what puzzles me is WHY do they always go around in pairs, literally one behind the other.

and then you see them parked up..together

Provided the tapes are synched (usually are) it doubles the length of the advert they can broadcast as they drive past.

I wonder what would happen if you hired a speaker truck to blare something that is totally offensive to Thailand.

I wonder what would happen if you hired a speaker truck to blare something that is totally offensive to Thailand.

Or rather a completly out of sync message advertising the main competitor's product and tailgate them everywhere they went. Think it would end up in gunplay tho.

I wonder what would happen if you hired a speaker truck to blare something that is totally offensive to Thailand.

You could not do that, no driver would take the job.

I wonder what would happen if you hired a speaker truck to blare something that is totally offensive to Thailand.

I wonder what would happen if you hired a speaker truck to blare something that is totally offensive to Thailand.

LOL...just had a visual

So, if the Thais can tune out this and so many other kinds of noise, it begs the question: Why do they persist with the loud noise in the first place? Nobody's listening no matter how loud it's inflicted on us.

I wonder what would happen if you hired a speaker truck to blare something that is totally offensive to Thailand.

You could not do that, no driver would take the job.

Unless it was in English! (so long as he doesnt speak it ) Bad visual..bad baaaaaaaad visual.. lol

I thought they were a part of the ambiance of Thailand.

Takes me back to when I was growing up in the states.

At last a post i agree with.

It's not exactly a big deal, transient noise for 3 minutes........

you gotta be joking? they are everywhere and a dam_n nuisance and nothing to do with the 'ambiance' AND not many want to be 'taken back' to the States before they had noise pollution laws and it was the Wild West thanks! it's awful and you are in a vast minority (including Thais) who think it may be part of the 'ambiance' rather than a loud nuisance blocking roads, disturbing people early in the morning, the sick and elderly etc. good God man!

I must admit to being very disappointed, and somewhat let down when I heard my first one in Chiang Mai; I thought it was just a Samui thing, and Chiang Mai was above it.

what puzzles me is WHY do they always go around in pairs, literally one behind the other.

and then you see them parked up..together

Because they feel lonely?

We could always take them on by hiring our own speaker cars (with larger speakers), broadcasting the message "Silence! Silence! Silence!".

Hate them beyond belief. I walk a lot. Nothing like strolling along a relatively quiet neighbourhood and one (or more) of these guys comes blasting along. Sooner or later I think I might end up in a dust up with one (or more) of them since I tend to lean in and suggest they <deleted>!

Just pay them more money than their employer did.

It is still unwanted spam. If they can yell at me as I walk along a street I can yell back at them. Fair is fair.

We could always take them on by hiring our own speaker cars (with larger speakers), broadcasting the message "Silence! Silence! Silence!".

Maybe a sound engineer could help with that, sort of. How about white noising (or useful equivalent) them out of our misery.

What's needed is a device to turn off the sound when the truck gets within a certain range. I have no idea what that would involve, or if it will ever be possible, but they do have devices that will scramble a cell phone signal thus disconnecting the call. There is also a little remote device that will turn on or off (almost) any TV; something that is so useful in Thailand. [it works, too!]

So maybe someone will come up with something, somehow that will silence the loud speakers until they drive past and go out of range. Wishful thinking.

RPG? That could work.

What's needed is a device to turn off the sound when the truck gets within a certain range. I have no idea what that would involve, or if it will ever be possible, but they do have devices that will scramble a cell phone signal thus disconnecting the call. There is also a little remote device that will turn on or off (almost) any TV; something that is so useful in Thailand. [it works, too!]

So maybe someone will come up with something, somehow that will silence the loud speakers until they drive past and go out of range. Wishful thinking.

Thats an easy one. A very strong directional signal with a regular sinewave and an inverted sinewave to overpower and cancel out the inputs going into the amplifier. You could mute the speakers do to a phase cancelled amplifier input, or blow/overload the amplifier inputs altogether depending on signal strength, but that could result in feedback drone, that would be even more annoying.

Like when your talking on the cellphone and can hear the signal beeping through your stereo system.

wire clippers anyone?

I'm thankful to know that I'm not the only person who has visualized standing on the roof of a building and launching a rocket at those <deleted> things. I used to live on the 6th floor of a building and the trucks would go up and down alllllll the roads around the building so it would go on for a good half hour. Just about drove me nuts. And yeah... the music at events is INSANELY loud. And I like my music loud! Something I guess we will never understand.

Moved into a condo 4 weeks back. those speaker vans sure are a pain in the rear end. At least it's down the road fairly quickly - until the next one..

I find the hours of hammer drills around the condo a bigger pain.

Thai version of The Blues Brothers

For those who say just a few minutes of nuisance.....not.

