Speakers, Boosters and Headphones

I have noticed several posts on these three equipment items of late. The following are my observations only.
1. Boosters - one of the brands (noted in some other posts) appears to be off the market. Another brand is filling its place. I am having a lot problems with boosters, most likely due to the robust nature in the way I detect, the areas I detect and the high expectations I have of the equipment I buy.Stop selling me toys. I find the inbuilt boosters in the 4500 and 5000 to be more than suitable.
2. Speakers - I now only use these if out with the grand kids (safety), training and when doing coil tests with other people. Day to day? Wind, forest noises tend to mask faint signals and operating around machinery voids the speakers output. Verdict? Use only as described. In general use I am still having problems with speakers and have returned several. Not happy but once again, high expectations are not being met.
3. Headphones. High value, expensive made for detecting are the way to go for me. I am spending a lot of time detecting over new pushed areas, mechanically dug reefs etc, new mullock etc. If machinery is operating, headphones are the way to go, HOWEVER, where we are operating, there has to be a clear worksafe area where headphones can be used to avoid not hearing any operating machinery - a buddy system is the best option here.

Summary - speakers and boosters = In my opinion, they are not robust enough. For general use they are probably OK and on hot days probably the better option however, I tend not to detect when its hot. If anything, the heat,flies and the extra hot ground noises make for an unpleasant experience. I am finding that I tried speakers and boosters, but have returned back to good quality head phones. My observations only, rant over.

I hear you, its just i'm not a headphone guy! My wife can use headphones all day, I wish I could. I think headphones will always be better but thats why I guess people want an alternative. Would be nice if there was a good one. Need to get those BOSE engineers to make a proper speaker for people who don't like headphones.

I just don't feel comfortable in the bush with headphones blocking surrounding sounds. I use good quality earphones in one ear only. The earphones are connected to FM radio app. on my mobile phone. The signal from the detector is connected to small FM radio transmitter. That way I'm still aware what is going on around me and as the bonus I'm not tethered to the detector. It works for me.
Karl the

Sounds like you should be doing the quality control testing for some of these suppliers Loamer - hard on the gear :lol:
Have used 4 different types of booster & couldn't really say any one was better than the other; sound or quality wise; although some you can get a higher volume with. Never had to use full volume with any of them though & have found sub grammers with them all so I'm confident that I am hearing what I need to. Quality wise they all appear pretty light on for their use but in saying that by being conscious of placement of leads & booster I have never had an issue with any of them, touch wood, but do know of others that have even when being cautious of placement.
For my general type detecting I find the boosters & speakers do their job but like anything else could be improved on.
Just can't get myself used to headphones at all. Don't even like the feeling of having them on while walking around in the bush let alone the constant threshold in both ears all day which tends to linger for me after I've finished for the day.

KarlS said:

I just don't feel comfortable in the bush with headphones blocking surrounding sounds

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I'd feel the same, I like to know what's going on around me.

I can go either way, headphones/speaker... However on a windy day i always regret the speaker option... I just switched from my Koss headphones to some Gray Ghost Nugget Busters...
in my opinion they were worth the $140 price tag ordered from US..

FM transmitter sounds like a source of EMI to me, but if it works awesome..

Boosters are a penny a pound.. the 5-6 main operators are still based on the LM386 IC.. Hello 1980... But honestly, they're all good enough, they amplify audio signals..

downhalo said:

FM transmitter sounds like a source of EMI to me, but if it works awesome..

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No problems with X-terra 705 or SPP. The transmitter is very low power. Only about 3 meters range. But it could cause interference on some detectors, I guess.
Karl

Awesome Karl. wireless is an interesting idea.. I might just have to build one myself.. though probably 2.4Ghz.

The speakers do sound pretty crap but I think they are designed that way to grab your attention, if it were a really smooth nice tone coming out of the speaker you might just miss it. The speakers distort easilly and have a much narrower bandwidth than the Koss headphones. The mid freq range of the external speakers distorts very easilly but it does grab your attention.

