Oh yeah, listen to that sweet music!

[luvtoride]

Awhile back I got the bug to have music on my bike for those long, run-on, drudgery style romps between the twisty bits... or just slabbing out of town. (I don't listen to any music while carving)

Being the kind of person who likes to conserve a few bucks, I thought and thought about how I was going to solve this problem.

Speakers are important to me. When I first started wishing for tunes I was thinking to myself... boy, I'll NEVER find any speakers that sound as good as those Sony Digital Monitor headphones that I have... LIGHTBULB!

"What if I take the speakers out of those headphones (which were about 15 years old... but still sound awesome!) & put them in my helmet???" After all, the covering on their cushions that sit against your face are peeling.

That's what I did. I stripped the entire (nicely made, I might add) set with an exacto knife to do my dissection.

In my old helmet there was speaker pockets that I stuck these in combo'd with an MP3 player that I purchased for this purpose after Jimmy Rigging the chords so that they were no longer overwhelmingly long. You were forced to put the speakers wherever the manufacturer thought that your ears were. This didn't work out that well for me. I'll tell ya' the positioning in those little pockets sucked hard!

When I got my new helmet for Christmas, the first thing I did was take the speakers out of my old lid and put them in the new... but... what's this??? No speaker pockets??? There is gaping area for your ears to float around, though... & some little cheesy cushions that you can velcro in the holes.

Well, with a little ingenuity I'm now sporting a new HJC Symax helmet with custom cut cushions to fit in those pesky open areas & circles cut out for my speakers embedded in the foam. That was tonight's project... besides perusing the site.

I just hope the smell of the glue that I used mellows out... or I'll be making new ones with Elmer's.

I cut up an old tee shirt so I could use the material to cover them, too. I haven't had a chance to ride with them yet, but I'm sure that I did a good job on placement & the sound IS WONDERFUL! No mono in THIS girl's ears!

I don't have any pics for two reasons... #1 I have no digital camera. & #2 I have no digital camera.

Have a great rest of the weekend,Heidi

 

[Feejer/Weejer man]

I found that the ear holes didn't line up in my HJC Symax and my auto com speakers never did get into the right place. In my Arai and my Shoei I got the speakers to line up ok but then couldn't wear earplugs. So i went to custom stereo earmolds that work as earplugs and give excellent sound. Nothing like having music piped directly into your ear while gettin outside noise protection from wind and bike noise.

 

[luvtoride]

The manufacturer's idea of where people's ears are located is kind of bazaar, don't you think?

Anyhow, those earplugs... they sound good, eh? Maybe I'll try that route out one day. I'm one of those people who doesn't like to wear earplugs. If someone beeps at me, their brakes squeal, etc. I want to know about it... so I don't wear earplugs. I'm hoping that the foam that I added is going to cut some of the wind noise... that wasn't terribly bad, anyhow & the sound of the bike??? Sweet music to ma' ears, I tell ya"!

Besides, my helmet now sounds like I'm standing in a room full of speakers. I even have bass response!

Have a good rest of the weekend,

Heidi

 

[Bounce]

All of those issues are moot when you upgrade to custom molded ear monitors.

After years and years and models and brands of headsets, ear monitors beat them every which way from Sunday, reduce total volume thanks to the ear monitors feeding straight into your ear and not having to push high pressure to get past the already loud ambient noises and, probably, ear plugs.

Not only do you get better sound, you get it at lower total dB and still have it completely understandable. Hearing healthy!

iirc they were about $150 including the custom fitting and shipping. i now have a second pair with a shorter (4 foot) cord.

 

[profireguy]

Bounce, what was the cost for the items on your website? I am looking into molded plugs, I see that Aerostich is selling a "at-home" molding kit, and I am trying to see what the best course is. I am looking locally, I would like to try some more genral ones with a helmet. I am not sure how far these molded ones stick out of your ears.

 

[IanS]

I am not sure how far these molded ones stick out of your ears.

They don't stick out at all they sit flush to the opening of the ear canal.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Just as another option, I bought a Chatterbox last summer for the wife and I to use. I just bought the relatively cheap Multi-sport model and mounted the Chatterbox speakers into the lining of the cheekpads, similar to what Heidi described. I found the spot on the cheekpads where my ears lined up, and removed the cheekpads. Carefully peeled off the cloth cover, trimmed away a little of the existing foam with an exacto, set in the speakers, and put everything back as it was. You can't even tell they're in there. Now I can still ride with earplugs and hear the music very well, while still killing the wind noise. I tried ALOT of different types of in-ear or earbud type speakers. The only problem I had with them was when I wanted to take my helmet off. The helmet would grab the earbuds and try to them and my ears with it!! I'm very happy to say that's no longer a problem, and sound quality and ambient noise reduction is excellent. My wife doesn't ride with earplugs (although I wish she would) and we've had no issues with the tunes being too loud for one or too quiet for the other. Now I never ride without my Chatterbox on, just to have the tuneage piped in. It rocks.

That's my solution.

 

[Ramblin Man]

You don't wear earplugs?.....[SIZE=14pt]I SAID YOU DON"T WEAR EARPLUGS???[/SIZE] Send me your mailing address and I'll send you some. I used to work in manufacturing and had the opportunity to try several types. I bought a life time supply from grainger. They are very comfortable and cut out the painful harmful noise without removing you from this dimention.

