Does anyone have a recommendation on an ANR headset that will plug into the power jacks without modifications? I’d rather not pay an avionics shop AND the price of a good headset or 3.
Has anyone tried the Lightspeed QFR solo or active?
Does anyone have a recommendation on an ANR headset that will plug into the power jacks without modifications? I’d rather not pay an avionics shop AND the price of a good headset or 3.
Has anyone tried the Lightspeed QFR solo or active?
For what it’s worth, I believe the headset power jacks in the SR20 are designed for Telex headsets; I would doubt that other brands would plug in without modifications.
I am leaving today (!) up to Duluth to go pick up my plane, so if you already have yours then you probably know first hand more about what the connector looks like than I do.
When I go up there, I’m getting a couple of the Lightspeed “SR20” headsets; I believe the ANR circuitry has been particularly tuned for the noise in the SR20. But these headsets require AA battery power, and cannot be powered by the plane.
Steve
Does anyone have a recommendation on an ANR headset that will plug into the power jacks without modifications? I’d rather not pay an avionics shop AND the price of a good headset or 3.
Has anyone tried the Lightspeed QFR solo or active?
Please find below the reply I received from Chris Dixon at Cirrus regarding panel power connectors for ANR headsets. I had my Pilot ANR modified by the factory in CA for $75 to change to the Cirrus style connector.
From Chris D “The SR20 comes with standard phone jacks and a Swithchcraft (312 631-1234) L722A miniature power jack that would use a S761K or S766K plug in.”
I have the QFR active, and I’m happy so far. But I’ve only put a few hours on them, and I haven’t compared them to other Lightspeed models or used them in a Cirrus yet. I like the idea that if the batteries run out, I’ve still got the best protection available. A minor feature that might be handy is that they can be reversed left-to-right, so the cord can be placed on the same side as the jacks for both the pilot and copilot. (But if you’re listening to stereo, one of you will have the cellos on the wrong side 
Has anyone tried the Lightspeed QFR solo or active?
Lightspeed and Bose are the class of the field.
For my taste, Lightspeed works better and wears more comfortably. Costs less, too.
Bose is nice because the headset is so small. In some airplanes, its small size creates more headroom so you can adjust the seat taller.
Does anyone have a recommendation on an ANR headset that will plug into the power jacks without modifications? I’d rather not pay an avionics shop AND the price of a good headset or 3.
Has anyone tried the Lightspeed QFR solo or active?
Does anyone have a recommendation on an ANR headset that will plug into the power jacks without modifications? I’d rather not pay an avionics shop AND the price of a good headset or 3.
Has anyone tried the Lightspeed QFR solo or active?
Cirrus offers the top of the line Lightspeeds that have been tuned specifically to the Cirrus. There are many posts on this in the archives. They are offered at a reasonable price. I have used the Lightspeed in our Archer for several years and we have been very happy with them. They are great on long trips – very comfortable and quiet. The service is great too! I’ll keep my two Lighspeeds for pax and buy two more from Cirrus. If you read the review on the Garmin intercom at AvionicsWest.com, it is recommended that you keep all headsets the same.
I have done some work in anticipation of the delivery of N84MR next Tuesday. I wasn’t going to publish this before trying these things out; but this thread is fresh now, so here goes. The caviat is that I’m describing what I built for myself; use it at your own risk. I have taken some digital pics, and posted them at www.photoasa.com (To access them, sign on as “mikerad” and use a password of “SR20”)
LIGHTSPEED SR20 HEADSET POWER:
The engineer in me didn’t like to use batteries when there is a perfectly good power source in the SR20. The two obvious problems are (1) the Lightspeed headset doesn’t come with any easy way to connect external power; and (2) the power provided in the airplane is the wrong voltage (default is 9 volts, but it can be set to 17 or 28 as well).
There are lots of ways to solve this problem - perhaps the most sensible is to just use batteries - but I chose to build a DC regulator box which plugs into just one of the power jacks in the airplane. In turn, this box provides four power jacks which provide a regulated 3 volt output.
I made a tiny modification to the headsets - adding a power cord which simply connects to the battery terminals. This power cord plugs into the DC regulator box described above.
There are other ways I could have done this, and reasons I chose this way. I haven’t weighed this yet, but the whole package seems to weigh less than the 8 batteries which can now be left out of my four headsets!
It’s all much easier to understand in the photos. If you’d like technical details, just email me.
POOR MAN’S CVR (as in Cockpit Voice Recorder):
This started out with me thinking “Gee, it would be nice to take a Dictation Recorder to the Ground School, so that I can listen to the parts I missed while I dozed”. So I got out the inexpensive recorder I use for this kind of thing. Then I got to thinking about using it to record the dialog with my instructor in my first few flights, for later review. It turned out to be very easy. A bonus is that my recorder offers a VOX mode (thanks to my son for pointing this out!), which runs the tape only when someone (in the cockpit or on the radio) is actually talking; i.e. when the squelch is broken). Now I’m thinking that I’ll just keep it as a permanent fixture in the 'plane – you never know when it might be useful to have a recording of who said what to whom!
