Mark Johnson's FJR Site

"Now Hear This" Ear Monitors

These custom molded ear plugs are made with small speakers in each and are muy bien. Much better sound than any moto headset I've ever tried because there is absolutely no distance or wind noise for the speakers to overcome. Very sweet.

I'd been playing with little ear bud speakers for the MP3 player, but even with the speakers hanging in the outer ear things were not good. I could turn up music so loudly that I couldn't hear people speak but underway I could barely make out even the highlights of the music over the wind noise. Of course the foam ear plugs I normally use were mutually exclusive with ear bud speaker. Turning up the music that loud couldn't have been good for my hearing in spite of not hearing much over the wind. Inserting the custom ear plugs had me turning down the MP3 player even though it had been set for a normal headset in a non-riding environment. I could hear the hum of the player when it powered up... impressive response. Most external noises are reduced equally with the worst of the wind noise being the most attenuated. The volume of the music can be turned way down compared to what I had to do with foam ear plugs and a helmet headset on the Wing, yet it's easier to hear the music because of the closer proximity of the speaker to the ear.

When riding, the advantages of ZERO distance, perfect alignment with the ear, and totally avoiding having to fight to be heard over wind noise are all good things. IMO a very good investment! Thanks to those who have written about their experiences with these solutions. Since they are custom molded you can pick from several colors for the plugs and may be able to request a different audio jack for different needs.

I was fitted at the Dallas Bike Show. The company is "Now Hear This" (Marilyn Navia), 10265 N. W. 56th Street, Doral, Fla 33178, v.mail 305-477-2333, e.mail info@plugup.com. They also make and adapter that's a box with some lines in and out.

I got this adapter from "The Ear Plug Guy". His contact information has since "gone away", but you can get one just like it from Ed Sets. You place this in-line between the jack on the bike and the headset cable. If you plug in your mini-RCA jack (like the ear monitors use) then the headset speakers get over ridden and the sound is routed to the monitors. There's no need to modify the headset and the mic works either way.