AMPLIFIER vs BOOSTER vs BRAND/SETUP - GPX4500

Hi all,
Been reading some of the topics on the forum in regard to Boosters/Amps etc Questions for you gurus...

I know the GPX4500 has its own Booster, but I want to enhance/magnify the target volume and try to make those weaker signals 'POP' out at me..
I would prefer a system which uses the GPX battery and I currently am using a nomal speaker off the battery..ran into a fellow prospector up bendigo and he was using a booster with his GPX5000 and mention how he had blown the previous one up-was this caused from the two boosters being 'in-line'?
I heard his machine before I even spotted him (and that was above the noise of my machine)..
1. Additional booster inline with the GPX4500 battery-possible to have or a waste of time/damaging to equipment?
2. Amplifier setup?-guess what sort of % increase in threshold/targets?
3. DUAL speaker configuration - worth it?
3. Detacc? VKTek? B&Z? CoilTek? - suggested setups of your tried and tru would be greatly appreciated..

Interesting story - Matt, my mate in Bendigo, was night detecting and looked up to find a wallaby standing there watching him..it slowly wandered over, all the time mesmerised by the humming GPX. The wallaby ended up being less than a metre from him the whole time staring at the GPX. Matt decided to hit the off button and say hello, as soon as he did the wallaby took off like a batoutofhell It was as if he had been hypnotized by the threshold the whole time!

We have 2 4500's and I can't imagine why you would need a booster with them..... one in the battery is fine..... I guess if you wanted to run after market batteries you would need to.

Sometimes the ambient noise is to much for just the speaker on its own, the use of a booster is a welcome add-on in these situations.

G'Day,

I have had my 5000 for a few weeks now. I got the "Unwrapping the GPX5000 with it. I notice JP has a Booster thingy on his shoulder harness. What is the point of this?


Waz

Waz,

Not being a wise-a** here but it's to boost the sound of the signal.
Also for JP he uses it while filming so we can hear what he hears
and then he can click it "off" to talk about what is happening.
It is a great teaching tool and lots of us use it for that; to help new detectorists.

I use an amp all the time with my 5000 and have with all my previous Minelabs.
Some people don't need them.
Some people don't like them.
Others, like me, need them and want them, I like a boosted signal.

It's personal choice mostly...

Thanks Flakmagnet-
To you and any other commentator:
which ones have you used? what brand are you currently using?
I assume you can use an amp w a booster to vastly improve signals??
I assume the amp, amplifies the built in booster signal?

Its an amplified Signal, but its not selective , so it boosts the overall volume of everything...... Threshold and Target......

Useful if you want really loud audio to overcome local noise etc , or want an external volume control I guess.

I have found the standard amp to be loud enough for my ears still, and have added a passive volume control and switch to the standard speaker if I need to quickly turn it down to talk to someone.

To be honest, I am pretty suprised that no one has developed a speaker with filtered audio and a gate to allow only gold sounds through...... Might be a rainy day project for me

Harb wrote:..............................and have added a passive volume control and switch to the standard speaker if I need to quickly turn it down to talk to someone.

Now that would be of interest to me. Can you post a few more details please??


Waz

I will try and dig it out and take a picture of it in the next couple of days (Still unpacking after our move )..... but in a nutshell its the same sort of thing as you get on those headphones/earphones with an inline volume control....in fact if you wanted you could buy a cheap one of those and use it to replace the standard cable on your standard speaker.

One of my mates has been road/track testing the 'rooster booster' from Bendigo Gold. He's very happy with the results (he doesn't miss many small targets), cost is up there tho-$220, but that comes with a speaker, so take that cost of and its $170....I'm starting to weaken and will give it a run this weekend..will let you know how I fair.
Spoke to couple of blokes about a dual speaker setup (read it somewhere on the forum) and they spoke about impedance and speakers in parallel..is there any reason that this is a dodgy idea? obviously you would chew thru your battery quicker..