Pic of this is also on www.photoasa.com
Again, I’d be happy to provide details by email. No, I haven’t tested either in the air yet; so again, use or experiment entirely at your own risk.
- Mike
Does anyone have a recommendation on an ANR headset that will plug into the power jacks without modifications? I’d rather not pay an avionics shop AND the price of a good headset or 3.
Has anyone tried the Lightspeed QFR solo or active?
For what it’s worth, I believe the headset power jacks in the SR20 are designed for Telex headsets; I would doubt that other brands would plug in without modifications.
I am leaving today (!) up to Duluth to go pick up my plane, so if you already have yours then you probably know first hand more about what the connector looks like than I do.
When I go up there, I’m getting a couple of the Lightspeed “SR20” headsets; I believe the ANR circuitry has been particularly tuned for the noise in the SR20. But these headsets require AA battery power, and cannot be powered by the plane.
Steve
Actually I think the CD SR20 jacks are fairly standard. Also Lightspeed has an ANR SR20 headset, supposedly tuned to the interior of the CD SR20. I’m using the Lightspeed SR20 headset now in a 172 while awaiting #396. It is great! I believe you can only purchase the SR20 headset directly from Lightspeed
Does anyone have a recommendation on an ANR headset that will plug into the power jacks without modifications? I’d rather not pay an avionics shop AND the price of a good headset or 3.
Has anyone tried the Lightspeed QFR solo or active?
For what it’s worth, I believe the headset power jacks in the SR20 are designed for Telex headsets; I would doubt that other brands would plug in without modifications.
Here is a reply from Lightspeed:
Stuart:
No. Cirrus has not asked us to make our headset to work with the jacks even though we make a headset specifically for that plane. To my knowledge there is no headset that is compatible. The Telex was, but I have heard that they changed their plugs.
Sorry.
Deb
I am leaving today (!) up to Duluth to go pick up my plane, so if you already have yours then you probably know first hand more about what the connector looks like than I do.
When I go up there, I’m getting a couple of the Lightspeed “SR20” headsets; I believe the ANR circuitry has been particularly tuned for the noise in the SR20. But these headsets require AA battery power, and cannot be powered by the plane.
Steve
Actually I think the CD SR20 jacks are fairly standard. Also Lightspeed has an ANR SR20 headset, supposedly tuned to the interior of the CD SR20. I’m using the Lightspeed SR20 headset now in a 172 while awaiting #396. It is great! I believe you can only purchase the SR20 headset directly from Lightspeed
My thought . . . Why continue to build a plane with panel power for headsets and no headsets that fit the jacks?
The Lightspeed view . . .
Unfortunately, the SR20 headset is not available with any modification that is compatible with the Cirrus plane. We are asked this question a lot. We have not been asked by Cirrus to provide a modified version, and the word is that we would like to have future owners of the Cirrus plane be able to use the SR20 headset in other planes that they currently fly. (while they wait for their Cirrus to be built). We get few requests for panel power mods in general, and we feel that because of the Auto-shut off feature and 50+ hours of battery life the XL series provides, there would be little to gain for
the end user.
This may at some point all change depending on future discussions with Cirrus. As far as I know, There is no headset that is compatible with the Jacks in the SR20.
Deb Steiger
Lightspeed and Bose are the class of the field.
For my taste, Lightspeed works better and wears more comfortably. Costs less, too.
Bose is nice because the headset is so small. In some airplanes, its small size creates more headroom so you can adjust the seat taller.
Funny, I found the opposite to be true (other than the price.) The Bose X’s are incredibly light and have remarkably low clamping pressure, and the sound quality (for CD listening on those long XCs) is better. I find the Lightspeed 20s to be a bit too tight on my head (I have a thick head, as my wife will affirm) and they look funny (fashion is everything in aviation.)
The only problem I have with the Bose’s is that they are fairly tight inside the ear cups, and after six hours or so my ears get a little sore.
Bottom line is to try different headsets and see what you like. Bose will let you try them for 30 days and return them if you decide against them (obviously not many people do.) Not sure about Lightspeed.
The power connector is a secondary issue; if you find something you like, it should be possible to rewire either the plane or the headset as necessary.
I think Cirrus had an excellent idea when they chose to install power jacks with the intercom and headset plugs. What I do not understand is why the power jacks are not compatible with most of the headsets. This defeats the purpose of the whole concept. Does anyone know a way to make thw power jacks “more compatible” with a variety of headsets to obviate the need for batteries?
Brian>Lightspeed and Bose are the class of the field.
For my taste, Lightspeed works better and wears more comfortably. Costs less, too.
Bose is nice because the headset is so small. In some airplanes, its small size creates more headroom so you can adjust the seat taller.
Does anyone have a recommendation on an ANR headset that will plug into the power jacks without modifications? I’d rather not pay an avionics shop AND the price of a good headset or 3.
Has anyone tried the Lightspeed QFR solo or active?
I have owned the Lightspeed 20’s and then upgraded to the 25’s. Then Dave bought the Bose X for his side of the cockpit (come to think of it the pilot side has been his an awful lot) I must say I have never had a better headset! My Lightspeed 25’s are for the people following us in the rear seat! I love my Bose x and so does Dave. May the wind be at your back…Ed