Microphone Mod

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Cheap! @ Dec 21 2006, 07:07 AM) [snapback]365063[/snapback]</div>

I want it to be the phone at the other end too, but that doesn't explain what I've experienced:
I call with BT, and can't be heard.
I turn off BT, and can be heard perfectly by my phone directly. Nothing else has changed.
I next call somebody else with the BT, and they can hear me perfectly.

I'm not sure how my BT connection can effect some phones I call, and not others??? My particular phone was introduced just two months ago, so it darn-well should be the latest and greatest integration of BT.

I can tell already that this will be one of those things that bugs me for quite a while!

I find it interesting that folks are seeing dramatic differences in changing the "Send Voice" level, while it seems to make no difference where I put that setting on my car. Same with adding the second mic, for that matter. Originally, with Send Voice set to zero, and just one mic, the folks who could hear me, heard me great. The folks that couldn't, couldn't.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Cheap! @ Dec 21 2006, 09:51 AM) [snapback]365182[/snapback]</div>

Hmm. You think that just having BT capability might make a difference at the receiving end? Thinking about this... the folks that can hear me well consistenly DO have BT, but I know one for sure who can't hear me, also has an advanced BT phone.

And then there are people who - gasp - use land-lines. My test last night was to my home phone, and I could barely hear the BT on the other end.

I'm about to take one of my rare drives in the Prius. Anybody want me to call them? Send me a phone number: [email protected]

 

Well, I called two local friends, and one Prius Chatter from the car today. And EVERY conversation was a winner. I even learned how to transfer the call from the back to the handset so I can keep talking uninterrupted when leaving the car. (Thanks Jim!)

The two local friends are the ones I regularly have trouble with, so there you go. No consistency.

I then, at home, I used my BT headset to call my provider (Sprint) and the first woman said, "I can barely hear you!" I'm getting used to this, but I just spoke louder. Now I'm thinking my phone is to blame in all this. Well, the first woman transfers me, and the next person has NO trouble hearing me. Even when I purposefully began speaking softer.

There are just too many variables here to track this thing down, I think. When I have a bad connection, I guess I'll just transfer the call to my phone, and inore the handsfree system. That is, until it becomes illegal to talk on the phone directly.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Dec 21 2006, 05:57 PM) [snapback]365491[/snapback]</div>

Is there an answering machine or voicemail you can call just to see how you sound? If I listen to the messages I leave I know when it's via the Prius, but it isn't that bad compared to just the phone.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(aaf709 @ Dec 21 2006, 06:13 PM) [snapback]365494[/snapback]</div>

Yup, I've done it. And had others talk in the car while I'm on the phone in the house. Typically, it sounds quite bad either way. By bad, I just mean low speach volume.

 

What does the adjustments to the BT mic in the diagnostic screen actually do?
There appear to be three adjustments:
Handsfree Voice Quality Set-only been able to set either 0, 1 or 3
Sending Voice Level, adjustable from -5 to +5
Speaker Volume, adjustable from -5 to +5

After adjusting the Speaker volume to +3 I noticed it was much easier to hear the other paerson on the phone. My question is what do I adjust to let the people I'm on the phone with hear me better? And why"

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Devil's Advocate @ Jan 4 2007, 07:06 PM) [snapback]371094[/snapback]</div>

This one I can help you with. It is only needed if you have a thick accent (according to the manual), and should not be adjusted manually here. The hands free unit can learn your voice through the "consumer" screens.

This is the one that folks assume is increasing the gain, and thus making it easier for the people on the other end to hear you. I'm not convinced that it does much, if anything to improve reception at the far end. It doesn't seem to make a bit of difference in my car.

This one I'm not sure about, as I don't remember seeing "Speaker Volume" as an option. I really need to take pictures of all those screes so we have some reference. The speaker can be adjusted from the MFD at any time while you're talking.

Did it do anything different than increasing the volume on the hands free display? I can make it uncomfortably loud that way.

That's what we've been trying to figure out. And have not yet determined.

 

I saw the additional mike installation thread to try and improve sound quality, but does anybody know of a hign-end mic, maybe with noise cancelling abilities, that can be plugged into the Prius, thereby replacing the stock mic?

 

This thread triggered a thought that might add to this mystery..

I have a 2005 Prius, sometimes when I power it on, without any obviously detectable pattern the accuracy of the voice recognition will fall to only 0-5% no matter what I say or how I say it. If I power cycle the car, it will usually solve the problem and work nearly flawlessly again, however, sometimes it will continue to fail and I would try again with a power cycle. This solution works often enough that I do this sometimes while waiting at stop lights.

I am wondering if my voice recognition problem is tied to the BT volume problem since sometimes I also have people telling me they can't clearly hear me.

This problem happens often enough that I've stopped using the voice recog, but in light of this thread, I'll start using it again and while it's acting up, I'll try a BT call to see if the voice quality drops as well.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mmccking @ Jan 12 2007, 02:07 AM) [snapback]374593[/snapback]</div>

Well, that's fascinating, and would account for the situation I'm experiencing. Sometimes great quality, sometimes terrible "I can barely year you" quality. I'll try the power cycle next time it sounds bad. Of course if that works, THEN what? We already know it would be impossible to replicate at the dealer!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rick Grahn @ Dec 20 2006, 04:45 AM) [snapback]364511[/snapback]</div>

I didn't see any further commentary on this, but I like the idea. I find myself raising my voice to get over road noise and make sure I am speaking clearly, and I tend to think that a mic on a lapel or a boom mike with a headset-type attachment would make things easier.

I was thinking of putting a jack in the mic circuit and trying this out sometime, but haven't found the time to.

Has anyone else thought any more along these lines? Or tried anything?

Ideally, if I could find a mic with close-enough specs to break in and use the pre-amp, that seems ideal. Or buying the entire mic assembly and doing some re-wiring and patch in after the headboard pre-amp (but disable the overhead mic at the same time)...

I also wish there was an easier way to activate the MUTE, i.e. not having to hit the MFD button. Being able to do it from the steering wheel would have been nice -- I tend to be on conference calls alot in the car, and it's nice to mute and kill any background/road noise that is entering the conversation when I don't need to be talking.

Mike

 

Just finished Cheap! s microphone mod. Got it installed, tested that the mikes work. Noticed that the model year is printed on the circuit board. Don't know yet if the car will understand me any better, but It can hardly understand me worse. If I were to do it again I would not pull the pins out from the housing, I would tap into the exposed wires. I had a great deal of trouble taking the pins in and out.