Helmet vox?

[Fearless Son]

Salutations,

I am looking for solutions that would allow me to put a vox unit in my helmet, so that I can communicate with other people nearby in my natural voice without having to speak loudly due to the muffling effect of the helmet.

I have been looking at lots of similar devices online, but they seem to cater exclusively to those who want to talk loudly or those who want to plug into a radio or MP3 player, and most of them are very expensive and over-wrought for what I want. I looked at some of the things developed for the 501st Legion, but they seem to be mostly about voice changing. I just want something simple, an internal mic and an external speaker capable of rebroadcasting at my normal speaking volume so I can be heard clearly.

Can anyone recommend a good product or two for this kind of thing?

 

[Minkyboi]

The only thing I could think of is to make your own.
Just basically get a microphone and connect it to some speakers.

 

[Fearless Son]

That was the idea. But I am looking for microphone and speaker recommendations. Brands and models that are good for this kind of thing, good places to buy them, etc.

 

[Dagger06]

If you can't find one by PAX, let me know and I'll bring my spare little voice amp. It's tiny and not super powerful, but it works well enough for conventions. The microphone is very directional so it has to be fitted just right to pick up your voice, but it doesn't pick up much ambient noise as a plus.

I forget the brand. I found them on ebay as a recommendation for stormtroopers on a budget. It was an amplifier for a commercial gas mask and only cost around $10 a unit...that's all I recall. Unfortunately it's no longer listed on ebay.

One thing to keep in mind if you want to look at gas mask amps is that only some of them will work for this purpose. Other ones are specific to the respirators.

 

[Fearless Son]

Yeah, one of the first places that I looked was accessories by gas mask manufacturers. I called one manufacturer up, who told me (mildly indignantly) that a properly made gas mask should not require any sort of vox.

I will see what else I can look up.

 

[Fearless Son]

Actually Trooper0621, would you mind posting some images and dimentions of your vox unit? If I am going to be building a new helmet, I would like to arrange some dedicated space for such a thing, and the one you have is pretty similar to the one that I would like to get. Thus, the dimentions would aid my helmet building.

Unlike most helmets, this will be made largely from wood, and possibly metal and/or rubber. This means that it has slightly less "open" internal space then a resined or molded helmet, but also gives me more things that I can do with that space.

 

[Dagger06]

Here you go. I didn't want to bother actually integrating them into the helmet, so I just leave the speaker box clipped somewhere appropriate, and I'm going to rig up a headset-like rig so I don't have to keep clipping/unclipping the mic from my helmet.

http://a.imageshack.us/img196/9528/voxvf.jpg

The box is 2.5"x3.5"

I'm sure if you got your hands on a set you didn't mind cannibalizing it'd be easy to rebuild it in a more compact form.

And whoever said that is silly. For most people you don't need one, but you should at least have the option for people who work in high noise environments that need gas masks.

 

[samuel murray]

You could try and look for a throat mic. You can get some pretty cheap ones out there for about $30. Or for a good quality one that blocks out external noise you could go for one I saw on thinkgeek for about $120. Here: http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/cell-phone/c8e1/

It looks alright, it says it can pick up a whisper. I am thinking of buying one once I get a job

 

[Fearless Son]

I was thinking that with a box like that, I could rig it up to resemble the optional hardened uplink units featured on Buck's helmet and some of the Reach helmets. Looks just about the right size and shape, so boxing it up in some craft foam should give it the right texture without impeding audio output. That way all the wires are internal to the helmet, and do not have to be unclipped when taking it off.

As for the throat mic, while that is pretty cool, it would complicate things regarding my throat cover. I have previously worn a balaklava under my helmet, but since that got pretty warm (and would defeat the point of having a variable transparency visor) I was thinking of constructing a custom neck sleeve instead, preferable one involving semi-rigid materials like rubber or leather to create a couple of concentric rings. A throat mic would uncomfortable under something like that.

 

[mkshane81]

Let me see if I can come up with anything for you. I actually sell radio communications equipment everyday.

-Matt

 

[Fearless Son]

I recently bought a lapel mic that I can fit into the headset, and I bought a small rectangular speaker. I will probably build the speaker into a hardened uplink package on the side of the helmet.

 

[twistedxknights]

in all honesty you best bet for a good vox would be a aker voice amp.. you can usually find them on e-bay... they typicaly run about $60.. not cheap but it is rechargeable and has an adjustable volume.. plus if you want you can also play some mp3 sound files to simulate radio chatter and what not while your in costume

 

[wolters]

I've connected these two for my star wars costume :
http://cgi.ebay.nl/Star-Wars-Stormt...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a02f8f08

http://cgi.ebay.nl/Wireless-Clip-on-Microphone-Headset-FM-Receiver-Mic-New_W0QQitemZ220589321802QQcategoryZ29949QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DDLSL%252BPSSI%252BSI%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BUA%252BUCK%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D110558135110%252B110558135110%26po%3D%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D6927299196281978751

It's a wireless setup , so no wires coming from the helmet .
It's cheap , and works pretty good.

 

[amancue]

I have the 1st one of those its not bad, but its not loud enough @ DragonCon

 

[misfitjh]

Have you looked into motorcycle equipment, I know they make a head set speaker combo that goes in your helmet so rider and passenger can talk to each other. Not sure on the price. Just and idea.

 

[darknemisis]

radio shack has a good voice amplifier that you can hook up a headset to.

 

[Dragon Sunkiller]

Hey there. All you need to pay is $9.97. Go to eBay and type in "star wars costume darth vader voice amp" into the search bar. There will be a voice amp on there for just under 10 bux and free shipping. I've bought one and use it with my custom mando. Works amazingly! I recommend it to everyone who costumes. Very cheap, great mic and sound. The mic is uni-directional, meaning it only pics up directly in front of it. If you have noise coming in from below or from a fan in your helmet, it doesn't get picked up. Let me know if you have any questions! I'll post a link if I can find one.

Found it! here's the link. Enjoy, and let me know what you think! If you want, I can shoot a quick video of me using it with my mando helmet, but I've had two 501st TK's tell me that they were blown away by how loud and clear it was compared to their $70+ ones. When I told them how much it was, they bought one immediately. LOL!

 

[alix965]

I saw one of these at party city during halloween. 10 doubloons is about right.

 

[darknemisis]

great find man ill keep thins in mind for people who are on a budget

 

[pappaprime518]

found this, i dunno if it will help, im looking into th same thing to.
Audio2k Awp6202 Waist-band Portable Pa System with a Headset Microphone
http://www.amazon.com/Audio2k-Awp6202-Waist-band-Portable-Microphone/dp/B001RR9BZA/ref=pd_sbs_op_4