because you are doing this from the chest TO the helmet (mic goes into helmet) you probably need a extension cord for the stereo jacks, otherwise, some mics may be long enough already.


Darksword PM'd me telling me it is also hard to understand people talking to you, he says the best way to solve is use a "spy ear". It's a little mic and headphone piece that captures all sound and makes it loud for you to hear easily, this makes sense, and me owning one already, will be very helpful. If you dont have one, they cost 5-8 dollars.

 

[Belakor]

... Darksword PM'd me telling me it is also hard to understand people talking to you, he says the best way to solve is use a "spy ear". It's a little mic and headphone piece that captures all sound and makes it loud for you to hear easily, this makes sense, and me owning one already, will be very helpful. If you dont have one, they cost 5-8 dollars.

If you use two "spy ears" you can get stereo sound, you'll just need to find a Y type adaptor to split your regular headphones between the two units... with only one it can get a bit confusing trying to figure out who is talking to you. Also, if you're able to do some soldering you can rewire the internal mic and add an extension so you can mount the spy ear in an easy to reach place in the helmet and have the mic fitted elsewhere (it's really handy to be able to turn the volume down when things get crazy at a Con )

 

[AoBfrost]

I thought about placing my spy ear behind my stormtrooper armor's front vents where the nose/mouth is, some sound will be captured through there. But I may get feedback from my own voice when talking.

 

[Belakor]

I thought about placing my spy ear behind my stormtrooper armor's front vents where the nose/mouth is, some sound will be captured through there. But I may get feedback from my own voice when talking.

Initially I had my single spy ear mounted behind the vents running over the nose area but I decided to move it (and add another) because, as you said, it picked up my own voice and was a little annoying. It does work though and is probably one of the best spots for a single unit, you could also mount it down near the aerators (unless that's where you were meaning to begin with)

Here's a few pics of how I've got mine setup in my TK, the white wire is for the mic (the other is for an unrelated mod). Drill a hole in the earcap and hot-glue the mic behind it then run the wire through a hole in the helmet to the spy ear... the idea came from another 501st member on another forum but I can't remember who.

I'm using a similar system in my Recon and it'd be pretty easy to adapt it for any other helmet

Back to the original topic... if you can find one of the old radioshack voice amps (I can't seem to find a link for the model I have), or any other voice amplification system, you can mount a couple of small (25mm) speakers in the front of the helmet instead of having to put a larger unit in the chest, the sound isn't as loud as it would be with a larger speaker but people have never had any trouble hearing me talk with these ones. The smaller speakers actually add a tinny/static kind of noise which sounds pretty cool too
I've got two mounted in each aerator on my TK, I'll post some pics once I finish the system for the Recon

 

[AoBfrost]

I'm just looking for anything that will play my voice clearly. Although I would prefer a static burst amp like radio shack used to carry a few years ago, but since they dont have it anymore, I'll take a look at what they do have that will work, otherwise, i'll just go with my original idea, get some battery powered mp3 player speakers and hook a mic to it.

 

[lionheart912]

I forget who it was, but someone who had cardboard armor put speakers in those little box things above the shoulders and played Halo music through them. I think that'd be a good place to put them. Although my suit will probably have a voice changer like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Funantics-Toys-VOICE...=pd_sim_t_img_4

 

[AoBfrost]

Thats the best dang thing I need.

Cheap and is all in one.

Thank you sooooo much for posting that.

 

[NoMercyJoe]

Let me say though , usually those "toy" voice changers don't do a really good job. Now , if one wanted to get a 900 $ board and disguise it somewhere , you could sound just like Chief.

All those ones are different though...if anyone gets it I'd be interested to see how well it works.


-Joe