Headphone Conversion **** UPDATED TO SHOW DIRECTIONS ****

[TexasRT]

Did the Peltor (H7A) headphone conversion on my Excal II last night and tried it out this morning, it is a great improvement. As noted here before the ambient noise is drastically reduced, almost completely gone. The tones sound the same but more pronounced, the faint changes in the threshold tone are a lot easier to hear, and as an added bonus the fit and comfort is 100% better than the original yellows. Wore them for 4 hours and never even thought about readjusting them.

I actually came up with a way to do the conversion without cutting ANY of the wires. Looks as good or better as factory and I'm guessing since I didn't cut and splice any wiring then the warranty should not be affected.

HH

 

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[OBN]

Re: Headphone Conversion

Sounds Good! Pic's?
Amazing, a 1200 Dollar machine and the stock yellows only have a db12 rating, Completely insufficient in blocking any of the background noise's of the Ocean. With a 20 Dollar upgrade to the Peltors {101's/h7A's db27},and 2 Hours...you now have one of the best set of Headphones possible for the excal II..........

 

[TexasRT]

Re: Headphone Conversion

OBN - You are correct sir, it's like buying a Corvette with a transistor radio in it.

 

[TexasDigger1]

Re: Headphone Conversion

RT, did you just change the guts out from the old pair to a new shell? If so, where did you get the shell, wouldn't mind doing that myself. Thanks and HH John

 

[TexasRT]

Re: Headphone Conversion

TD1 - I used everything out of the stock headphones and installed them in the Peltor H7A's. I ordered them online line from Pilot Mall. Let me know if you have any other questions

 

[Silver Surfer]

Re: Headphone Conversion

For a starter, how do you keep them waterproof? Are the guts waterproof themselves? I hate the Excal headphones as much as anyone, wouldnt mind changing them out but the price of the GG waterproof headphones keeps me from doing it..
I hope you have some pictures of your job, would love to see a step-by-step..
And how the heck did you do it without cutting wires I cant even picture that..

 

[TexasDigger1]

Re: Headphone Conversion

Thanks RT, I'll get me a pair. John

 

[TexasRT]

Re: Headphone Conversion

For a starter, how do you keep them waterproof? Are the guts waterproof themselves? I hate the Excal headphones as much as anyone, wouldnt mind changing them out but the price of the GG waterproof headphones keeps me from doing it..
I hope you have some pictures of your job, would love to see a step-by-step..
And how the heck did you do it without cutting wires I cant even picture that..

SS- You would use the speakers out of your Excal set, which are already waterproof. I'll try to post some pics and explain how I did it.

 

[Silver Surfer]

Re: Headphone Conversion

Cool, thats what I was wondering... I didnt know if the speakers were waterproofed, or they were sealed in a waterproof headset.. Still cant figure out how you did it without cutting wires though... Look forward to the details.

 

[Bobbie]

Re: Headphone Conversion

For a starter, how do you keep them waterproof? Are the guts waterproof themselves? I hate the Excal headphones as much as anyone, wouldnt mind changing them out but the price of the GG waterproof headphones keeps me from doing it..
I hope you have some pictures of your job, would love to see a step-by-step..
And how the heck did you do it without cutting wires I cant even picture that..

A couple of gold finds that you might have missed will make up for the price of the GG waterproof. We put them on ours and they are excellent.

 

[OD_hunt]

Re: Headphone Conversion

Hey TexasRT, what a good idea!

How durable do you see the Peltor set to be in water i.e. are there exposed foam pieces inside that could rot or degrade after time? I'm not sure what the original yellow set contains but I think it would be durable. Also, do you know if the soft cushion that touches your ear when worn is completely sealed on the Peltor muffs? (Black ring piece)

Thanks, OD

 

[TexasRT]

Re: Headphone Conversion

Hey TexasRT, what a good idea!

