I'm preparing to replace my headliner with one of the wool ones on my C180B; the standard overhead location for the speaker has been taken over by the GPS antenna, and the aircraft has a 4 inch speaker mounted over the pilots left ear. The aircraft came with a cheezy grille for the speaker. Is it possible to just cover the speaker with the wool headliner and still be able to hear it, or do I need to come up with a grille?

Thanks!

Wool is pretty much acoustically neutral, and headliners pretty thin, so I wouldn't worry about covering it up. Question is, do you need a speaker in the first place?

Oregon180 wrote:Wool is pretty much acoustically neutral, and headliners pretty thin, so I wouldn't worry about covering it up. Question is, do you need a speaker in the first place?

Exactly. I'd toss that speaker in a heartbeat. Lose a couple pounds, or more.

MTV

mtv wrote:

Oregon180 wrote:Wool is pretty much acoustically neutral, and headliners pretty thin, so I wouldn't worry about covering it up. Question is, do you need a speaker in the first place?

Exactly. I'd toss that speaker in a heartbeat. Lose a couple pounds, or more.

MTV

That's what I did.

If you really want to leave it I would just cover it with the headliner. You will be able to hear it on the ground just fine. Which is the only time I ever used mine anyways. There's no need for it in flight.

I agree. I tossed mine this spring at the same time as tossing my ADF.

A1Skinner wrote:I agree. I tossed mine this spring at the same time as tossing my ADF.

Well, I still have both my speaker and my ADF! But the speaker is covered by the wool headliner, which was installed just a few years ago. I can hear it fine--but I don't listen to it in the air. That's so yesterday!

Cary

I went ahead and pulled it because the newer radios want 2 speaker leads and not one to ground so I have to rewire it anyway; not a very big speaker - total weight is 1.12 lbs. I'm leaning towards ditching it though. Thanks again!

Of the four Cessnas I've owned, all came with overhead speakers from the factory -- but only my first one (stock 1969 C150) still had it installed. About the only time I miss having one is when I want to listen to the ATIS at a towered airport while I'm getting ready to fire up.