I've seen some postings on this site regarding the poor speakerphone quality of the Z1. Has anyone else had this experience other than ducatiboy and if so has anyone found a work around?

One of the MAIN reasons I want to get the Z1 is for it's bluetooth capability, but if it's lame I'm going to seriously reconsider. Any further help/information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

tridentnyc said:

I've seen some postings on this site regarding the poor speakerphone quality of the Z1. Has anyone else had this experience other than ducatiboy and if so has anyone found a work around?

One of the MAIN reasons I want to get the Z1 is for it's bluetooth capability, but if it's lame I'm going to seriously reconsider. Any further help/information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Someone did post that if you turn down the volume in the settings (down from the stock setting) the sound quality has improved, but being a nice few days I was spending most of it on the bike... but I will be trying that "fix" soon.

Thanks ducatiboy...I'll give it a try if necessary...looks like I'm taking the plunge with the Z1 next week...keeping fingers crossed!

P.S. I ride as well '05 Kawasaki Vulcan Classic 1600

volume down trick works.. makes it alot clearer i am told.. good find

tridentnyc said:

P.S. I ride as well '05 Kawasaki Vulcan Classic 1600

Ps, I have a 2001 Ducati 996, 2003 Ninja ZX12, and a 1998 Yamaha V-Max 1200. Got to love the power huh?

Oh and I did turn down the volume and it does sound a lot better from what people have told me.

In addition, if you output it on the right speaker only (further away from the mic) you can get more volume, with less feedback/echo.

This was really NOT READY FOR PRIMETIME. There's a lot to be desired for this implementation...

Better noise canceling mic
1 button access to the dialer
a phone book that doesn't create multiple name entries for multiple phone #'s

It did synch well with my Samsung PPC - I dumped the entire address book into it, but it's still somewhat unusable. The caller ID feature doesn't work worth a damn, and voice dialing from the address book is barely usable. All in all, it's almost as usable as the Parrot CK3100 that I pulled out. I wanted an all-in-one package to eliminate extra boxes and wiring.

The most important part works though - it mutes the stereo so I can hear the phone ringing...

Personally, if the sound quality were better and the caller ID worked right, I'd be happy. But I really expected better from Pioneer's flagship HU, especially for the $$ spent.

Rick

I just setup the bluetooth and I actually like it a lot. The callerid thing is annoying, I found that my motorolla phone trasmits the 1 at the beginning of all #'s, ie 17035551212. My phone book entries don't contain the 1 and the pioneer wants an exact match. I edited the entries to include the 1 and the callerid works.

I was able to elimnate the echo by lowering the stock volume and having sound come out of the LEFT speaker, not the right. Works really well and the few test calls I made had good results. If I find any echo problems I'll invest in a noise cancelling mic.

I like the yellow pages phone tie in. I also don't like that theres not one button access to the dialer, but two buttons or voice prompts isn't bad.

I also just installed the steering wheel remote which works pretty well too. Kinda wierd that the volume buttons are on the back of the remote but I'll get use to it.

Overall I'm happy with the bluetooth integration, however my other two handsfree units were very simple so my basis of comparison is limited.

What do u guys think about mounting the mic in the center of your car vs/ the top left corner? I remeber reading on my Parrot install manual that it mentioned mounting it in the middle above your visor. However, my install shop still put it on the left, close to the window. Thoughts?

dj2ndnature said:

What do u guys think about mounting the mic in the center of your car vs/ the top left corner? I remeber reading on my Parrot install manual that it mentioned mounting it in the middle above your visor. However, my install shop still put it on the left, close to the window. Thoughts?

I have my mic installed in the center of my truck right above the rearview mirror and it works fine. My wife can hear me very well.

Keep in mind you can keep it louder than your testing results show. I had a friend help me tweak mine by constantly talking and telling me if he heard an echo, and he did a good portion of the time. However, we got sidetracked and began talking about something else and we both realized we had just talked for 15 mins at an "echo" volume level. The thing is, durring normal conversation you don't shout loud things through the phone, and generally you talk lower. Also, if you try to listen for an echo, you will probably hear one from time to time, but with normal conversation it works great, and I get no complaints of echo.

Just to add to Ed's comment about callerid. With the Motorola Q, remove the "1" from your Z1 address book to make it work. I believe Ed's solution works with the Razr.

edrock200 said:

I just setup the bluetooth and I actually like it a lot. The callerid thing is annoying, I found that my motorolla phone trasmits the 1 at the beginning of all #'s, ie 17035551212. My phone book entries don't contain the 1 and the pioneer wants an exact match. I edited the entries to include the 1 and the callerid works.

The echo is really annoying to the people I'm talking to. I've tried outputting to just left or right, or turning down the volume (which DOES reduce the echo, but....also reduces the volume...). They'd better fucking fix this in the software...

Wonder if there is a way to shield the mike with a baffle or relocate it so it doesn't pick up the sound bouncing off glass on two sides? Mine is mounted at the top of driver-side A pillar. The instrument panel is recessed.