Audio/Intercom Pre-purchase Questions

[BrunDog]

Guys,

I am seriously interested in getting an audio mixer/intercom and have pretty much settled on the Autocom 7 Advance. I have a FF helmet.

My questions, before I go ahead and buy it, are:

1. Is listening to music really safe on a bike? I normally hum a tune in my head, for like six hours straight, so I typically bore myself to death. The idea of continuous music sounds really good, but I never would want to do something at the expense of safety.

2. I ride with the intention of "getting away" from the phone, etc., but I like the idea of being reachable for my family, as I always am other times. How practical is it to answer the phone and have a short conversation?

3. I will need to decide where to mount. I can either put it in my tankbag (at least to start), then I will possibly move it to the bike (under the seat). What is recommended and what have been your successes or problems?

4. Any thoughts on this unit? I have read recommendations for other units, but none float my boat as much. Feedback is appreciated.

5. I am going to connect it to my PDA phone, which is a bit of a wiring challenge. I can handle it, but Autocom will have to set up the unit NOT to volume down on the music channel when the phone/intercom is active. This is because the phone audio and music audio come from the same port. This set up is a near-permament mod to the unit, which will thenn prevent the music from being muted if I add bike to bike intercom, and I can work around it by going for the Bluetooth module. Anyone have this module or any thoughts around it?

TIA!

-BD

 

[motorgod]

If you at least get XM or Sirus you can listen to talk, comedy, all types of music to keep your brain working. I had a greater problem having the drone of the bike lull me to 'sleep'. No problem since I hooked up XM and an mp3 player.

 

[dobias]

BrunDog,

Maybe I don't understand what you're trying to do but you completely lost me with your intention to stop the music volume from being decreased when you talk on the intercom, FRS or cell phone. The PDA is monaural, if I'm not mistaken. Why use it for music with a stereo intercom?

dobias <_<

 

[ock913]

BD, I have the Autocom Active 7 Smart mounted under the seat. I use this in conjunction with a Mix-It 2. To buy Autocom's mono adapter and dual input adapters added up to the cost of the Mixit so I opted for the Mix-It instead. This set up allows me to run my cell phone to the autocom directly. I then have the Passport mono, and MP3 stereo leads plugged into the Mix-It. This way I can also manually adjust volume on the fly using the Mix-It. I also have more inputs on the Mix-It so that I can add my GPS when I get it.

I don't normally talk on the phone while riding, but at least I can hear when it rings and know that someone has tried to call. I can then stop if I want to see who it was and call back or just continue riding. When it comes to the music ...... if you find yourself tapping your feet on the pegs and causing the VOX to mute the music as you sing along out loud, then perhaps you get into the music a bit too much to keep abreast of your surroundings. Just use your best judgement.

uuuhhhh, he said breast :haha:

 

[Bearly Flying]

I have the Autocomm Pro 7 mounted under my seat, intercomm, cd player, and cell phone on the left side fairing. I don't know why you wouldn't want to mute the music when taking a call???? My cell phone mounts on a clip on the left fairing, when it rings through the headset, I touch the speaker button on the cell and take the call. It's no different than talking to the wife on the intercomm. Both the wife and I can hear the caller and both of us can respond to the caller. The music mutes while talking, and comes back on when finished. It's still got an available input for bike to bike, when I get it, that will be on a PTT switch.

 

[Mogan]

I also have an Autocomm, but have chosen to draw the line with the cell phone. I listen to music, speak with pillion but avoid the calls. It seems like too much of a distraction for me. My instict is to answer an incoming call even if it's not prudent to do so. I can tune out the rest more easily.

 

[BrunDog]

Ahh, I was afraid of this.... OK, buckle your seatbelt.

I am going to use my PDA phone for multiple duty, I can put it in my tank bag in the map window which works well, because I can see it and I can push the screen buttons if need be (not while underway!)

The PDA puts audio out through one jack. That jack has microphone in, left, and right audio channels in it. The audio for music is stereo and comes out of the discreet L and R channels. The audio for the phone is mono, but also comes out of the same L and R channels. If I am listenening to music, and the phone rings, the music pauses until the call ends, at which point it resumes automatically, just a like a good little PDA should.

So, here is the issue. There are no individual channels for the phone audio and the music audio.

If I plug the L & R channels into the stereo music input jack, when I make a call over the phone, the music gets muted in the Autocom, which effectively will make it difficult to hear my caller. Oops, that's no good.

If I plug the L & R channels into the mono phone input jack, the music will be mono. Oops, that's no good.

Now, going back to the first option, Autocom told me they can modify the unit NOT to mute the music when a call is initiated. This will mean I can take a call just fine, because my PDA will stop playing music when the phone rings, and the audio will come in via the music input loud and clear. Problem with this is that if I ever want to include a bike to bike, the music will never mute when I VOX to the other bike.

The only way (I can see) around this is to break apart the audio lines. This could be accomplished either by a switch or by using a bluetooth receiver module, which my phone has and works very well with a headset I use.

Unless anyone else has some ideas (yeah, yeah, I know, why not just use an Ipod seperately), I am kind of stuck. I have talked with Autocom about this and these are my options. The systems today are not made for a single audio source like this.

-BD