How durable do you see the Peltor set to be in water i.e. are there exposed foam pieces inside that could rot or degrade after time? I'm not sure what the original yellow set contains but I think it would be durable. Also, do you know if the soft cushion that touches your ear when worn is completely sealed on the Peltor muffs? (Black ring piece)

Thanks, OD

OD - I want to clarify that I did not come up with this entire idea, I just took the plans for the conversion that Clive J Clynick shows in his book and modified it so no wires needed to be cut or spliced.

As far as being durable, there are pieces of foam that come in the new housings. Instead of using the foam weather stripping tape that CJC uses in his method I just cut the original padding down so there is enough there to hold the speaker in place when the foam padding piece is snapped in place. The original yellow sets do not have anything inside them which may explain why there is so much external noise heard when wearing them. And the piece that connects the ear pieces on the new ones is wire instead of hard plastic so they fit a lot snugger. The soft cushion pads on the Peltors are basically the same concept as the ones on the original yellows except they snap in instead of just sliding on and they look like their made a lot better. If I had to GUESS I would say they will last as long or longer than the originals. I can tell you that I wore the new headphones for 4 hours yesterday and they never moved, slid, and tried to come off like my originals always did, and like I stated earlier the comfort level and sound quality was a lot better. I do know you can order the replacement foam and/or the cushions for the Peltors if needed, I don't know if that would be possible with the Excal headphones. Hope this helps answer your questions, I think it was worth doing.

 

[OD_hunt]

Re: Headphone Conversion

Thanks for the feedback! Those foam inserts would be the only concern for me with this conversion. I would love to do it but I cant help to wonder how on earth am I going to get the water out of the saturated wet foam pieces at the end of a hunt & wash... If 2 weeks go by till the next hunt it means I might have 2 small biology-projects growing over my ears by then!! Perhaps you see a solution for this. I have not read the author you mention so I give him credit too

 

[TexasRT]

Re: Headphone Conversion

Thanks for the feedback! Those foam inserts would be the only concern for me with this conversion. I would love to do it but I cant help to wonder how on earth am I going to get the water out of the saturated wet foam pieces at the end of a hunt & wash... If 2 weeks go by till the next hunt it means I might have 2 small biology-projects growing over my ears by then!! Perhaps you see a solution for this. I have not read the author you mention so I give him credit too

I'm sure if there were issues with growing science projects someone would have mentioned it by now. I don't see it happening.

 

[HawaiiMDer]

Re: Headphone Conversion

Hey TexasRT, what a good idea!

How durable do you see the Peltor set to be in water i.e. are there exposed foam pieces inside that could rot or degrade after time? I'm not sure what the original yellow set contains but I think it would be durable. Also, do you know if the soft cushion that touches your ear when worn is completely sealed on the Peltor muffs? (Black ring piece)

Thanks, OD

I did the Peltor mod to my first Excalibur 1000s and want to do it again on my new Exc 2 800. What i want to know is how you did it without cutting wires? Will you have the pics up later today?

Thanks,

Ken

OD - I want to clarify that I did not come up with this entire idea, I just took the plans for the conversion that Clive J Clynick shows in his book and modified it so no wires needed to be cut or spliced.

As far as being durable, there are pieces of foam that come in the new housings. Instead of using the foam weather stripping tape that CJC uses in his method I just cut the original padding down so there is enough there to hold the speaker in place when the foam padding piece is snapped in place. The original yellow sets do not have anything inside them which may explain why there is so much external noise heard when wearing them. And the piece that connects the ear pieces on the new ones is wire instead of hard plastic so they fit a lot snugger. The soft cushion pads on the Peltors are basically the same concept as the ones on the original yellows except they snap in instead of just sliding on and they look like their made a lot better. If I had to GUESS I would say they will last as long or longer than the originals. I can tell you that I wore the new headphones for 4 hours yesterday and they never moved, slid, and tried to come off like my originals always did, and like I stated earlier the comfort level and sound quality was a lot better. I do know you can order the replacement foam and/or the cushions for the Peltors if needed, I don't know if that would be possible with the Excal headphones. Hope this helps answer your questions, I think it was worth doing.