I don't like headphones in the bush by myself either, I like to know what's around me, but they are way better in my opinion than any speaker as soon as there is any background noise at all like Loamer pointed out. Wind rustling leaves is very good at masking the quieter sounds.

Some people really rave about the boosters and others are fine without them, to me it's just another link in the chain that can break, also boosting a signal will nearly always increase the noise floor of any audio system.

That being said though........

I read a post somewhere that said Jonathan Porter turns the "Volume Limit" down quite low and lets the booster do all the work, which makes perfect sense.

When I was doing a bit of audio recording work I always prefered boosting audio in the analog domain as digital boosting always sounded thin and tinny to me, still does. So would like to try a booster to see if it works for me as all the boosting in the GPX 5000 is done digitally. Only reason I'm not convinced is the GPX really only makes 1 sound or variations of that 1 sound, it's not like a full bandwidth music recording.

Heatho - spot on. Boosters etc, in my opinion, just create another layers of leads and joins etc that can tend to get caught up. I use Koss as well, and, touch wood, have never had a problem. The downside is the lack of hearing what is going on outside the headphones but I did a check yesterday in the wind on a small deep test piece - speaker vs headphones, faint signal. Headphones won hands down. Yes, headphones can blank out all the other noises and I repeat noises but its a toss up between detecting for gold and listening to the bush. If its a high wind day, I usually head for a clear area as widow-makers don't pick and choose between head-phones and speakers! As with all things - personal preference. just wish some-one would make a robust set-up, probably using military specs as a guide.

Mainly power consumption and weight I'd say Loamer, nearly all really good or military spec audio gear is either heavy, chews power and is very expensive or all 3. I agree the 5000 has enough cables as it is. If the new big one is all wireless that will be very tempting.

Speaking of widow makers, I was standing on a hill on a clear calm day at Bingara not long ago and a Gum Tree decided to let a big Green fresh looking branch go, only noise it made was when it hit the ground, was a tad spooky, my mate and I both never heard it until it hit the ground.

Hi downhalo
If you want to try it out get this one from eBay. It about 8 bucks posted from UK. I tried four different once and this one is only one that works satisfactory. Only problem with it is if the detector doesn't have volume control it will clip and distort. Easy fix with couple resistors soldered inside of 1/4" plug.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/In-car-w...lePhoneAccessories&hash=item58a49bda17&_uhb=1
Karl

Some interesting comments on this topic, but they don't answer what I have been trying to find out. I am admittedly a newb and I have been trying to find out about any comparison testing between the B&Z Booster and the Treasure Mate II amplifier systems before parting with any hard earned. Any input on these would be appreciated.

The Rooster Booster appears to be out of supply or no longer available so I have left it out of the equation.

Cheers, Keith

Great topic and I'm in the market for a new set of headphones after my koss-UR30's died. I'm also of the opintion that the quieter your surroundings are, the easier faint targets are to hear and in addition it's much easier to focus on the sounds. I've been looking at sound cancelling headphones to go a step further over standard headphones. The Bose quietcomfort 15's are the best sound cancelling headphones I can find but don't want to go that route if not compatible with the gpx4500. Anyone else here experimented with a set of these or similar noise cancelling headphones?

I have received and trialed my Nugget Buster headphones. ran them on my 4500 and xterra - my initial testing results are positive. comfy, good fit, manual volume adjustment and a kill switch. issues - the kill switch is on the side of one of the headsets and I managed to get it caught in some whipstick once. sound was good, volume is good and with the volumes settings on the 4500 and inbuilt amp plenty of scope to play with tones, levels etc. good on the xterra, very faint signals were easy to hear. outside noise is almost cancelled out and for faint targets and windy days this is a big bonus. nice bright yellow colour and the big 'Nugget Buster' printed on the headphones is a bit knobbish and yes, i copped some witty grief, along the lines of 'husband know you are out detecting?'. (may cam them so I can then look like a complete tool!!)

