STANDARD HORIZON MLS-310W White External Speaker with Amplifier

I just installed this, a long time after buying it. It's really easy to install in various ways on the deck, on a wall, embedded in a wall. Sound and volume adjustment is great. I can now hear immediately what's going on on the VHF on my boat, without having to run below into the cabin, to understand what is being said. Improves safety!

I needed more volume, I got more volume. It is not a small product, larger than I had expected but it really works well.

If your radio is mounted under the instruments and not in your face then the 2 inch or less speaker built into the radio is unreadable with the engines running. I mounted the SH speaker about a foot and a half behind my instruments and all is loud and clear. It can get VERY loud if you turn it up. I have two SH radios, a handheld and the boat radio and like them, SH has some of the best quality and warranty in the world and this amp/speaker shows the same detail to workmanship.

I only gave this 2 stars for my application. I never got to install or try the speaker. It may be very good at what it is intended for, but not on my boat. I have a 24 foot center console. I take it offshore and depend on my compass. I wanted to mount the speaker on my T-top but there was no way to get it far enough from the compass that the magnet did not affect my compass heading. If you own an offshore boat and want to use this speaker in a similar fashion, you may have to make accommodations with respect to your compass.

Does the job with good volume, but wiring to a Standard Horizon radio is " substandard". A pigtail of 24 ga wire comes off radio for this and horn. SH really needs to supply a heavier gauge QDC 8' wire similar to the radio's power QDC.

This looks like a fairly good speaker but does not come with any plugins on it just bare wire. So I was not able to adapt it to my handheld VHF radio. I kept it anyway thinking that in the future I might find some use for it.

Standard Horizon MLS-310W White External Speaker with Amplifier can be mounted either one of two configurations, either (1) surface/bracket mounted or (2) flush mounted. I installed my speaker surface-mounted to the 2” aluminum framework of my Striker T-Top, using SS u-bolts (not supplied) to attach a 6” section of 3”x3” aluminum angle (not supplied) with the bracket for the speaker fastened (bracket and fasteners supplied) to the angle.I’ve “radio-checked” the unit for voice communications with the boat in my driveway using another Standard Horizon product, my HX870 handheld VHF radio, but no “live” transmission or receiving yet with motor running while underway on the water. All indications are that this unit makes the built in speaker of my Standard Horizon GX1700 VHF pale in comparison. Volume is substantial and expected to prevail quite well over any normal engine noise. Tone produced is about what is expected for such a purpose as voice communications.My only complaint is with the extraordinarily light gauge of wire used for both the power cable and the speaker wire. I made on crimped male and female bullet connectors, and the wire size is woefully tiny and may not hold up well to the connect/disconnect cycle. The speaker functions properly, but these power and speaker wires are so flimsy that I’ll be always cautious that with all the movement experienced on a boat they could eventually separate. Thus the 4-star instead of what should have been a 5-star rating. Otherwise, the speaker and its bracket appear solid and well-constructed. As with my GX1700 radio, the mounting bracket allows the unit to be tilted to a variety of angle, which could be particularly beneficial in the overhead location I’ve mounted mine. The only other “operable” component is the combination on/off volume switch, which performs as expected.

I could not hear my Standard Horizon VHF radio very well when under way. This amplified speaker does everything it is supposed to do. It was easy to install and easily spliced in to the radio.