Stevefromohio
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2012
- Messages
- 11
I decided that after trying so many different headphones for my Excalibur II, the best thing for me was to make my own. The waterproof ones available were not good enough and I wanted volume and a better sound. Tried the Gray Ghosts and a few others but still was not happy.
So what I did was get myself a pair of Peltor sound reducing Optime's and a couple of 40 MM pizo speakers. I cut the cord near the old headphones and drilled a hole into the muffs for the wires to go through. I kept the Peltor sound insulating foam and used swimming noodles to mount the pizo speakers. Soldered everything up and turned on the Excalibur.
The first thing I heard, which I've never heard with any of the other commercially available headphones, was the sound of static crashes. My detector was picking up lightning that was miles away. I was outside at night and with every flash in the distance, the speaker would register it. Amazing! I went inside and did some air testing. I noticed right away the better ability in pin point to pick up a dime farther away than before. From about 8 inches to 11 inches. Hmmmm.....
The next day I went out and tried the new set up and I was really amazed at the change in the sound. I could now identify with pretty good accuracy, pull tabs and aluminum cans which before kind of blended in with other good targets. The nuances of the rise and fall of the sound was more pronounced. I also noticed that the volume of the speakers was much greater than the factory or any other headphones I have tried in the past. The difference in the sounds my Excalibur II now makes is so much better that I wonder why Minelab has been installing those crappy headphones on their otherwise excellent machine.
I've done other modifications to my Excalibur. 1600 MAH battery, remote pin point / discrimination switch and built my own straight shaft set up. I only wish that Minelab would make a machine just like the Excalibur but with a factory option for straight shaft, better headphones, remote switch and higher capacity battery. Then it would be a perfect machine IMHO!
Thanks to Mel Parker, Joe aka OldBeachnut for the ideas.
So what I did was get myself a pair of Peltor sound reducing Optime's and a couple of 40 MM pizo speakers. I cut the cord near the old headphones and drilled a hole into the muffs for the wires to go through. I kept the Peltor sound insulating foam and used swimming noodles to mount the pizo speakers. Soldered everything up and turned on the Excalibur.
The first thing I heard, which I've never heard with any of the other commercially available headphones, was the sound of static crashes. My detector was picking up lightning that was miles away. I was outside at night and with every flash in the distance, the speaker would register it. Amazing! I went inside and did some air testing. I noticed right away the better ability in pin point to pick up a dime farther away than before. From about 8 inches to 11 inches. Hmmmm.....
The next day I went out and tried the new set up and I was really amazed at the change in the sound. I could now identify with pretty good accuracy, pull tabs and aluminum cans which before kind of blended in with other good targets. The nuances of the rise and fall of the sound was more pronounced. I also noticed that the volume of the speakers was much greater than the factory or any other headphones I have tried in the past. The difference in the sounds my Excalibur II now makes is so much better that I wonder why Minelab has been installing those crappy headphones on their otherwise excellent machine.
I've done other modifications to my Excalibur. 1600 MAH battery, remote pin point / discrimination switch and built my own straight shaft set up. I only wish that Minelab would make a machine just like the Excalibur but with a factory option for straight shaft, better headphones, remote switch and higher capacity battery. Then it would be a perfect machine IMHO!
Thanks to Mel Parker, Joe aka OldBeachnut for the ideas.