I live in an apt bldg on Huay Kaew Rd. near the uni.

They go by in triplets as in 3 sound trucks (Birdey...BUHdee...BUHDEE) blasting their stupid Sino-Thai greed wet dream moronic refrain heading west towards the zoo. (Where their advertisers and truck owners should be put in cages, IMHO).

Then poor Somchai and his bros make the u in front of the zoo, and come back. And are promptly stuck in the east bound Huay Kaew Rd. slow traffic.

So I hear the idiotic refrain, on the 11th floor of my bldg, sometimes for a good 15 minutes until they move up a bit.

Then they make a left on Soi Wat Chang Khian, and head north....do the circle and head back to Huay Kaew.

So probably a good 20 minutes to a half hour of stupid third world advertising media in total.

It all dates back to the 60's when the gov't of the day started installing loudspeakers in every rural village, and had the local pooyai baan give an inspirational speech; rouse the masses, etc. Part of an anti-communist sort of agitprop effort.

Provincial Thais have become inured to the constant blaring of loudspeakers their whole lives, dating back one generation or maybe more.

Now it has become an infection/scourge even in Bangkok, where the BTS and shopping malls and every common place is fair game for idiots with microphones and amplified speakers, at ear-damaging volume, shouting inane sales tripe, or singing off-key, or spouting some dodgy political message.

Honestly, to me it is not enough to make me leave Thailand.

But it is seriously one of the more deranged and bothersome aspects of life here.

And before the just off the plane FNG's start sputtering...give it a few years mate.

It will get to you too, eventually.

It took me weeks!

In Samui, we have three distinct varieties: the faring-voiced, coherent type, the thai-speaking-incohrent-english type, and the thai speaking thai type (generally some old guy driving around selling plants or oranges, and just monotonously drivelling). All three incite feelings in me that a well-adjusted person should not feel, especially when you can't get past them!

those loathsome pieces of selfish SH1T are out in force again! Let's make it our focus never to go to those places advertised.

For me I AVOID any establishment who hires those vans - so for them it's counter-productive they actually LOSE CUSTOMERS because of their 'mai pben rai' (= I don't give a shit) attitude.

I totally agree with mcgriffith. It's not a matter of a few minutes sometimes. I live on a soi just north of Huay Kaew near KSK. These trucks come down a side road from the north and echoes throughout the neighbourhood. They get hung up because the road near my place is narrow and there is usually some inconsiderate dolt parked in front of their favourite restaurant. Then they get to the corner and have a harder time getting onto the even narrower soi in front of my building. I can be watching a movie (I'm on the 3rd floor) on my computer with my head phones on and have to pause the movie because I can't hear over their blaring noise. The whole process can take up to 10 minutes sometimes, really ticks me off.

those loathsome pieces of selfish SH1T are out in force again! Let's make it our focus never to go to those places advertised.

For me I AVOID any establishment who hires those vans - so for them it's counter-productive they actually LOSE CUSTOMERS because of their 'mai pben rai' (= I don't give a shit) attitude.

Me too! I have done that since I got here - not that it would make one iota of difference to the owners of said establishments.

I come from Melbourne, and I used to get terribly annoyed with the convoys of scooters-with-trailers, VW Beetles with big Red Bull cans of their roofs, and mini trucks with billboards on them - none of which serve any purpose other than advertising, while adding significantly to the already terrible congestion on the roads, and unnecessarily spewing out greenhouse gases. Now, I realise how lucky the Melbournians have it!

thankfully i live in a rather peaceful place in chang phueak, im probably the loudest and wildest among all the neighbor.

didnt know how loud these vans can go. initially i thought you guys are refering to those pickups with speakers, its loud i know until i met the van version in tanin market few days back. just plain deafening

I hate the vans and the mad OTT shouted promotions in every mall and big store too and have been known to simply head for the exit and abandon the shopping expedition entirely. What worries me a lot is that the current generation of adults has become so inured to the painful noise levels that they're subjecting their children to dangerous doses without realising it.

Not long ago I was at an event where the noise from a speaker drove me away from where I was standing. When I moved, I came across the other half of the stereo pair with a group of primary school kids sitting right in front of it - really, 2 or 3 feet away, while their teacher stood by oblivious of the danger. I got her to move them and no doubt she put me down as another lunatic farang but what the heck.

well I am on the 11th floor and I have the 'pleasure' of listening to those things everyday, it's just ridiculous, and until some big person (as they call them here) gets his/her life disturbed I suppose we will have to endure it

ahhhh here they go it's just after 8am on a peaceful Sunday and they're at it again... where's the RPG?

Hmmm... You didn't mention this here!

Hmmm... You didn't mention this here!

ahh but that's because there is NO escape!!! they are everywhere!!! dam_n them!!!