- considerations for speaker placement
- sound level The speakers must be mounted close enough to the ears to overcome ambient noise, which is even quite substantial with an RF800 Shoei, behind a +3 Clearview, and on an ST1100. Some experimentation was required and I wound up with the speakers appx 1" higher and 1/2" closer to my ears than the original location. I found that even a very slight adjustment in speaker location results in a perceptible change is sound volume and quality. The Pro 3000 has two loudness switch positions. One for no ear plugs and one for with them. I wear the foam cylinder type ear plugs which I insert very deep into my ear canals (almost flush). At first I had trouble hearing my cell phone or music even on the high switch setting. After optimizing the speaker locations, the level is quite good even cruising at 80+ mph. The Pro 3000 has an automatic level control that samples the ambient noise and increases the volume to compensate. This feature works seamlessly and is very subtle. The sound you perceive at 80+ mph is very close to the perceived sound while setting still (how does it know? ;-]
- comfort The consideration here is that if the speakers touch the ears even a little bit, they will cause pain. Therefore there is a very narrow area in which the speakers work optimally without causing pain.
- helmet integrity If any padding or Styrofoam is removed or compressed inside a helmet there will be some degradation in impact protection. The mere fact that the speakers and mic are in the helmet may be enough to degrade protection, even without removal of padding. How much degradation is up for conjecture. Some padding had to be removed from my RF800 to allow for speaker placement without causing me pain. I will just have to live with that, and it is something that anyone considering a helmet headset should consider before proceeding with this modification.
- an alternative to helmet speakers
- the problem After several years of use, I am still not total pleased with the helmet speakers and the Autocom. I don't believe the problem is with the Autocom or its speakers. Without earplugs the volume of the helmet speakers is downright painful. The problem is with the way I use earplugs. As I stated above, I use the yellow foam cylindrical type, which I insert deeply, very deeply, into my ear canals. The resultant sound attenuation is much better than the rating on the packaging. It is so good that I have trouble making out voices from the helmet speakers on intercom, 2-way radio, and cell phone (remember the Verizon cell phone commercials..."I thought you said flour the kids...?") The radar detector alerts are also hard to hear and easy to miss at speeds where they are needed most. The music from the helmet speakers is a long way from hi-fi at anything above 35 mph.
- the solution
I have been using a set of Etymonic Research ER-4S reference quality in
the ear speakers for about a year with my personal CD AM/FM players. The ER-4S are top notch in audiophile circles,
and are used by many professional musicians and sound engineers due to their authentic sound reproduction. I can
testify that they reproduce as good or better sound than my "high end" Koss and Sennheiser headsets.
In fact the experience is much purer with the ER-4S's due to their high attenuation of ambient sounds and the crystal
clear base response that occurs due to their close proximity to the eardrum (inside the ear canal). I had been
enjoying the beautiful sounds of my music with this direct hookup to my ER-4S's, but have had a hard time hearing
my radar detector, cell phone,intercom, and bike-to-bike transceiver that are piped via the Procom to the helmet
speakers in my Schuberth Concept helmet (and before that an RF800). Without ear plugs or the ER-4S's I can hear
the Autocom helmet speakers fine, but riding without ear protection is not an option for me as my hearing is very
important to me ;-} Now, with the in-line adapter I
made (not available from Autocom), all of my audio sources
are piped through the Autocom to my in-the-ear speakers. Thusly, I can hear all of the sources easily at low volume
with the Autocom fades and integration intact, and still protect my hearing. I made my adapter from an old damaged
Autocom rider headset extension lead (with a good female end),a new 5 pin DIN male, and an in-line 2.5 mm stereo
jack. Everthing is MIL-SPEC soldered, shrink-tubed, and sealed ( I used to support my family as an electronics
and computer tech before I became a fireman ;-} The adapter plugs into the rider's headset lead and disconnects
the helmet 
speakers.
