Bose vs. Lightspeed

I finally got to try out Bose headsets. They were a phenomenon.
Utterly clear, crisp and unimpeded hearing on a cross-country from WNC
to Charleston, SC in a 182. Very positive impression of these $1000
miracles.

I have a poor set of Lightspeeds. When at their best they are great
too, but they are coming apart. The plastic is cracking although I
never keep them in the plane, and they go crazy when the noise is
loud, as when you firewall the throttle. They will blast your ears
with something really loud and cacophonic, as if what they are doing
is not reducing but amplifying noise.

Another Lightspeed user said, "Change batteries." Well, I did but
the blast is still there in a 172 and in the noisy Taylorcraft.

When you listen to Beethoven's Violin Concerto and don't hear the high
notes, you know what you got left should be pampered.

Any suggestions? I guess I ought to send them back to the company.
Thanks.

On Jan 30, 7:28 am, " jls" wrote:
I finally got to try out Bose headsets. They were a phenomenon.
Utterly clear, crisp and unimpeded hearing on a cross-country from WNC
to Charleston, SC in a 182. Very positive impression of these $1000
miracles.

I have a poor set of Lightspeeds. When at their best they are great
too, but they are coming apart. The plastic is cracking although I
never keep them in the plane, and they go crazy when the noise is
loud, as when you firewall the throttle. They will blast your ears
with something really loud and cacophonic, as if what they are doing
is not reducing but amplifying noise.

Another Lightspeed user said, "Change batteries." Well, I did but
the blast is still there in a 172 and in the noisy Taylorcraft.

When you listen to Beethoven's Violin Concerto and don't hear the high
notes, you know what you got left should be pampered.

Any suggestions? I guess I ought to send them back to the company.
Thanks.

I LOVE my Lightspeed 20 3 G's .................. and less then half
the cost of the Bose things.

I've had a pair of Lightspeed's for 5 years or so now, and the audio
performance/ANR has been excellent. I have had the plastic stirrups (that
attach the earcups to the headband) crack on them, and they promptly sent me
another set on request (when well out of warranty). I get the feeling that
is not uncommon, as a couple years back at S&F they had a box of various
stirrups under the table at their booth they were handing out on request.

From my experience and from what I've read online, their customer service
has been excellent - I would sure contact them about your issues before
writing them off. My feeling is you would get them repaired (electronics
and plastics) to like new at no cost.

" jls" wrote in message
.. .
I finally got to try out Bose headsets. They were a phenomenon.
Utterly clear, crisp and unimpeded hearing on a cross-country from WNC
to Charleston, SC in a 182. Very positive impression of these $1000
miracles.

I have a poor set of Lightspeeds. When at their best they are great
too, but they are coming apart. The plastic is cracking although I
never keep them in the plane, and they go crazy when the noise is
loud, as when you firewall the throttle. They will blast your ears
with something really loud and cacophonic, as if what they are doing
is not reducing but amplifying noise.

Another Lightspeed user said, "Change batteries." Well, I did but
the blast is still there in a 172 and in the noisy Taylorcraft.

When you listen to Beethoven's Violin Concerto and don't hear the high
notes, you know what you got left should be pampered.

Any suggestions? I guess I ought to send them back to the company.
Thanks.

On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 09:28:33 -0500, " jls" wrote:

Any suggestions? I guess I ought to send them back to the company.
Thanks.

I use a Flightcom Denali ANR headset in the Fly Baby. My first try at an ANR
headset was a borrowed Lightspeed. The headset would "warble" in one ear or the
other as I turned my head while flying. My guess it was reacting to the change
of air pressure in the open cockpit.

The Flightcom doesn't have this problem. Seems to work pretty good at the noise
canceling, too, although it runs through batteries pretty quickly. I'm guessing
that's because of the high noise levels (~109 dB, chest high). When the battery
gets low enough, I start getting a "chirping" in the earphones and the light
flashes red. The battery is pretty low at that point, though. I've got the old
version without the compatibility with panel power. The Denali is pretty low
profile, which might explain its lower sensitivity to wind-driven effects.

The only drawback to the Denali was the color choices...yellow or blue. Neither
goes well with my airplane. Life is Hell. :-)


Ron Wanttaja

"Ron Wanttaja" wrote

The only drawback to the Denali was the color choices...yellow or blue.
Neither
goes well with my airplane. Life is Hell. :-)

Perhaps a good polyurethane paint, with plasticisers in it?
--
Jim in NC

On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:54:35 -0500, "Morgans" wrote:


"Ron Wanttaja" wrote

The only drawback to the Denali was the color choices...yellow or blue.
Neither
goes well with my airplane. Life is Hell. :-)

Perhaps a good polyurethane paint, with plasticisers in it?

But will it stick to the fabric and cowling? :-)

Ron Wanttaja

"Ron Wanttaja" wrote

But will it stick to the fabric and cowling? :-)

OR

You could go the easy route,

and paint the

DENALI ! ! ! bfg
--
Jim in NC

On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:01:49 -0500, "Morgans" wrote:


"Ron Wanttaja" wrote

But will it stick to the fabric and cowling? :-)

OR

You could go the easy route,

and paint the

DENALI ! ! ! bfg

Yeah, but I like the headset color better. :-)

Ron Wanttaja

When the battery
gets low enough, I start getting a "chirping" in the earphones and the light
flashes red. The battery is pretty low at that point, though. I've got the old
version without the compatibility with panel power. The Denali is pretty low
profile, which might explain its lower sensitivity to wind-driven effects.

The only drawback to the Denali was the color choices...yellow or blue. Neither
goes well with my airplane. Life is Hell. :-)


Ron Wanttaja
-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

My Flightcom 6ANX headset is the 'daddy' to the Denali....
and a respectable gray/black. The outrageous yellow and
blue colors were a small factor in me NOT upgrading.

Being a penny pincher, my solution many years ago was to invest
in 9 volt Ratshack Nickel-Metal Hydride RECHARGEABLES.
Although hardly cheap, I've not had to buy more batteries
in close to a decade.They paid for themselves in a month.
Perhaps you are doing likewise.

P.S.
If there is any way to leave the headset switch on, I will.
After 36 hours or so, it's definitely time for a fre$h battery.
Auto $hutoff $ure would be nice.

- Barnyard BOb -
More than a half century of flight.

On Thu, 01 Feb 2007 09:11:34 -0600, Barnyard BOb wrote:

Being a penny pincher, my solution many years ago was to invest
in 9 volt Ratshack Nickel-Metal Hydride RECHARGEABLES.
Although hardly cheap, I've not had to buy more batteries
in close to a decade.They paid for themselves in a month.
Perhaps you are doing likewise.

I tried, but it wouldn't power up the headset. The voltage when fully-charged
is a bit low, but when you consider an alkaline will power the headset until it
gets so low it'll hardly tickle the tongue, I don't know what's happening. It
might be that the impedance of the rechargeable is different than an alkaline
and the circuitry is thrown off by it.

I just buy a big pack of 9V batteries from Costco. Lasts me a couple of years.
Tuck a spare into the flying jacket pocket.

Ron Wanttaja