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Sena SMH-10b Speaker Upgrade

mcfly

Guest
Guest
Though I love my Sena, the speakers are absolute crap (imho).
When riding, especially at highway speed, it was difficult to hear
music, phone calls, GPS directions... it was all way too quiet, and
very tinny.

My wearing ear plugs certainly does not help, but I like what
hearing I have left, so they're not going anywhere. 

I decided to try ear buds, but they're very uncomfortable
when my head is in the helmet.  They also don't do a very
good job cancelling road/wind/engine noise. 

I figured why not try to swap out the speakers?  Something a little
better audio quality maybe?  Not wanting to break the bank, I went with
a pair of 32ohm headphone replacement speakers for $21 on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GZFKB72/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These speakers are nice and thin, and only a few mm larger than the Sena speakers.  Sena speakers are 28 ohm,
the new ones are 32 ohm, so I'm hoping battery life isn't compromised too much.

The process was fairly straight forward.  Removed the existing speakers, with a gentle tug.
Soldered the new speakers in (watch polarity), and viola!

The new speakers are considerably louder, and offer a tad more low frequency output.
The audio quality is much better too.  In the living room, with ear plugs in I can hear
the difference. I'm looking forward to a test ride to see if the upgrade works on the road.

Fun times!

 
Cool, about what I did with my old setup.  I just busted a pair of over the ear head phones off and used them. 50 % better. 

Then I found that every 1/4" of distance the speaker is from your ear you get ~50 % less bass.  I reworked my helmet to move the speakers right up to my ear hole with only a thin cotton cloth between us.  That my friend was the biggest improvement.  Music sound was better,  road sound was down and used less than full volume even with ear plugs..
 
Saw this discussion. Have a question and seems like a good place to ask.

I have a SENA 10R.
For some reason, only 1 speaker works.  {I think power is not available on the other side}
  {I know I can reverse the speaker plugs to check, but haven't done so}

So question is; {If I'm correct and there is no power available} Can I tap into the 1 side that does have power (and use both speakers), or will that overload the system?

Ride safe, Ted
 
Ted,
Barring any stretched/broken speaker wiring, I'd just make sure the non-working speaker plug is firmly pushed into its speaker jack.  There is probably no separate power to the speaker other than the audio signal through the speaker wire. 
 
Thanx; I've already plugged/unplugged the problem speaker with no luck.
          Supplier suggested reversing the wires to determine if it's the speaker or the system.
                I have not done that yet.
            If the problem is the speaker itself, I'll do an upgrade as McFly did.
            If the problem is the system/plug, might attach both speakers to the same working side..

Ride safe, Ted
 
Ted,
There is a chance that having both speakers on the same side would overload the output.  The speakers in parallel would reduce the load on the output which is bad sometimes.  Putting them in series would double the load and still may not be good or reach full volume.

I would try to find a way to try the non working side attached to the working side.  Reversing is not really making sense to me but I am not sure what connector yours has.  You might also just buy or borrow replacement speakers and see what is broke that way.
 
smithr1 said:
Ted,
There is a chance that having both speakers on the same side would overload the output.  The speakers in parallel would reduce the load on the output which is bad sometimes.  Putting them in series would double the load and still may not be good or reach full volume.

I would try to find a way to try the non working side attached to the working side.  Reversing is not really making sense to me but I am not sure what connector yours has.  You might also just buy or borrow replacement speakers and see what is broke that way.

Thanx Steve. The overload is what I'm concerned with.
                    The 10R system has plugs for the left and the right side. My left side works, right doesn't.
                    I think I can plug my right side speaker into the left side plug to test the right speaker.
                      If not possible, I can remove a speaker from my wife's helmet to do a similar test.
                      Just haven't got around to doing so..

Ride safe, Ted
 
smithr1 said:
Cool, about what I did with my old setup.  I just busted a pair of over the ear head phones off and used them. 50 % better. 

Then I found that every 1/4" of distance the speaker is from your ear you get ~50 % less bass.  I reworked my helmet to move the speakers right up to my ear hole with only a thin cotton cloth between us.  That my friend was the biggest improvement.  Music sound was better,  road sound was down and used less than full volume even with ear plugs..

I used 3M double sided foam tape to secure the speakers.  I can thicken that up....  worth a looksie.  Thanks.
I've also found playing with the settings on my iPhone helped also.  In audio settings, I
switched the setting to 'small speaker', and a lot of the screaching highs are cut down.

Going for a ride tomorrow morning to test the new set up.  :motonoises:
 
connie_rider said:
smithr1 said:
Ted,
There is a chance that having both speakers on the same side would overload the output.  The speakers in parallel would reduce the load on the output which is bad sometimes.  Putting them in series would double the load and still may not be good or reach full volume.

I would try to find a way to try the non working side attached to the working side.  Reversing is not really making sense to me but I am not sure what connector yours has.  You might also just buy or borrow replacement speakers and see what is broke that way.

Thanx Steve. The overload is what I'm concerned with.
                    The 10R system has plugs for the left and the right side. My left side works, right doesn't.
                    I think I can plug my right side speaker into the left side plug to test the right speaker.
                      If not possible, I can remove a speaker from my wife's helmet to do a similar test.
                      Just haven't got around to doing so..

Ride safe, Ted

If you go the 2 speakers on one wire route, find out the ohm rating on the Sena speaker, and wire
2 new speakers with 1/2 the ohm rating in series.  Shouldn't overload the amp.  :beerchug:
 
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