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Well finally decided to try to get the sound on the detector to where I wanted it. With the original speaker (16 ohm, 0.5 watt) removed I have to rely on headphones and every headphone or earbud sounds different and with different volumes.
When I modded my detector and added a waterproof connector for the headphones I retained the original ¼” headphone plug as a backup inside the detector I am glad I did as it allowed me to compare the various headphones and earbuds.
The first iteration of the external headphone was running 4 feet of headphone cable from the waterproof connector to a small headphone plug attach so I could keep the connector above the water when wading and allowed me to use any set set of ear buds of headphones that have the small jack. This proved a pain as I was always ripping the ear buds out of my ears when working on land when kneeling down. I knew I needed a coiled cable. So I decided to start looking for old headsets with a coiled cable at garage sales, flea markets, etc.
Only my expensive stereo headphones and one set of earbuds sounded right and had enough volume (several other sets of earbuds where tried but were wrong tone or bad volume) so I decided to DIY another set of headphones for the detector as my good headphones were getting destroyed in the field and the ear buds were starting to fall apart (glue can do only so much). Anyway I found a set of cheap vintage head phones at a second hand charity store. I tried them out and they sounded like hell (8 ohms). The tone was all wrong and just not loud enough. So I started experimenting with the available speakers I had sitting around unused. Some were about right tone but too low a volume the rest were wrong in both aspects. I even ripped open my old Microsoft computer headset and tried those to no avail. So I started reading about impedance matching. First thing I do is get the multimeter out and start taking measurements on the original speaker and the head sets that work well. Needless to say the results were useless. So I figured the original speaker had 16 ohms and I should halve that (2 speakers) and go low wattage since the 2 amps speakers were horrible. I tried a pair of 8 ohm 1.2 watt speakers that I had from a set of shower speakers and they sounded horrible so I started looking around and I found a pair of 8 ohm, 1.2 watt speakers that were designed for a Walkman speaker system they were pretty useless as a speaker system (low volume) but would they be good in a set of headphones I plugged them into the detector and held them by my ears and they sounded right and the volume was good so I dissembled them, removed the speakers and installed them in the headphones I also added the sound insulation from a set of hardhat mounted hearing protection muffs that I had sitting around and so far they sound good and rattle the ears when my Tesoro starts up. I might need to add a volume control to protect the ears, but that volume will be good for finding deep targets. FYI they are loud but should not be TOO LOUD other then when the Tesoro goes through the battery test at start up.
I was surprised to see that even identical rated speakers could sound so different when hooked up to my detector. I think I got a good result more form luck than anything else. These headphones are hot to wear and defiantly cheap looking but better that than ruining my stereo gear for my metal detector
When I get more money I plan to make a piezo elements set of headphones that are waterproof enough for wading and brief submergence but for right now these should be good. It will be nice not to be yanking out the ear buds every time I kneel down to dig a hole and they will be waterproof up to the actual headphones and even should tolerate splashing as I am going to silicone the various openings.
When I modded my detector and added a waterproof connector for the headphones I retained the original ¼” headphone plug as a backup inside the detector I am glad I did as it allowed me to compare the various headphones and earbuds.
The first iteration of the external headphone was running 4 feet of headphone cable from the waterproof connector to a small headphone plug attach so I could keep the connector above the water when wading and allowed me to use any set set of ear buds of headphones that have the small jack. This proved a pain as I was always ripping the ear buds out of my ears when working on land when kneeling down. I knew I needed a coiled cable. So I decided to start looking for old headsets with a coiled cable at garage sales, flea markets, etc.
Only my expensive stereo headphones and one set of earbuds sounded right and had enough volume (several other sets of earbuds where tried but were wrong tone or bad volume) so I decided to DIY another set of headphones for the detector as my good headphones were getting destroyed in the field and the ear buds were starting to fall apart (glue can do only so much). Anyway I found a set of cheap vintage head phones at a second hand charity store. I tried them out and they sounded like hell (8 ohms). The tone was all wrong and just not loud enough. So I started experimenting with the available speakers I had sitting around unused. Some were about right tone but too low a volume the rest were wrong in both aspects. I even ripped open my old Microsoft computer headset and tried those to no avail. So I started reading about impedance matching. First thing I do is get the multimeter out and start taking measurements on the original speaker and the head sets that work well. Needless to say the results were useless. So I figured the original speaker had 16 ohms and I should halve that (2 speakers) and go low wattage since the 2 amps speakers were horrible. I tried a pair of 8 ohm 1.2 watt speakers that I had from a set of shower speakers and they sounded horrible so I started looking around and I found a pair of 8 ohm, 1.2 watt speakers that were designed for a Walkman speaker system they were pretty useless as a speaker system (low volume) but would they be good in a set of headphones I plugged them into the detector and held them by my ears and they sounded right and the volume was good so I dissembled them, removed the speakers and installed them in the headphones I also added the sound insulation from a set of hardhat mounted hearing protection muffs that I had sitting around and so far they sound good and rattle the ears when my Tesoro starts up. I might need to add a volume control to protect the ears, but that volume will be good for finding deep targets. FYI they are loud but should not be TOO LOUD other then when the Tesoro goes through the battery test at start up.
I was surprised to see that even identical rated speakers could sound so different when hooked up to my detector. I think I got a good result more form luck than anything else. These headphones are hot to wear and defiantly cheap looking but better that than ruining my stereo gear for my metal detector
When I get more money I plan to make a piezo elements set of headphones that are waterproof enough for wading and brief submergence but for right now these should be good. It will be nice not to be yanking out the ear buds every time I kneel down to dig a hole and they will be waterproof up to the actual headphones and even should tolerate splashing as I am going to silicone the various openings.
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