New helmet Audio this season Part 3 of 3: Iasus Helmet Speakers / Whole System

[va_rider]

Well, in the past 5 days, I've got a lot of helmet time with the new speaker / sound system. Here's a shot of what I've got going on overall... Don't laugh. It ain't pretty, but it's effective.

So, the iPod is velcro'ed to the front of the chin. The FiiO Amplifier is velcro'ed to the back of the shell, and in between the wire is taped with some fancy black duct tape with the exception of the in-line remote.

Impressions:
The fit in my EXO 400 is great. The inner padding of the helmet had spots around the ears where there was no padding, so the speakers put into those areas really just resulted in bringing the thickness at the ear to about the same as the rest of the inner padding. So, the speakers were not uncomfortable. At first, they would make the upper part of my ear fold when I put the helmet on, but a few tugs here and there, and everything straightened back out.

At around town speeds, the speakers can deliver enough sound to drown out surrounding traffic if you wish to have it that high... I made a lot of use of the wired remote to keep the music basically as background noise as much as I could. Speaking of that, the wired remote was invaluable, for both volume control and skipping tracks. It's rather easy to work with gloves on, and with it on the left side of the helmet, it's no big deal to take a hand off the bars to play with the remote for a while...

At highway speeds, the music became a very light background noise as the wind-noise in the helmet was much louder. The solution here, was to actually use the speakers in conjunction with my foam ear-plugs. The foam earplugs stuck out of my ears enough to actually touch the speakers, and transferred the vibration from the speakers directly into my ear... which was good, because trying to overcome the wind noise the speakers were distorting at high volumes.

I used the system for the ride from NC to VA Thursday, then for an afternoon ride the next day, the for the entire day on Saturday. On the way home for the night, the music stopped. So... it appears that about 10 hours is the limit on the amplifier. The iPod still had plenty of juice left, but not the amplifier. But, a quick charge later, and I was ready to keep going for the next 2 days.

Overall, I really like this system. I'll not be going back to traditional headphones any-time soon. However, I went to Wal-Mart and saw several different types of "flat" headphones that looked almost exactly like my helmet speakers, but with longer cords (which would have been nice) ... I think the JVC set sells for $10, and with some Velcro on the back, they'd function exactly like the speakers I got.


Part 1 - Headphone Amplifier
http://www.998cc.org/forum/product-...son-part-1-3-fiio-e5-headphone-amplifier.html

Part 2 - iPod Shuffle 3rd Gen
http://www.998cc.org/forum/product-...dio-season-part-2-3-3rd-gen-ipod-shuffle.html
Part 3 - Iasus Speakers / Whole System
http://www.998cc.org/forum/product-...t-3-3-iasus-helmet-speakers-whole-system.html

 

[mabbott]

Thanks VA for your posts! I have been following this and hoping that it turned out well! Oh BTW, the exhaust sounds sweet on my bike!

 

[TimeBombAZ]

I'll add my response on my system here soon.

I was able to track down a Gen 2 Shuffle for 15 bucks and I picked up the 50 dollar helmet speakers.

 

[cos_fz1]

I have the exact same helmet I believe, I bought my first GMAX way too big, like two sizes too big.

 

[TimeBombAZ]

Okay, here is my setup, by the advice of VA:

Here are the speakers, if you notice, I cut out the little fabric that was there for my ears:

Here is the iPod, set up right behind my ear. I tried it in sever locations, but this was the best fit for where the cable came out. I made it looks as clean as possible:

 

[CrazyBiker]

I am sure most of the stuff that is outside can be tucked in the liner. Good stuff Aaron. I got to rig up some cheap audio, phone, intercomm solution.