Infotainment Speakers for CB use?

[chessiehokie]

I'm looking at getting the Cobra 75 CB and have read that a separate speaker is a good idea because of weak sound output from the handheld mike. There is an audio output jack on the remote mounting box for that very purpose and the standard solution is to purchase and mount a small external speaker, but with nine speakers already spread about a tricked-out JLUR, adding an additional speaker seems like overkill. Has anybody tried just connecting to the AUX input on the media hub for CB use to use the onboard speakers? Would a CB broadcast step over whatever was already playing on the infotainment system? Any feed back issues? Interested to hear of any thoughts or experience with this idea...

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[Spank]

I'm looking at getting the Cobra 75 CB and have read that a separate speaker is a good idea because of weak sound output from the handheld mike. There is an audio output jack on the remote mounting box for that very purpose and the standard solution is to purchase and mount a small external speaker, but with nine speakers already spread about a tricked-out JLUR, adding an additional speaker seems like overkill. Has anybody tried just connecting to the AUX input on the media hub for CB use to use the onboard speakers? Would a CB broadcast step over whatever was already playing on the infotainment system? Any feed back issues? Interested to hear of any thoughts or experience with this idea...

As nice as this would be, if your CB is plugged into an aux source, you're only gonna get that audio by having it selected on the radio. There's probably some crazy wiring modification you could do to force the CB audio to overlap whatever source is selected and playing by tapping into the speakers after the fact, but that's just as much overkill as another speaker.

I don't think it'd be too crazy to embed a single tiny speaker somewhere into the soundbar that's wired to the auxiliary jack of the Cobra if you can make it clean. Seeing as how there's a lot of hollow space in there, there'd be plenty of room to work with.

 

[chessiehokie]

As nice as this would be, if your CB is plugged into an aux source, you're only gonna get that audio by having it selected on the radio.

Yeah... the light finally went on and I realized AUX would need to be selected on the infotainment system shortly after posting, negating any alternate input. Not a big deal, particularly when off road, since I don't usually listen to music when on the trail anyway (I try to tell myself that I'm communing with nature while guiding my gas-guzzling beast through scenery!)... so pumping any CB traffic through the main speakers should be easy.

The idea of a small speaker on or in the soundbar sounds intriguing. If CB broadcasts over the entire sound system (sub-woofer and all) is overwhelming, maybe I could just hardwire the Cobra feed into one of the speakers already up there. I'm no electrician, so not sure if that would cause any issues with the system...

 

[Spank]

The idea of a small speaker on or in the soundbar sounds intriguing. If CB broadcasts over the entire sound system (sub-woofer and all) is overwhelming, maybe I could just hardwire the Cobra feed into one of the speakers already up there. I'm no electrician, so not sure if that would cause any issues with the system...

That's not a bad idea, either. Just tap into the rear speaker behind your head with something like this:

Now I'm kinda thinking of doing the same thing myself...

 

[bryan]

That's not a bad idea, either. Just tap into the rear speaker behind your head with something like this:

Now I'm kinda thinking of doing the same thing myself...

I hope you're not thinking of connecting a speaker to two different signal sources...

 

[Spank]

I hope you're not thinking of connecting a speaker to two different signal sources...

This particular post was done with zero research, but yes, I actually am. With the proper equipment, of course.

 

[chessiehokie]

I hope you're not thinking of connecting a speaker to two different signal sources...

As I said earlier, "I'm no electrician, so not sure if that would cause any issues with the system..."... so please explain what the issues might be and, if possible, how one might get around such issues. Thanks!

 

[bryan]

please explain what the issues might be and, if possible, how one might get around such issues. Thanks!

I'm not an electronics expert either, but the analogy is plugging a lightbulb into two outlets at once. Not only are you connecting the bulb (in the analogy, or speaker in your case) to two sources, you're connecting those sources together. I believe that's a short.

If you use a switch so the speaker is only connected to one source at a time, then no problem. The most conservative choice would be a double pole double throw (DPDT) switch so that both wires are connected to one source or another.

Since I'm not an expert at this stuff, I usually bounce my ideas off one of the helpful people at the local electronics shop.

Best of luck with your project!

 

[bwilliam79]

Thinking through possible options here, I ordered one of these (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074M8CDJB/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to see if it can be used to pair the CB output to the infotainment system using bluetooth. It would, of course, require the infotainment system be set to bluetooth for output, but in theory should work. It should be here Thursday, so I'll give it a whirl and post the results.

 

[bryan]

... pair the CB output to the infotainment system using bluetooth. ...

This sounds like a great approach. The hardwired analog to this is to connect the speaker out to an attenuation device and then plug it in to the aux-in jack for your Jeep's stereo. There are out of the box solutions for this, but it might mean hiding a bunch of cords and stuff...

 

[bwilliam79]

Well, the device I linked above doesn’t seem to work. It starts the pairing process and shows up in the Jeep as a registered device, but the device itself fails to connect. I tested connecting it with other devices and those did work, so it seems to be an incompatibility with the Jeep infotainment system.

That said, the device came with a straight through audio cable which I connected to the Aux input next to the USB ports and that works like a champ. Not the wireless setup I was hoping for, but it will work for now.

 

[PriamX]

I ran into the following "Audio Interrupt" device. It's for the JK, but perhaps the manufacturer may have a JL version planned on the horizon...

https://www.audiointerrupt.com/Content/CBMJKINF.html

 

[NickTinVA]

On that cobra unit , with the external speaker plugged into the control box, does the sound also come out of the handheld at the same time as the external speaker?

 

[mlebofsky]

I ran into the following "Audio Interrupt" device. It's for the JK, but perhaps the manufacturer may have a JL version planned on the horizon...

https://www.audiointerrupt.com/Content/CBMJKINF.html

Yes. I have contacted him as I loved my JK version. A JL version is expected this summer ….

 

[PriamX]

Yes. I have contacted him as I loved my JK version. A JL version is expected this summer ….

Oh, that's unexpected, but good news!

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