External TEL MUTE on MMI?

[KiwiA6]

Hello All,

I have a Japanese market C6 A6, with MMI high. Although the car is fitted with a Telephone integration package, the complexities of the Japanese market models means that I cannot use that system here in New Zealand at all. It's the same with the Nav unit - apparently just putting in a local DVD map does not work, but I'm not too worried about NAV.

I have had a new third party telephone hands free kit fitted, which is working well. The only issue is that the installer cannot find a TEL MUTE feed on the MMI to allow the hands free kit to mute the radio when a call is made or received.

Does anyone know whether the MMI has this ability? I realise that normally you would use the MMI for the telephone, so it may not have any ability for muting from an external source, but I thought I would ask the question.

I can use the manual radio mute if I am using the phone, it would just be nice to have that happen automatically.

While I am at it, does anyone also know if there is a TEL IN feature anywhere on the MMI - at the moment, the kit is using it's own speaker, which is not really ideal......


Thanks in advance.

[a8 tech]

you can change the nav region under the hidden menu

[KiwiA6]

Thanks A8,

Now, I don't know if this is me being thick, or a "uniqueness" of Japanese models, but I can't find any Nav settings in the hidden menu:



I have had a look through the various sub menus (there was lots under Interfacebox for example), but can't see anything to do with NAv.

Am I missing something obvious?

Also, did you have any idea about the Telephone Mute? Is there a mute wire somewhere on the radio unit that you know of?

Many thanks - I'm pleased to see you didn't stop after 4,000 posts!!

[MFGF]

I have had a new third party telephone hands free kit fitted, which is working well. The only issue is that the installer cannot find a TEL MUTE feed on the MMI to allow the hands free kit to mute the radio when a call is made or received.

Does anyone know whether the MMI has this ability? I realise that normally you would use the MMI for the telephone, so it may not have any ability for muting from an external source, but I thought I would ask the question.

I can use the manual radio mute if I am using the phone, it would just be nice to have that happen automatically.

While I am at it, does anyone also know if there is a TEL IN feature anywhere on the MMI - at the moment, the kit is using it's own speaker, which is not really ideal......


Thanks in advance.

Hi,

Crikey, you are having a few issues. I just saw the problems you are having with RDS too!

My previous A6 with MMI High had two different third-party telephone kits fitted (not at the same time, mind!) during its tenure with me. The first one was a Nokia kit with a cradle, and when it was fitted the installer informed me that there was no interface kit available for an A6 with MMI High, so I was in the same fix you have at the moment - the kit used a speaker mounted in the passenger footwell, and there was no automatic radio muting.

The second kit that replaced it was a Parrot CK3100, and this time it was integrated with the car. The sound was via the front audio speakers, and the radio/cd automatically muted when making/receiving a call. The wiring for this was installed through to the boot, and used a loom insert between the amplifier in the boot and the original MMI wiring socket that plugged into it. If memory serves, there are details of the relevant kit insert and the wiring online somewhere - try the Parrot website as a starting point.

The kit and wiring were removed before the car went, and I still have them in a box up in the loft somewhere, so if you're desperate I can dig them out and post up some pics.

Good luck!

MF.

[KiwiA6]

Hi MF,

Not really having lots of issues - just the peculiarities of a car that was originally sold in Japan. And getting to grips with a new car as well, of course!

Yes, I am very familiar with the Parrots - I had a couple of different ones in my previous car. Good kits, but I find the Bury just a bit better.

It sounds like what they did in your case was place the Parrot in between the amplifier and the speakers - that way, the Parrot interrupts the signal from the amp and plays the telephone call instead. That's a perfectly acceptable design, and one I could have used with the Bury as well, but I didn't really want to go to that extra bother. When I had that set-up once before, it seemed to affect the sound quality of music through the amp - but that may have just been my particular installation.

What I was hoping was that the MMI would have a TEL MUTE feed - my last A4 had a Symphony II head unit with that feature, and that was brilliant - not only did it mute the music, but if you were listening to a CD, it even paused it while you were on your call!

However, I suspect that as the MMI is designed to work with it's own telephone system, it would normally have no need of a TEL MUTE etc.

Never mind, worth a shot! For the amount I actually use teh phone, I can just press the mute button easily enough.

Doesn't sound like I'm going to get RDS going either, as no one seems to have had any ideas.

Still, loving the car, and I was aware of the "Japanese-ness" of certain features before I bought it - Jap imports are a big business down here in NZ; I would say at least half of the cars on the road here are ex-Japan! Nice and cheap......although we pay a lot more for Euro cars down here, no matter where in the world they come from first!

[MFGF]

It sounds like what they did in your case was place the Parrot in between the amplifier and the speakers - that way, the Parrot interrupts the signal from the amp and plays the telephone call instead. That's a perfectly acceptable design, and one I could have used with the Bury as well, but I didn't really want to go to that extra bother. When I had that set-up once before, it seemed to affect the sound quality of music through the amp - but that may have just been my particular installation.

I think there was more to it than that. When a call was being made/received the DIS would display the word "Telephone" or "Phone" (I can't for the life of me remember which - must be another sign of senility! ), and if a CD was playing, it would pause at that point until the call finished, so there was obviously some signal being sent to the car to say that a phone kit was in operation.

There was no difference in the quality or volume of the radio/CD audio after the kit was fitted either. I'd say it's worth further investigation.

This looks like the kind of lead to use - assuming your phone kit has ISO adaptors.

Good luck!

MF.

[KiwiA6]

Thanks MF, that lead looks interesting.

From the functionality you had, and looking at that harness, I would assume it must be using the same intergration wires as the factory kit. A very tidy method.

I will have a look around and see if I can find anything similar for the Bose MMI High in my car.

Thanks for the link!

[MFGF]

Sorry - didn't realise you hade a BOSE system. I have just had another look, and found a couple of pages that might be of interest:

1. This seems to cover the wiring pinouts in the loom.
2. This appears to be the BOSE equivalent of the previous cable, and
3. This looks like all the BOSE ISO cables.

Good luck!

MF.