Koss comparison:
TD 80 - equal to Koss TD80 for sound, better fit than the koss and the adjustable volume is a big bonus if you are running a DD through rubbish. TD80 IMO is the bench-mark and these are getting very close.
UR 30 - way better than the Koss UR30 (the mother-in-law of headphones). as i have said before, take UR30, place in hands, line up two trees, drop-punt UR30s between trees. Did I mention that the UR30s and I do not like each other - they are toys IMO.

I shall see how these go after a few months of heavy-duty detecting, plus see how we go over summer. I have yet to test them on the billy-lids to see if they can handle the grandchild detecting test.

loamer said:

I have received and trialed my Nugget Buster headphones. ran them on my 4500 and xterra - my initial testing results are positive. comfy, good fit, manual volume adjustment and a kill switch. issues - the kill switch is on the side of one of the headsets and I managed to get it caught in some whipstick once. sound was good, volume is good and with the volumes settings on the 4500 and inbuilt amp plenty of scope to play with tones, levels etc. good on the xterra, very faint signals were easy to hear. outside noise is almost cancelled out and for faint targets and windy days this is a big bonus. nice bright yellow colour and the big 'Nugget Buster' printed on the headphones is a bit knobbish and yes, i copped some witty grief, along the lines of 'husband know you are out detecting?'. (may cam them so I can then look like a complete tool!!)

Koss comparison:
TD 80 - equal to Koss TD80 for sound, better fit than the koss and the adjustable volume is a big bonus if you are running a DD through rubbish. TD80 IMO is the bench-mark and these are getting very close.
UR 30 - way better than the Koss UR30 (the mother-in-law of headphones). as i have said before, take UR30, place in hands, line up two trees, drop-punt UR30s between trees. Did I mention that the UR30s and I do not like each other - they are toys IMO.

I shall see how these go after a few months of heavy-duty detecting, plus see how we go over summer. I have yet to test them on the billy-lids to see if they can handle the grandchild detecting test.

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Hey Loamer, i'm in the market for Headphones and a powered speaker set (so far B&Z looks interesting) What would your advice be given she'll be strapped to an F1A4 -M2?

Not sure of the plug-in connection for the F1A4 but the Koss and Nugget Busters have a standard plug. I see on the F1A4 manual they are a four pin plug - have they been adapted from the military specs?



If they have been adapted etc, I reckon the Koss (NOT the UR30) are excellent, but not cheap, neither are the Nugget Busters. The BZ is Ok but again, how are the plugs set-up?

The Mod 2 has the standard plug installed.

Mods include headphone jack, coil jack, Volume and Gain, Search button (timing) for deep, standard and mineralised ground, and Frequency button for Standard, Small or Deep targets. Also controls for Threshold and Tone, and the Ground Balance button on the joystick.

Twapster said:

The Mod 2 has the standard plug installed.

Mods include headphone jack, coil jack, Volume and Gain, Search button (timing) for deep, standard and mineralised ground, and Frequency button for Standard, Small or Deep targets. Also controls for Threshold and Tone, and the Ground Balance button on the joystick.

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I used my B & Z Booster yesterday for the first time, ordered the twin speaker setup from Reeds WA ....... they didn't have a twin set on hand BUT, they wire them up in house SO, if you need something other than std jack for ML units they will probably be able to do them for you.

Worked great on the SDC as well as the 4800, the fact that the battery pack has an inbuilt amp didn't seem to impact on them.
The speakers are a nice break from headphones.

Cheers T.

Yep not a heaphone fan but have to agree they are prob the best on faint targets. I'm jumpy in the bush at the best of times with those scary looking lizzards that are always in pairs, I always think its a snake even if its just a stick....I prefer to hear my surrounds and headphones give me a bit of bush claustrophobia. Having said that I want a decent pair!