Best helmet to accommodate speakers?

[Texan]

I have the Autocom speakers in my Shoei RF-1000. After about 2-3 hours, they start to irritate my ears. The speaker is pressing against the outside of my ear. I've got them in the ideal location for sound and have not removed any helmet material to accommodate them.

Which helmets have the best pocket to fit helmet speakers? I'm getting ready to switch to Bluetooth.

 

[Patriot]

email Aaron at www.newenough.com -> [email protected]

and call J&M Customer Service for good answers -> 1-800-358-0881

can also email at: [email protected]

I've asked this exact question about a year ago in the reverse...purchased an HJC helmet and wanted to know what headset would fit and what would be too big (thick speakers)

 

[CAJW]

I have a Scorpion EXO-400 that seems to have larger ear pockets compared to other helmets I've used. I use a Collet Communicator and their "micro blaster" speakers seem to fit just fine in the Scorpion. I've tried the speakers in my Shoei X-11 and Arai Signet, but they are not near as comfortable as in the Scorpion. HTH

 

[HaulinAshe]

HJC, any HJC. The Chatterbox line is their product. All their street helmets have speaker pockets built-in.

 

[atxrider]

+1 on HJCs. I recently purchased a sena smh10 headset and the speakers are smaller than most. I have been on a few long rides with them in my HJC Fs-16, and have had no irritability to speak of.

If you are going bluetooth, I highly recommend the Sena setup. My father and I recently took them on a trip to the Southeast, and we could not be more pleased with the sound quality and range. You are more than welcome to try them out sometime.

 

[Cibrd0wn]

I am using a Shoei rf-1100 with a J&M elite ff headset it works great. I sent my wifes shoei and had J&M install it. Once i figured out what how they installed it I installed my own. Only a little cutting was done but it fits great and sounds wonderful with no irritation.

 

[user 17459]

All HJCs aren't good for speakers. (At least not Autocom speakers.)

I had been using an HJC Symax for some time, and my Autocom speakers fit perfect. I recently upgraded to the new Symax II (same size helmet) and the fit around the ears is much tighter. I had to remove the same speakers I was using on the original Symax and use my ear plugs exclusively. I tried moving them around, but too much pressure on the ears.

Symax II is not as speaker friendly, but a nice helmet otherwise.

Rick

 

[ScottyUSN]

I flush mount installed the J&M bluetooth set up in my RF-1000 (mic and speaker). It was a careful hour of exacto knife carving, but well worth the results.

Does not touch my ears, and highway volume is typically 50% ish.

 

[Auburn]

Any helmet will work. Get the one that fits you best.

Remove the liner and the cheek pads and then slowly carve or enlarge the speaker pockets until they don't bother you any more and give enough room for the speakers and your ears. You may have to do a it a few times to get the fit just right, but it is time well spent and is easy to do.

I use the Big Ear molded ear plugs with speakers built int, but I still needed to do a little carving of the foan aroudn the ear pockets to fit them to me. I currently have a scorpion helmet.

 

[phroenips]

The new RF-1100 has indentations designed to fit speakers. I'm sure there are others out there as well.

 

[juniorfjr]

I have the HJC Symax with the Autocom speakers in it. Where they work well enough, with the speakers in, the helmet is noticibly noisier. So I switch to ER6-i's when I'm going out of town, but there's not enough room for them and the speakers at the same time. I end up pulling the speakers in and out, depending on how long I'll be on the bike.

 

[Texan]

I flush mount installed the J&M bluetooth set up in my RF-1000 (mic and speaker). It was a careful hour of exacto knife carving, but well worth the results.

Does not touch my ears, and highway volume is typically 50% ish.

Scotty, did you cut out some of the hard plastic liner to move the speakers away from your ears a bit? It's the outside edges of my ears rubbing on the speakers that cause the irritation.

 

[Bungie]

HJC IS-16 currently with the Collett Microblasters. Just lift up the ear pad slide the speakers under with a bit of velcro. Done. I've run two HJC's with these speakers without problems.

 

[McRide]

I also have the RF1000 with ACom. I changed the speakers to the Phillips KaBoom, or something like that (along time ago and I can't remember the model #). Before you go and drop $400 on another helmet, try cutting the hard plastic inner liner to the outline of the speakers and chisel out a bit of the foam to recess the speakers. After a bit of measuring and finding the sweet spot, which you already have, you may find that the ear pinch goes away.

 

[BrettB]

Interesting thread, and glad to know others have the same issue. I have an RF-1000, and thought it was a wonderfully comfortable helmet until I installed the Autocom speakers (which were just fine in the Arai Quantum I had been using) and the pressure on the outside of my ears hurts like a bugger. Scared of cutting the inner liner and removing material and potentially upsetting the structural integrity of the stuff that is purportedly there to protect my brain, I went to an in-ear monitor (Westone UM2). Which also has the benefit of a lot higher quality sound. Downside is I have two wires to plug in and also dangling under my chin. I keep thinking about doing the carving I see now that others have indeed went ahead and done, or about ditching it all and going Bluetooth (but that would cost more $$)

 

[fljab]

I have a Nolan N103 modular with J&M top of the line speakers I installed.

When I first put them in, I took the liner all apart, spent some time with an exacto knife and put them in. The Nolan had "ear pockets" and a "valley" for the wires so it went pretty good.

I tried them out first on a ~400 mile RT route with a friend of mine and my ears hurt so bad that it was all I could do to put the helmet back on/take it off at gas stops!

So, I went back and pulled it all out, then started cutting again. The exacto/razor knife wasn't gettin' it, so I took a sanding disc on an air/rotary tool. I had to cut down the diameter of the sanding disc, but it worked great to get the area down to sink the speakers in better.

I have since worn this helmet for thousands of miles with no issues. The moral of the story is to sink them in enough and ride progressively longer routes until you're sure they won't make them ears all tender.

I have installed speakers in two other helmets; the last one before the Nolan was a HJC modular (don't know the model# right now) and didn't have the same problem. The Nolan fits really well in all other respects, so it's something to do with how the cheekpads/side of head where the speakers go that is different.

 

[ScottyUSN]

I flush mount installed the J&M bluetooth set up in my RF-1000 (mic and speaker). It was a careful hour of exacto knife carving, but well worth the results.

Does not touch my ears, and highway volume is typically 50% ish.

Scotty, did you cut out some of the hard plastic liner to move the speakers away from your ears a bit? It's the outside edges of my ears rubbing on the speakers that cause the irritation.

Yes, I cut out the hard plastic and scooped out the majority of the styrofoam in the shape of the speakers.

 

[DELETE-PLEASE]

I flush mount installed the J&M bluetooth set up in my RF-1000 (mic and speaker). It was a careful hour of exacto knife carving, but well worth the results.

Does not touch my ears, and highway volume is typically 50% ish.

Scotty, did you cut out some of the hard plastic liner to move the speakers away from your ears a bit? It's the outside edges of my ears rubbing on the speakers that cause the irritation.

Yes, I cut out the hard plastic and scooped out the majority of the styrofoam in the shape of the speakers.

Ditto on this. Did mine many months ago, and I cut out the foam to be a LITTLE smaller than the speaker size. Then I squeezed the speakers inside the hole. It kept it there tight without glue/velcro. I used an exacto knife and a lot of patience and nervousness to get the job done.

Alexi

 

[ScottyUSN]

Shoei RF-1000 with J&M Bluetooth, Mic and Speakers flush mounted.

Just take your time. I broke a wire to the speaker due to losing patience.