Better Speaker?

diablo0813 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 22, 2004 Posts: 1

Hello everyone.

I just got a Garmin Quest (European Version) and I was very dissappointed with the "quality" of the speaker. I was wondering if anyone has seen or has done a modification to the Quest speaker using a different speaker. I am guessing there is a forum out there somewhere that would show you how to wire up a new/better speaker solution.

DPL · Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 10:01 am Post subject: Quest Speaker

I too was very disappointed with the Quest speaker. Contacted the Garmin Technical Support guys but they said I was the only one to complain but would pass my comments to the US Design Team for possible future product improvement. Not much help to me now. They sent me a new carrier/charger/speaker assembly in case the original one was faulty but it was no different. You can significantly improve the audio quality by squeezing the speaker casing halves together but that's a bit difficult when you're driving! So, I took to opening up one of them to have a look.
!!!WARNING!!! When you remove the four screws holding the two moulding halves together there are very fine wires connecting the two parts. Take care not to stress the wires and break the solder joints.
As an Automotive Engineer I can tell you that the speaker is a low cost, low quality item housed in a cheap plastic moulding whose resonant frequency is excited by the speaker output.
You can effect some improvement to this resonance by damping the speaker and casing by placing self adhesive felt pads (from B&Q for instance) between the rear of speaker magnet housing and the plastic moulding. Apply sufficient to pre-load the casing but not sufficient to stress the assembly unduly. I'm afriad it's trial and error. This is not a fix, merely an improvement, and remember the warning above and also the fact that Garmin would probably say that doing this invalidates the warranty.
The only fix is a better quality speaker mounted in a rigid case and where the assembly has been 'tuned' to dampen out unwanted resonances. A very simple piece of Engineering that I'm surprised Garmin missed in their sign off work.

harleyman · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 23, 2005 Posts: 1

I found this advice on the web ealier, sounds like a possiblity! I also know that Garmin are about to release a motorcycle kit, I have asked them if this will enclude a jack for an ear piece, have yet to receive a reply will let you know. Another option is to purchase a Starcom intercom device, they say it will opperate with the Quest, providing audio to you helmet. (starcom.com)
Hope this helps
Harleyman

Garmin Quest Audio:
The speaker for the audio output is mounted on the power cable near the 12vdc power plug (car end). The audio output comes from the same connector as the power input. There are no external connector pins for external audio output. Motorcyclists and others who want to tie the SP2610 into their vehicle audio system will have to open the speaker case and bring out the two speaker wires -or- break into the speaker-to-

GPS cable. ANY MODS SUCH AS DESCRIBED WILL TERMINATE YOUR WARRANTY. The speaker wires in the cable are the brown and white pair and they are "push pull" and neither should be referenced to ground or noise pickup can result. The voltage across the speaker wires is about 2.5v peak-to-peak at normal volume. I recommend you locate a small 1:1 audio coupling transformer and use it to couple into your motorcycle audio system. Radio Shack is one source of such transformers. NEEDLESS TO SAY, making any such change as this voids the warranty and if you cause any damage, Garmin is not likely to look favorably on a warranty repair for your unit! AND.. If you do not PRECISELY understand what is stated above, don't attempt this modification! Garmin does not presently offer a Motorcycle Mount Kit for the quest. (Wiring details of this comment from the SP26xx writeup must still be verified.)

Laughing

DPL · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:14 pm Post subject:

I have just modified my Quest audio by removing the speaker and substituting a connection to a 3.5mm jack plug lead which I can then plug into the auxiliary input of my cars radio (Note - new Ford models like the Focus and C-Max have a glovebox located radio auxiliary input that can be used for iPod's and the like). The sound quality is much improved and plays through the cars speakers. The internals of the speaker casing are "delicate" in the fine wire sense, so beware, but the effort is well worth it.

By the way, overall the Quest as a Nav aid is superb.

DEF · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 4:21 am Post subject:

Regarding the Quest speaker, come on folks, quit whinin' about the speaker sound quality......get the wax outta yer ears..........I named my Quest Madonna for her melodious voice.......sounds kinda like chalk screeching on a chalk board........Garmin has a motorcycle cradle with power and audio out...see their website....no photo but, I have the user instructions. The audio output is low power (for earbuds)...volume is adjustable thru the Quest user interface........press the speaker key and hold....the screen displays the volume adjustment......Now, if one of you clever audio/electronic types could fabricate a nice little audio amp and wire up some Wharfdales to the Quest output, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

I agree with one of you who indicates, the Quest is a first class navigator. Madonna kept me out of trouble when I traveled to Canada Christmas past..........lots of snow on the roads, signs covered by snow mounds from the plows...a paper map would have been of no use.

During the trip, my wife was fascinated with GPS......she asked, "Where do the map positions and stuff come from?"

"The nice folks at NASA dear", I replied.

"Well then, the NASA people must know what we're doing and where we're going.......and, do you suppose they know when we are mak........Oh my God, turn that damn thing off......the government is watching us!"

Ya just can't win.........

Cheers, Dennis

Gerco · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 22, 2004 Posts: 25

Hi,

I found an interesting box (FastMute) which make it possible to connect ANY PDA to your car speakers(stereo).
No special radio required.
The box has a Mute-Generator (VOX) implemented.
In the moment (5ms later) the internal car speakers are switched off and the PDA sound comes amplified (9W Sin) to your car speakers.
There is only one 2 wire connection, from the ear phone jack to that box.
2 sec after the PDA sound has finished the speaker will be switched back (fall back) to your radio.
If you have a DIN loudspeaker connector just remove connectors from your radio and plug this box in between, connect to earphone output and power it, thats all.

Add On implemented for PDA MP3 users.
Autodetect for music. If the box is detecting music the fall back time will now be changed from 2s to now 15s. So no low volume music will cause any jitter in switching.

You can find this box here
http://www.fastmute.de/
The only problem is, that all informations are in German.
If there is some interest, I can translate the main items

Gerco

Skippy · Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:15 pm Post subject:

When I first got my Quest, the voice quality was really bad - you could barely understand it. This was fixed by a software upgrade to the latest voices from Garmin's website. I'd recommend upgrading the software before messing around with the hardware!
_________________
Gone fishing!

elsinga · Regular Visitor Joined: May 14, 2005 Posts: 171

Skippy is correct. The version 3 audio is much clearer than the 2.0 version. And, avoid setting the volume to loud. I set my Quest internally to 3 (hold the SPEAK button and adjust) and then I can crank the speaker-amp up to 80% for normal use and it only distorts minimally at 100%
_________________
Robert Elsinga =8- )

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