Earmould Audio Plugs 1:

I spent the money, got a special fitting and tried Earmold Audio Earplugs out on a trip to Alice Springs and back! But did they work?

Let me start at the start. I’ve been looking for an audio system to use on motorbike trips for ages. I check out all the ads in the mags and probably just like you, wonder: Which systems WORK? And will they work for ME?

After reading a recent editorial in Two Wheels, editor Jeremy Bowdler mentioned he had used the Earmold Earlpugs with the audio system. He seemed pretty happy with them. And as an aside this started a barrage of feedback about which was the best motorcycling songs to tootle around listening to. Whats yours? Hit the comment link below.

So, after tossing coins for over a year about which way to go and what system suited me best, I jumped right in and booked a fitting with Ray Mack the Australian distributor of Earmold who luckily enough lives in Adelaide. Ray is a really nice guy and looked after me really well.

You see I had a bad experience with Earmold Earplugs before. Three times in fact (maybe I’m just SLOW). Once a hearing aid guy made me some by injecting silicone into my ear and “custom making” some plain ear plugs. They fell out as soon as I tried to put a helmet on!

So I tried again at a gunshop in Morphett St and after paying the dough and getting home and fitting a helmet they fell out!

By now I must sound as thick as a brick because I backed up again at another gun shop in Magill Road and after two goes they fell out every time I tried to put a helmet on. This crapped me off because they seemed so much better than the safety yellow and pink foam earplugs which I had used for years. They just wouldn’t work for me.

They fitted great without a helmet, but that wasn’t the point.

So I was a bit wary of Ray and his version. Ray told me he had fitted thousands and apologised about the past experiences. Ray went on to say there was a special way to mould them so as to stay in your ear when pulling a motorbike helmet onto your noggin, and sounded like he knew what he was talking about.

A small piece of foam is inserted nice and deep into the ear and you pick which colour silicone you want injected inside. I chose flouro green and theres a ton of colours to choose from. Ray then injects the mixture with a syringe and lets it set a bit. The foam thingy has a piece of string on it so it comes out easy. As does the set silicone. It gets a couple of layers of laquer to fatten it up and make it fit snugger then the holes are drilled for the audio tubes.

The audio system has a convetional 3.5mm plug which fits most sound systems. The wires from this travel up to a junction box where the sound is converted to play sound inside the hollow tubes which come out the other side of the junction box. These hollow tubes have some spiral sections to aviod the plugs pulling out if pulled suddenly, and fit right through the moulded earplugs to the edge of the plug deep within the ear.

They fitted superb and YES they stayed in even when fitting a very tight BMW Sport Integral Helmet. This helmet has a very tight entry orrifice. The music quality played from my minidisc was sentational. So far so good. I handed over $200.00 and felt very pleased with myself.

I gave them a demo on a quick trip to Hawker SA on Wilma the Wideglide and with the Harley exhasut note (loud) they were reasonably quiet and after a bit of fiddling with the tube placement they seemed acceptable. I thought the upcoming trip to Alice Springs would test them out proper. And it did!

In this Audio Review Andy talks about:

How the Earmold fitted under the helmet?

How to route the wiring/tubing  to eliminate problem noise?

What the problem noise is and  how it compromised the whole exercise of audio on the motorcycle?

How they rated?

There’s a lot you need to know about these earplugs if your interested in them and you should know how they faired on the Alice trip. If you want to know more? Simply hit the play button and check out the photos while you listen. It will make way more sense to you than me one finger typing a long story.

To play the audio simply click the button below.

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 Link to Earmould Review 2:

Tell me what you think!

Got a Comment? Email me here  and I'll publish your comment underneath.

