[Matt black]

I have bought a Interphone F3MC which I have bluetoothed to my Ipod and bluetoothed to the bike, it also is bluetoothed to my partners helmet. The only thing I cant do is adjust the music via the bike controls on the tank. The ipod is bluetoothed to the bike. Any suggestions?

 

[petertje]

the volume controls on the bike are only for te speakers on the bike.
The music on your iPod is linkt directly to your Interphone F3MC.
I suppose you have to set the volume on your iPod to the maximum then you can adjust the volume on your Interphone F3MC.
at least so is it working by me, only i use a iPhone, but that is the same IOS.
good luck.

 

[Matt black]

Thanks for that, would have been good to control volume or skip a song from bike instead of helmet but guess it cant be done.

 

[csdexter]

The volume works like petertje explained above. Skip Next/Skip Previous would only work if your music player knows AVRCP via Bluetooth (that's what the bike is sending).

 

[tbonesullivan]

Is there any physical connection available with the audio system, or does it only work via bluetooth? Is there any kind of charging hookup in the compartment by the audio controls?

 

[csdexter]

Yes and no, depending on how you count

"No" if you meant audio connection proper -- only streaming via Bluetooth is available (as stock). "Yes" if you consider being able to read files off a USB drive and play them back as "an audio connection" -- there is a USB cable in the right pocket.

If you're playing back from USB, then the Skip Next/Skip Previous buttons will do what you expect: skip to the next/previous file. If you're streaming from Bluetooth, those buttons will send AVRCP events which, of course, will only be acted upon by your device if it supports the protocol.


It's worth noting that the audio unit itself does have a stereo AUX input and a stereo headphone output, but they are not cabled at the connector. It should be possible to craft something (aftermarket people, can you read this?) but we still have to reverse engineer a way of selecting "AUX" as the active input.

 

[tbonesullivan]

Is the USB jack compatible with iPod and iPod nano, or does it just read off flash drives? Most systems like this in cars require you to configure the iPod as a storage device, and it just reads the files off it.

 

[csdexter]

The USB jack is only meant for USB Mass Storage Devices, so it'll only work with an iPod-class device if the latter is first put into disk mode.

 

[tbonesullivan]

well, I' have some huge flash drives as well. Probably safer than putting the Ipod in there. If I go for a deluxe. At present I'm actually not really convinced on the deluxe, and self cancelli8ng turn signals seem to cause more problems than they solve.

 

[bob]

I use a micro SD card in a very small card reader that works just fine. My Sony Walkman mp3 player also is by default seen by any computer as a storage device. I rip my own music or save the files and just copy to the mp3 player. The bike sees this just fine.
The track button on the bike will move to the next or previous track within an album folder when pressed. It will also move to the next or previous album with a long press. I don't presently have a BT music device that I can try for input to the bike. I also don't have a compatible BT headset that I can use to output from the bike. I have a Scala Rider Q2 but it won't connect. Someday I'm thinking of replacing it with a Sena SMH5-FM (SMH5FM02) since that unit has all I need. Personally I like using the USB connection since I don't have to think about battery life of the device. The USB will charge any device plugged in as well.

Currently I play music on my SD card through the speakers and can hear it fine behind the tall shield. Or I listen to radio when in my home area (the Q2 is too difficult to change stations or search so I don't bother). Or I can cable connect my mp3 player directly to my Q2 for music in my helmet. Would prefer, eventually, to play my music through the bike BT to my helmet but this is working for now.

 

[tbonesullivan]

I wonder why they didn't bother to use the stereo aux input or headphone out. it would certainly make it more compatible with legacy devices, and who knows if bluetooth in 10 years will still be compatible.

 

[csdexter]

AUX in + headphone out requires two extra connectors, about 2m of high-quality audio-rated wiring and a ton more headache around how to make it waterproof, how to pass regulatory tests after the modification and so on.

Bluetooth, on the other hand, is as good as providing the plain old 1/8" jack but with none of the trouble (for them).

I see your point about legacy devices, however the CTX does not appear to have been designed with "legacy" in mind ;-) On the contrary, everything on this bike points towards the future.

 

[tbonesullivan]

That is true. It's also a lot simpler in implementation than the radio on the GL models, which are almost overkill. I'm kind of curious as to why bluetooth wasn't added when they moved GL production back to Japan and came out with the second model GL1800s.