Head set build
When I purchased my Icom 706 I was given a Heil HS-706 headset that was designed to work with the Icom radio. The headset worked flawless and had very good audio, but only had one speaker on the left side. This drove me crazy on nights with lots of band noise since one ear was overloaded with static. At some points taking the headset off would actually make me dizzy!
I Purchased a set of MFJ headphones for the radio to have some cheap and comfortable headphones. I was impressed with the sound quality of the headphones and how comfortable they were. I decided that I wanted to get a Heil Proset elite since they are revered for the sound quality and comfort. But they are not cheap, and since there is a special set for the older Icom radio's I would likely get the best use with just the 706.
I had attempted to sell the HS-706 set to generate the funds for the heil set, but no one seemed interested. So then I came up with the idea to make my own. I had a comfortable headset with great receive quality sound, and a Heil mic boom specially designed for my main radio.
I was going to wire the RX audio into the original mic plug but decided that I would keep the RX audio separate, in case I wanted to use the headphones on any other radio. So fat they are working great and really did not cost me anything!