Q&A: Can you disable the internal speaker?

Q. We are having some issues with some customers having distorted audio when the volume in the radio is turned up high due to being in a large and noisy truck or hard of hearing for some older farmers. We are adding higher quality external speakers to offset some of this but still having an issue where when the volume is turned up the internal speaker in the radio is still distorting. Is there a way in programming or through GPIO pins to disable the internal speaker and exclusively use the external? We are running a CapMax system so all radios are XPR 5380e and XPR 5580e with a few non-e stragglers still out there.

A. There is no way to disable the internal speaker. The only way would be to remove the control head, and pull the cable out that links the speaker to the board. 

You don't need to dismantle the control head for this and it comes off quite easy using the opening tool (or dare I say, flat blade screwdriver). When putting the control head back, just remember to make sure the gasket is seated properly.