Headset Quality

[bobg56]

I have a legacy RV12 and have an old Light Speed ANR headset which works great, the passenger headset is an old Flight Com which I need to replace, it never really worked very well the cord is frayed and its intermittent. What I have noticed is that the cheaper head sets perform really badly in my airplane, I borrowed a few to try out. I have to max out my radio volume to get barely adequate sound, same for the intercom, however when using Light Speed or Bose the difference is huge and they work great, the volume knob is never near max. My friend has a 2017 RV12 and he has a cheap $100 headset that works fine in his aircraft, so I tried his and its terrible in mine. I have swapped them from side to side, intercom isolated, etc. I hate to spend the big bucks for passenger headset but I may have to...anyone experience this?

[2theskyy]

Originally Posted by bobg56

I have a legacy RV12 and have an old Light Speed ANR headset which works great, the passenger headset is an old Flight Com which I need to replace, it never really worked very well the cord is frayed and its intermittent. What I have noticed is that the cheaper head sets perform really badly in my airplane, I borrowed a few to try out. I have to max out my radio volume to get barely adequate sound, same for the intercom, however when using Light Speed or Bose the difference is huge and they work great, the volume knob is never near max. My friend has a 2017 RV12 and he has a cheap $100 headset that works fine in his aircraft, so I tried his and its terrible in mine. I have swapped them from side to side, intercom isolated, etc. I hate to spend the big bucks for passenger headset but I may have to...anyone experience this?

Might not answer your question directly or other issues going on. But I’ve used my favorite Bose (non aviation) headset with U fly mic setup for a decade or more and love it. I have the 15 & 20/30 Bose and they work great in some of the harshest environments.
Not the cheapest nor most expensive but they are better than most expensive noise cancelling units.

[bbaggerman]

Be careful about stereo vs mono headset with a FlightCom 403 intercom. If yours is like mine it was wired for stereo only.

Quoting from the User Manual... "CAUTION: if you are using monaural headsets and you do not place the toggle switch next to the headphone jack in the Mono setting, a squealing sound and possibly intercom damage will occur."

A mono headset will definitely sound bad right up until the point where the intercom fails. Ask me how I know.

I installed a mono / stereo switch to work with some old headsets but I don't think the -12 is normally wired that way.

[bobg56]

I don't have a switch by the jacks, however I've seen a Clark headset with a switch from mono to stereo, my lightspeed has a dip switch for that too. I can't believe how expensive Bose and Light Speed are but the difference is night and day when using the cheaper ones. I had a feeling that my set up is stereo but didn't think using mono headsets could damage the intercom.

[rvbuilder2002]

Originally Posted by bobg56

I don't have a switch by the jacks, however I've seen a Clark headset with a switch from mono to stereo, my lightspeed has a dip switch for that too. I can't believe how expensive Bose and Light Speed are but the difference is night and day when using the cheaper ones. I had a feeling that my set up is stereo but didn't think using mono headsets could damage the intercom.

All the Flightcom headsets I have ever seen (used to sell them years ago) had stereo/ mono switches.
Look for a switch on the plastic block where the cableY’s for the two plugs.

If yours actually doesn’t, that is likely the problem because the RV-12 is wired up for stereo.