I hate to think of the damage you are doing to your hearing riding without ear protection. especially when you start cranking up the tunes. [SIZE=14pt]I said I'm worried about your hearing.[/SIZE]

 

[SkooterG]

You don't wear earplugs?.....[SIZE=14pt]I SAID YOU DON"T WEAR EARPLUGS???[/SIZE] Send me your mailing address and I'll send you some. I used to work in manufacturing and had the opportunity to try several types. I bought a life time supply from grainger. They are very comfortable and cut out the painful harmful noise without removing you from this dimention.
I hate to think of the damage you are doing to your hearing riding without ear protection. especially when you start cranking up the tunes. [SIZE=14pt]I said I'm worried about your hearing.[/SIZE]

+1

Heidi - wear earplugs. Please. You WILL get hearing loss from riding without earplugs. Its loud in there. You still hear the important stuff. Additionally, I found that after I started wearing earplugs, I was much more relaxed with the constant noise absent, and also found it less fatiging.

Seriously. You wear a helmet to protect you knoggin. Wear the earplugs to protect your hearing. Once you get hearing loss, it never comes back.

As for custom molded ear monitors its like many other things. Your results may vary.

They don't stick out at all they sit flush to the opening of the ear canal.

That is not necessarily true. At least not for my ear/helmet combination. Mine were causing a high level of discomfort, especially with one of my tighter fitting helmets. That's the rub, it all depends on the persons ear shape and helmet. Many like Bounce swear by the custom molded jobbies, but they didn't work for me. I finally found the Etymotic ER-6 earbud speakers which work pretty good for less money.

They are not perfect however, as on 24 hour rallys, I usually start getting some discomfort after 10-15 hours. So I was planning on installing the Autocomm speakers in my HJC Symax helmet for a second option. But your comments above have got me worried. Oh well, still gotta try it. It's too damned bad helmet manufacturers don't off speakers as an option. Well, other than this manufacturer: Baehr Silencer Motorcycle Helmet

But goodness, its pricey!!!

 

[FJRocket]

You don't wear earplugs?.....[SIZE=14pt]I SAID YOU DON"T WEAR EARPLUGS???[/SIZE] Send me your mailing address and I'll send you some. I used to work in manufacturing and had the opportunity to try several types. I bought a life time supply from grainger. They are very comfortable and cut out the painful harmful noise without removing you from this dimention.
I hate to think of the damage you are doing to your hearing riding without ear protection. especially when you start cranking up the tunes. [SIZE=14pt]I said I'm worried about your hearing.[/SIZE]

Heidi, I agree with the sage advice above, get earplugs. Well, earphone plugs.. or monitors like Bounce recommends.

I also found the ear position poor on my HJC. I tried a couple sets of my own speakers from headsets and my results sucked. One thing I found was that I had to turn the volumn WAY up to hear them, and through ear plugs it just sucked more moist *** cheese. Without ear plugs, well, my Dad has stereo hearing aids and I'm trying to avoid that as long as I can. I like the Symax helmet, but there are certainly quieter lids out there. So as you probably have read on many occasions, I went to the Etymotic ER-6i earphones, now available in black. About $90, but worth the money. Excellent background protection and fantastic sound quality.

Let us know how your DIY project goes!

 

[krashdragon]

I finally found the Etymotic ER-6 earbud speakers which work pretty good for less money.

I've been looking at those and the 6i's as well... How far do the earplugs stick out?

do you have any problem with wearing a helmet?

I'd hate to spend $150 and find out I can't wear them with a ff helmet...

can't see riding a FJR and wearing a half helmet... It would pbly blow off anyway! :ba:

Mary aka Krashdragon

 

[JimLor]

Mary - I've got the ER6i's and they work great. I got them for about $100 as I recall and can look at the receipt for the vendor if you like. They fit just fine under my Shoei RF 1000 headmit, no problems. You just have to be aware of the wires so you don't yank them out of your ears when removing your headmit. They come with the standard silicon 3 baffle plugs which work fine for me. You can call the Ent...company and they'll send you a sampling of other styles/sizes. The foam plugs are great if you don't want to hear anything but music.

Jim

 

[TheBlueStreak]

Hey FJRVTX1300S, I like the idea of your earmolds but I have a question. When the music is not on how good are the earmolds at reducing wind and bike noise? Are they the same or better than wax or other earplugs.

THANKS!!

Rob

 

[tulane76]

Mary - Am about to take the plunge for the ER6i's due to this thread. Struggled with ear/headphones for years. Probably will go the Ebay route. I see some for about $80...NIB

Jay

 

[Tom of VA]

I've been riding with speakers in my helmet for a year now and love it. Now that I added a satelite radio I'm set. But, I never heard of wearing ear plugs while using speakers? What kind of ear plugs?

 

[SkooterG]

But, I never heard of wearing ear plugs while using speakers? What kind of ear plugs?

Any kind you like. I use the el cheapo yellow foam throw-aways. Work great. And just to be clear, even when I get speakers installed in my helmet, I will still ALWAYS wear the ear plugs.

 

[Bounce]

Hey FJRVTX1300S, I like the idea of your earmolds but I have a question. When the music is not on how good are the earmolds at reducing wind and bike noise? Are they the same or better than wax or other earplugs.

IMO they are better than the standard, disposable foam style that I've been using for years.