Merging interests: Bikes and Audio

[tropicalhotdog]

OK, I've had no luck on the motorcycle forums with this issue, so I'm throwing it to you guys. I like to listen to music and NPR news in my helmet when I'm riding my motorcycle or Vespa. I don't like to wear earbuds when I ride, so for a year or so have been using Tork X2 helmet speakers, which are essentially stripped down crappy headphone speakers with velcro on the back to keep them in place in the helmet. The sound is terrible. If they are not perfectly aligned with your ear canal, the sound disappears. And of course there's effectively no bottom end.

How would you clever sound engineer types approach this issue? There must be a sufficient space between the speaker and the ear to allow some ambient street noise in (honking, etc) and to allow the helmet to be put on and taken off easily. But the wearer should be able to have a clear, non-harsh level of audio to enjoy music or understand news/talk radio.

Does such a thing exist already? Anyone looking to make a million on a needed patent?

[OliverV]

I've not tried them but these ones look like a step up from the most basic flat velcro type. They need 12v power though.

Andromeda Amplifier plus Hi-Fi Speaker Kit [ANDRO1] - £146.76 : EquinoxMC, Home Of Quality Motorcycle Accessories

[nucelar]

Sorry for not providing an answer, but I'd rather keep my ears on the road on a motorcycle. If you only hear a honk maybe it's the last thing you hear. Seriously.

[gurubuzz]

Just have a tiny 2 channel mixer on the handlebars.

One channel with iphone/N96 and channel 2 with an OMNI mic with a wind sock...

Then you mix the street to music/phone calls balance....

Really easy ... you could run three channels and have stereo mics so you can hear which direction the cars are honking you from.

And then you can just have sealed earbuds....

you could go further and put a gate on the mics so you can hear clear music and when traffic is louder than the threshold you hear them...


all the above Ideas are mine....even if you start the patent it was said here first...don't forget Tesla got the rights for radio back off Marconi....

[juanlescarr]

I made my own back pack with audio built in. It's pretty damn loud and lets other people know I'm coming up on them. I suppose a bell or horn would do, but nah.

[GZsound]

I bought a Radio Shack pillow speaker and rewired it with heavier wire and connected it to a multiple input jack box. It is velcro'd into a small pocket I cut out of the foam over my right ear.

It carries music and my radar detector warning and allows for the left ear to be open to ambient sound. Cost around six bucks and I put 90,000 miles on my old Beemer and 20,000 miles on my Kawasaki with it in place.

There is no law that says you must listen to music in stereo, and when the background sound level is over 80 db, high audio sound levels will eventually cause hearing damage.