So, my players have been asking me questions like "can I play that voicemail message aloud for everyone" or "can the bikers even hear us" regularly for some time now, and I decided that I'd just homebrew some rules for speakers in Shadowrun. After all, we have mics statted aplenty.
So here are the results (we haven't really tried them out yet), feel free to criticize, provide feedback and suggestions.



Commlink built-in speaker.
This primitive audio system produces sound barely recognizable through all the noise in your immediate vicinity.

Portable speakers. 50¥ for a set.
Those compact autonomous low-consumption speakers are not exactly the pinnacle of sound playback technology, but they still make whatever comes from your PAN audible throughout a large room while weighting almost nothing.

Cloth speakers. 100¥ for a set.
Ultra-thin speakers are made of elastic polymer, allowing the user to glue or stitch them to his clothes, thus turning himself into a walking audiosystem.
Similar to portable speakers otherwise.

Home node speakers. 300-20000+¥ per speaker.
Even middle-class stationary speakers have a dynamic range much wider than that of even the most complicated portable ones, while the more expensive models make sure the sound is worth hearing.
Aiming for as little distortion as possible, high-end home-class speakers for audiophiles can reach enormous sizes and weights, and don't have an upper limit on price.

Concert speakers. 20000+¥ per speaker.
These monsters among the audio equipment are designed for concerts in large buildings or on stadiums. Just like the high-end home class systems, they are able to play anything from extremely low to extremely high frequency.
One can feel the low-frequency vibration these speakers produce when playing from a few dozen meters, and standing close to one is actually painful.
Concert speakers are typically larger than a metahuman, and require more than one mover to be moved to a new concert hall.

Vehicle loudspeakers. 1500+¥ for a set.
Those sturdy loudspeakers differ from middle-end home class speakers only in being able to stand the test of acidic rains, toxic smog and constant vibration.
May not be installable on some vehicles like submarines, aircraft and some bike models at GM's discretion.

Thin-layer speakers. 1200+¥ per speaker.
Thin-layer speakers look like small palm-sized boxes. Once mounted on any even surface, however, such a box emits precisely calculated surface-area impulses to use up to 10 square meters of said surface as a speaker.
Thin-layer speakers are more prone to noise and distortions than their stationary brethren, while being able to produce anything from infra- to ultrasound with appropriate maximal volume. Thus, thin-layer speakers are especially popular with musicians on the move - which makes sense, minding that their batteries rarely last longer than a couple of hours.

Nanite speakers. 2000¥: for a set.
The favorite of activists and propaganda workers worldwide, nanite speakers deploy upon a hundred square meters of surface in a matter of seconds, turning it into a single huge set of loudspeakers, using the same effect thin-layer speakers do. Nanite speakers are prone to distortion, but they provide an unmatched volume level, and are pretty difficult to remove once deployed.
Nanites don't have enough energy reserves to work more than a couple hours, and dissipate after that time, leaving no clues behind - but what kind of activism lasts for more than a couple of hours in the Sixth World anyway?

Just as a thought, instead of having speakers you can broadcast info that can be picked up through simsense channels (AR etc) pretty easily. And even without a sim module you can send the sound file real time to them through THE MATRIX. Also commlinks come with earbuds for sound, if you don't have DNI. (It costs 50¥ max, you should always have DNI unless you're afflicted with gremlins)

If you need an example, SR4A has some in the Turbo Bunny/clubbing/Tuesday fic, and AR is pretty ubiquitous. You don't need to add to ACTUAL noise pollution when you can walk around Seattle, virtually blasting "I'M TOO SEXY FOR MY SHIRT" to anyone who can pick it up through their commlinks. And if they are using a sim module you can pipe it hot laced with yummy emotive lines you captured on your simrig earlier in the day.

Actual sound is harder to block, and besides with AR sound you lack that physical feeling of powerful basses shaking your innards !

Sound being harder to block is... arguable. Filter, yes. Actually block, not so much. Not including say, Select Sound Filter cyberware/earbud upgrades


A base canard! With simsense you can set the entire body a-shakin' with just a little feedback equipment. or again, with DNI.

Shadowbeat has rules for speakers as I recall. No nanite ones though back in the day.

I kind of question nanite speakers personalyl at least on the scale your talking about, I'm just not sure hours worth of sound playback is feasable even by SR definitions.

Sure enough you can, but how many more people are able to turn their AR display off than have Sound Filters installed? Besides, not everyone is using AR, even in 72 - what are you, going to broadcast AR sound to a barrens go-gang?


I knew there must be something in the old books. Well, conversion is really not that better than homebrewing from the ground up.


Well, it's nano-magic! Besides, I was thinking more along the lines of an hour or two tops - you spray the nanites, blast your music/propaganda/whatever, and are gone.

Speakers need mods!


Base speaker

Level: 1 to 6
Cost: Level x 50 Nuyen (or x base cost if using the speakers above)

Chip reader

Cost: 25 Nuyen
Slots: 1

Radio tuner

Cost: 25 Nuyen
Slots: 1

Amplification (up to 100dB)

Cost: 50 Nuyen
Slots: 1

Data convertor (SimSense audio-feed and text to speaker)

Cost: 100 Nuyen
Slots: 1

Voice mask
Cost: 500
Slots: 1

Frequency modulation (ultra- and infrasound)

Cost: 250 Nuyen
Slots: 1

Secondary voice pattern

Cost: Level x 2.500 Nuyen (max. 6)
Slots: 1

White Noise

Cost: Level x 50 Nuyen (max. 6)
Slots: 1

Haha, Doc Byte, nice. I'd still make Amplification a part of Rating, and maybe added

Distortion Reduction
Cost: Level x Level x 1000 ¥ (max. 10)
Slots: 1.

That'd account for those audiophile models - no effect besides sounding more clear.

I've added the option to buy your speakers at base cost x level. (Where level's = mod slots) One could leave out the amp when using bigger speaker-amp combinations like e.g. the concert speakers.

Yeah, my point is, we could just say that Rating = max amplification, and thus avoid making the whole thing all too complex.

I was looking at the voice modulator cyberware and it's amp option. Originally I've called the mod 'megaphone' which might fit better.