Disclaimer 

Midj Said:

Hi Andy, I to have a set of wires (as do many of my friends )
made by Ray in Adelaide about 3 years
and found that if you bring them down the front of your neck pulling them
firmly but not to tightly into your jacket this stops noise traveling trough
the tube. I had gone through 4 sets of normal ear bud speakers costing
about $80 each and have only ever had 1 set of earmold speakers in 3 years
so I reckon they are great value for money ( I paid $199 3 years a go ).
I do hear a slight tapping every now and then but as for comfort on long
rides I can’t fault them. You did say you paid for 3 sets of plugs that
didn’t work ? and you also ride a Harley ? go figureI Said:

I Said:

Thanks Midj,

Just returned from another 3,500 k trip and tried to use the audio earmold plugs with my new Garmin Zumo 550 GPS. And they were hopeless. I tried putting the cables down the front, the back, inside my clothes, under the jacket only, I gave them a pretty good crack. And they worked acceptably if there was no wind (rare) and under 90 k’s an hour (rare). I’ve tried them with two different helmets and results are the same. Any sort of wind noise onto/into the helmet is amplified through the audio tubes. I have figured though that if you had an efficient windscreen or very clear air from perhaps a naked bike and minimised wind noise/turbulance over the helmet then you would minimise noise through the tubes. I ride a R1200GS (as well as the Harley)and the screens not bad but wind noise is unbearable with the audio plugs in. 99 cent ones work fine. Am still experimenting because I figured someone must get a good run out these things. There have been tons and tons of them sold. I would love to get them bearable because the sound quality is superb, and will keep trying. The stall at the Grand Prix selling Earmold plugs was doing a roaring trade all weekend. I didn’t see any audio sets get sold but man they made some dough with the plain ones.

When made professionally not like the three sets I bought, the plain Earmold would work fine even with the old Harley, I mean 99cent ones work a treat. You could really see the difference let alone feel it between the 3 other sets I had made and Rays efforts. His fitted great and don’t fall out when fitting your helmet on (big plus on a bike) if worst comes to worst and I can’t get the audio happening I’ll silicone up the tube holes and use those. They will block out the noise on any bike.

I Said:

Lesson from this is make sure your Earmold fitters know about motorcycle needs, not shooters needs.Really appreciate your comments Midj and wonder what sort of bike/screen? setup you use while getting acceptable wind noise from the plugs? I gott get these working! But it’s gonna piss me off if I’ve gotta spend another grand on a new screen to do it.Thanks Again
Andy

Midj said:

Hi Andy, I ride a 07 Suzuki Boulevard with no screen with custom pipes. A use a HJC full face helmet, try running
the tubes over the top and around the back of your ears bringing it down next to your jaw bone.

Midj

I Said

Thanks Midj, With so many of these setups out there I know they must work for some. I am starting to get a strong feeling it has a lot to do with turbulance and the effect that has on helmet noise. You see when I stand up even reasonably fast and get well above the Beemer windscreen the clear air is wonderfully quiet. This translates to less noise through the tubes as well and got me thinking……………..What if the screen was bigger? Well I ducked down behind the screen and although not as quiet it improved.

The fact you have had a great run and have no screen certainly makes me wonder if I’m on the right track here. As much as I have tried to review this product accurately ( and it is from my experience) I am going to do an update and confirm my original podcast is my experience and depending on what bike you ride, screen or no screen and type of helmet is going to affect your individual experience with this product.

It’s one of the frustrating things about motorcycle gear, you never know whether it will actually do what you wanted until you have used it for awhile. And by the time you work it out, it’s used and can’t be returned. Scuba diving is exactly the same by the way. Once again thanks for your comments and I’m sure this thread of comments will also help any intending purchasers. The whole point of this website.

I guess the guts of this is that if you have any turbulance or wind noise it will probably be magnified. If you have clear air then that’s how it will remain. You are very right in your original routing instructions and care should be taken to do exactly as you say to get the best results. I will definetely try routing the cable the new way you mentioned, haven’t tried that one.

The other issue is personal preference. I have friends who have very loud Harleys who travel usually quite fast over a long day in the saddle and NEVER wear ear plugs. Personally I couldn’t stand it but they don’t worry about it. I am very noise conscious. If it doesn;t worry you, like my mates, then probably most of my comments are irrelevant and your expectations will be met.

Wow didn’t expect to write so much then, got a bit carried away. Thanks Midj for your interest.

Cheers
Andy

P.S. Just remembered another mate who has had the same experience as me with the audio plugs also has a windscreen? Hmmmmm.