 

[TexasRT]

Re: Headphone Conversion

Remove the pads from your originals and remove all the screws holding the speakers in the housings, using wire cutters cut the plastic so you can slide the three cables out of the housings as shown in the first photo. Then slice the rubber sleeve along the plastic band that attaches the ear muff housings together, this is the part that sits on your head. This will allow you to remove the speakers and all wiring from your original headset assembly.

Remove the pads from your new Peltors by just pulling them out. Now using a Dremel Tool with a very little cutoff wheel cut notches in the edges of the new housings in the same places needed to slide the cables back into the new headsets as shown in the second photo, cut the notches just deep enough and wide enough to get the cables in and still be able to snap the ear pads onto the new housings. You can actually cut the depth and widen the notches using the cutoff wheel, GO SLOW.

You will need to cut your speaker housings diameter down to fit inside the Peltor housings, again I used a Dremel Tool with a very little cutoff wheel. GO SLOW and don't get the plastic so hot it melts back together. Just move the cables out of the way while cutting around the edges, being careful not to nick the cable.

Now you should be able to assemble the speaker housings and cabling into the new Peltor housings, get the new headphones adjusted to your head before installing everything. I used one zip tie on the top band just to hold the cable in place as it goes over your head. Any extra cable you have on any of the ends can be tugged into the new speaker housings, position the cut down speakers into the new housings and snap the pads in place to hold them in. YOUR DONE

The original article on the conversion says to use self adhesive weather stripping around the inside of the new housings, the speakers would be sandwiched between this and the pads when their back in place. The stripping should be 7/16" thick and placed 1/16" inside the housing edge, use a piece on each side leaving a gap at the top and bottom. See third photo.

By cutting the slots for the cables instead of drilling holes eleminates the need for cutting and splicing.

Photo four shows speaker sitting on foam stripping

Photo five show final assembly.

 

[JoeSWFla]

TRT and others,Are these basically an above water phone.Has anyone used them
under the water.They look comfortable,but don't look as functional for underwater use
as the originals.What's your opinion.I know a lot of the underwater phones can be
noisey in windy conditions,and some people used to plug the drain holes to quiet the
noise,but you had to unplug the holes to dive with them again.HH Joe

 

[TexasRT]

TRT and others,Are these basically an above water phone.Has anyone used them
under the water.They look comfortable,but don't look as functional for underwater use
as the originals.What's your opinion.I know a lot of the underwater phones can be
noisey in windy conditions,and some people used to plug the drain holes to quiet the
noise,but you had to unplug the holes to dive with them again.HH Joe

Joe, the speakers are the same ones that come with the Excals. It's not the housings their in that makes them waterproof it's the way their waterproofed at the speak. Take one apart and you'll see what I'm talking about. The speaker wire terminals and speaker elements are sealed with what looks like some sort of epoxy, you could use them with no housings and they would still be waterproof. Also if you look at the original Excal housings they have holes in them, they are certainly not water-tight.

 

[JoeSWFla]

Thanks TRT,I wasn't really concerned about the waterproofing,as much as function and
durability.They look bigger,and was wondering about the rivets,and plastic to metal
parts.A lot of times that plastic to metal contact can cause crevice corrosion,even on
stainless parts.Was wondering how they hold up after repeated dunkings.Just curious.
Thanks,Joe

 

[OBN]

Very Nice Job TexasRT!
Hey Guys, these are 100% waterproof, I have had 2 operating sets for 2 years now, in, underwater...No Problems with the Peltor Shells or the guts of the Yellow HP's. The best thing you can do to improve the performance of the excal! This is a Mr. GoldMaster's conversion from CJC books on the Excalibur.
By the way, Mr.GoldMaster will do them for you if you feel uncomfortable with doing them, he also has improved on this conversion with a few new upgrades, Just check VB Max's Post on them....
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,333055.msg2397382.html#msg2397382

Nice job again TRT....Obn