I insert the input jack for my ER-4S in-the-ear speakers into the adapter's 2.5 mm stereo jack. If I want to walk
away from the bike, but leave my helmet on, I simply unplug the adapter (with the extension lead and 
ER-4S leads still
attached) from the Autocom riders lead and walk off to pay for fuel, get a bite to eat, etc... To return the Autocom
to its original configuration, I simply un-plug the in-line adapter from the riderlead.
- considerations of mic placement
- sensitivity No padding had to be removed for the mic, as it uses an ingenious padded flat mic enclosure with a formable stem. The mic must be touching the lips for the VOX and noise canceling circuits to work properly. Each side of the mic has a different color material. This is because the noise canceling sensor is on the black side and the mic input is on the gray side. Don't reverse these or you will wind up broadcasting wind noise and canceling your voice ;-} So far the VOX seems to work very well. I normally don't like VOX because most cut off the first word of every communication and shut off transmission in the middle if you don't keep talking. The VOX in the Pro 3000 works the best of any I have tried so far (including the VERY high dollar units in our aircraft crash trucks). It is very quick to turn on and no words are cut on startup. I still must get used to getting shut off while "thinking on-the-air" however, the pro 3000 seems to be more forgiving.
- location I first tried mounting the intercom unit in a tank bag. This would be the ideal location because of portability and less wires to and from the bag. This hasn't worked out due to interference I was getting when the cell phone was operating. More on that later. I wound up with the unit in the tail section where it "seems" to have less interference.
- power
I purchased the Autocom 9 vdc power cable. I connected it to the back of the fuse panel on the ignition switched
side. The unit will also run on its own 9 vdv battery for pocket portability.
- A downside to running the Autocom solely off the 9v battery is that there is no warning that the battery is running down. Unless you are actively using the Autocom, i.e. listening to music you will not know when the battery goes dead. This is a problem when someone is trying to contact you on the 2-way, cell phone, or intercom. This is a BIG problem (disaster) if you miss a radar warning.
- location The Diskman must be in an easy to reach location so I can switch radio stations or play the CD when out of radio range. The top of my tank bag works well, and I installed a strap and Velcro mounting system to hold the unit secure. I purchased the Autocom music cable SML-1.5 and connected the diskman via the earphone jack to the music input of the Pro 3000. Weather could also be a consideration, and I will need to either deploy a rain cover (shower cap), or stash the Diskman in the tank bag or saddlebag in the event of rain. The Panasonic has a remote control that can be attached in a convienient location and the player can be slipped under the clear plastic mapcover of a tank bag. I am still able to operate the Panasonic's large buttons through the mapcover, even with bulky winter gloves. I have a RioVolt SP250 portable mp3 player with FM radio on order. When I receive it and put it through its paces, I'll add it to this tome.
- power I installed a universal 12v to 4.5 v converter down by the battery, inside the side fairing. I first tried to use a cig plug on my left fairing, but I got so much engine static that I wired directly to the accessory circuit in back of the fuse panel. The static appears to have disappeared or diminished substantially. There still is some noise being introduced into the audio out of the Autocom when a converter is plugged into the Diskman. This noise is present with either player, and they don't even have to be turned on. The only way to eliminate it is to run off the player's batteries. This is a problem when playing CDs, as that draws down the batteries rather quickly. Its not a problem with the radio. The RioVolt advertises 15 hours on a charge of its rechargable battery. This is a possible fix for me, but a longterm solution MUST be to develop a "clean" power supply.
- location The Nokia phone can be set to answer automatically on "headset" mode, so I could stash the phone almost anywhere. I chose to mount it with two nylon straps on top of the tank bag, forward of the Diskman, for convenience. I am thinking of a more solid and visible mount on the handlebar or fairing but will save that until after I get all of the little "bugs" worked out of the basic system.
- power I can plug my phone into a 12v outlet, but the battery will last for more than 2 weeks on a charge so that hasn't proven necessary yet. I use Autocom's IL-11 E-B universal phone lead to connect to a Nokia headset adapter.
- settings As I stated above, I set the phone to auto answer when the headset is plugged in (the phone knows when the headset is plugged in :-0 I also set the audio levels at maximum and lock the keys. This way I can answer incoming calls without touching the phone. To make a call I will have to pull off the road and stop, but this is the safest way to operate a cell phone anyway.
- interference The first thing I noticed when I used the Nokia through the Pro 3000 was that it caused a "clicking" interference when in the phone was in operation. After a call to First Gear, the Autocom importer for the USA, I was told that some people have reported the same interference using Nokia 6100 series phones with AT&T service. That, unluckily, is just my situation. Fortunately, the interference seems to be reduced with the Procom mounted in the tail piece. More testing will confirm or deny this.
- Other considerations At this time, there doesn't exist a "factory approved" way to connect both a cell phone AND a 2-way radio. I am working on some circuits using hi-fi audio quality relays to allow me to switch EITHER/OR between these two options. The only way I can see to operate both at the same time is with an electronic mixer (all of which I have seen so far are too large to be practical on a motorcycle).
- Chatterbox After much trial and error and a couple of calls to Top Gear, I have determined that the Chatterbox people do not want us to use their FRS radio with the Pro 3000. I buzzed out the connectors and produced pin-outs of all of the cables and connectors only to discover that the Chatterbox will not accept the output of the Pro 3000. It will take the output of the Pro headset however, so I built a cable to connect my Autocom Pro headset to the Chatterbox. This setup actually works very well, and the Chatterbox is 100% better with the high quality Autocom headset (it should...it costs more than the entire Chatterbox system). This is not what I am out to do however, so I will try a different FRS radio with the Pro 3000 system so as to have full benefits of the high quality noise canceling/compensating circuitry and the ability to integrate a cell phone into the configuration.
- Motorola FRS Radios I have a couple of the small "Talkabouts" which I bought for hunting, hiking, backing up the RV, etc. I tried these with the Pro 3000 but found them lacking in range and VOX sensitivity on the bikes (advertised 2 mile range). They tend to cut off the first word or syllable in every transmission. It may be because of the double VOX which occurs when the built in Autocom VOX is input into the built in Talkabout VOX (which is not up to the quality of the Autocom circuit). On the recommendation of Brian at Top Gear I bought a pair of Motorola "Handicoms" from them. Brian said that the Handicoms were the best setup for using the FRS band with Autocoms. The Handicoms are about 2X the size of the Talkabouts but very light. They have 10 channels but must be opened up and battery removed to set 4 dip switches to change channels. Time will tell if this will be a problem. I have only changed channels a couple of times on the road with my Chatterboxes, so it might be all right. Also, only one of the Chatterbox's 2 channels is amongst the Handicom's 10 channels. The Handicoms, like the Chatterbox but unlike the Talkabouts, do not have the coded privacy squelches. This hasn't proven to be too much of a problem in the past with the Chatterboxes due to the fact we usually are moving at a rate that exposes us to other FRS'ers for only a brief amount of time ;-] They have 2 watts output and an advertised 5 mile range.
- VOX The redundant VOX in the Talkabout FRS radios (this is true of all of the newer model Motorola radios) seems to be a stumbling block in proper operation with the Pro 3000 and its high-tech VOX circuitry. Therefore, the Handicom with its lack of said VOX circuitry seems to be the best choice for FRS between bikes in this installation. I'll add my comments on the real world performance of this configuration when I get a few of my friends out on the road with different units to do a comparo.
- Pro 3000 ... $259
- Headset ... $159
- 9v power cord ...$60
- music cord ... $7.50
- Nokia phone cord ... $75
- 2 way radio cable ... $75
- Motorola Handicom FRS Radio ... $230
- Valentine One interface cord ... $79
The following topics will be addressed in the future as they become available: