Sena SMH10

[JamesK]

Schubertt image is way too big. Add "g" to the end of the line

https://mishacycles.com/store/images/C/SchuberttandSena302.jpg

Thanks for the pic, good to know.

 

[Harald]

I've resolved the volume issue with the Zumo to Sena interface. I updated the Zumo 660 to software v4.2 and it actually fixed the problem. :yahoo: The nav voice is still a little louder than the music, but at least the music is listenable (is that a word?) at 70 mph.

I also incorporated 2 other fixes for weak audio. I've been wearing Max 33dB earplugs which are overkill for riding, so I tried the old standby yellow foam 29dB EAR brand plugs. This made a noticeable difference in being able to hear music.

The other thing I did was to download a really cool freeware program called MP3Gain that allows you to easily adjust the gain on all your music so all songs have the same loudness (could be louder or quieter depending on what your goals are). I increased (or decreased a few songs) all songs to 96dB. The program will do all selected songs without any input from you, so it's a piece of cake to accomplish. :yahoo: This would never fly for a true audio snob listening in his quiet room on $1000 headphones, but it works just fine for my motorcycle helmet use.

 

[Aasland]

When riding in a group, can the Sena broadcast to all?

I suppose if the answer is YES then it will only broadcast to other Sena's.

I think I'll keep my J&M setup a little longer ... but once they figure that broadcast thing out, I will be looking for an upgrade.

 

[wheatonFJR]

When riding in a group, can the Sena broadcast to all?

I suppose if the answer is YES then it will only broadcast to other Sena's.

I think I'll keep my J&M setup a little longer ... but once they figure that broadcast thing out, I will be looking for an upgrade.

The SENA is not a radio. SENA is a BT intercomm system. You will be able to talk to up to three other SENA riders in your group, individually...you can toggle the dial to whom you want to talk to. Again, it is an intercomm, bike to bike or rider/pillion. If you want group coms...you ALL need a radio.

SENA DOES have a device that will allow you to hook up your cell phone and radio to the SENA device. Cougar8000 sold me my SENA...here is a link to the SENA device on his website clicky

 

[phroenips]

SENA DOES WILL have a device that will allow you to hook up your cell phone and radio to the SENA device. Cougar8000 sold me my SENA...here is a link to the SENA device on his website clicky

feext (it's not available yet)

 

[Mount Rainier]

The other thing I did was to download a really cool freeware program called MP3Gain that allows you to easily adjust the gain on all your music so all songs have the same loudness (could be louder or quieter depending on what your goals are). I increased (or decreased a few songs) all songs to 96dB. The program will do all selected songs without any input from you, so it's a piece of cake to accomplish. :yahoo: This would never fly for a true audio snob listening in his quiet room on $1000 headphones, but it works just fine for my motorcycle helmet use.

Thanks Harald :clapping:

You've just help turn my experience with my SENA & Nuvi 765T into complete satisfaction with that MP3Gain tip. That was the only remaining issue. That being different volume of MP3 files. Now that's no longer an issue. Great stuff.

Keep Going!

 

[cougar8000]

SENA DOES WILL have a device that will allow you to hook up your cell phone and radio to the SENA device. Cougar8000 sold me my SENA...here is a link to the SENA device on his website clicky

feext (it's not available yet)

Correct. It is going through final testing stages and should be available shortly. The way it will work is you hook up all your devices including CB radio, upto 3 devices, and hey will be routed based on the priority to your helmet via BT.

For instance. Your phone will be routed into GPS which in turn will be routed into SR10. Your radar and CB will be hooked up to SR10 as well. And then all controlled by SR10 routed to the helmet.

SR10 should be about a size of a phone. You can hide it anywhere on the bike thus no need of it been stolen.

 

[Aasland]

When riding in a group, can the Sena broadcast to all?

I suppose if the answer is YES then it will only broadcast to other Sena's.

I think I'll keep my J&M setup a little longer ... but once they figure that broadcast thing out, I will be looking for an upgrade.

The SENA is not a radio. SENA is a BT intercomm system. You will be able to talk to up to three other SENA riders in your group, individually...you can toggle the dial to whom you want to talk to. Again, it is an intercomm, bike to bike or rider/pillion. If you want group coms...you ALL need a radio.

SENA DOES have a device that will allow you to hook up your cell phone and radio to the SENA device. Cougar8000 sold me my SENA...here is a link to the SENA device on his website clicky

Technically speaking, Bluetooth is a radio, as it uses RF as the underlying transport mechanism. At a very high level, all the Bluetooth receivers receive these RF signals, demodulate and reassembles the packets and then determine whether to accept them. There is no reason bluetooth technology can't be used to both send and accept broadcast messages between multiple units, other than the industry has not created a specific bluetooth profile for this, nor incorporated these into a bluetooth release to be used in bluetooth devices. There may be specific limitations that I am not aware of ... although I'm a code-writin fool I don't much with communications protocols.

Being limited to 3 other riders, and having to switch between them, is enough of a limitation that I will stick with my JMCB2003 (especially considering that I have already sunk the money into it on a couple bikes). I can certainly see that the SENA stuff is soooo much simpler to install and deal with, but it lacks that one core piece of functionality.

 

[JamesK]

I've resolved the volume issue with the Zumo to Sena interface. I updated the Zumo 660 to software v4.2 and it actually fixed the problem. :yahoo: The nav voice is still a little louder than the music, but at least the music is listenable (is that a word?) at 70 mph.

I also incorporated 2 other fixes for weak audio. I've been wearing Max 33dB earplugs which are overkill for riding, so I tried the old standby yellow foam 29dB EAR brand plugs. This made a noticeable difference in being able to hear music.

The other thing I did was to download a really cool freeware program called MP3Gain that allows you to easily adjust the gain on all your music so all songs have the same loudness (could be louder or quieter depending on what your goals are). I increased (or decreased a few songs) all songs to 96dB. The program will do all selected songs without any input from you, so it's a piece of cake to accomplish. :yahoo: This would never fly for a true audio snob listening in his quiet room on $1000 headphones, but it works just fine for my motorcycle helmet use.

Harald, thanks for the tip about MP3Gain, it looks like a really nice app. I just ran the Analysis on my MP3 (used in the Zumo550) and a bunch of the songs show up as "clipping", I don't think I've noticed it when riding though. Did you make any adjustments to the Track Gain as well, to say eliminate clipping?

 

[wheatonFJR]

...Being limited to 3 other riders, and having to switch between them, is enough of a limitation that I will stick with my JMCB2003 (especially considering that I have already sunk the money into it on a couple bikes)...

Yeah, if you already have bike to bike radio...then I don't see the fit.

I am usually just travelling with 1 or 2 other riders...and was also looking for rider/pillion comms as well...so it fits the bill for me very well. Very functional unit with gloves on.

...and I can play the ipod through the speakers as well. My etymotics don't stay in my ear very well so I have to use ear plugs presently.

 

[Pat C]

I just recieved the Sena, I have a question can the Sena pair with the Scala? I would like to give the my old scala to a friend.

 

[wheatonFJR]

I just recieved the Sena, I have a question can the Sena pair with the Scala? I would like to give the my old scala to a friend.

Sena to Sena only ...is what the manual says I believe. You can check it...but that's the way I read it. Why don't you give your friend a SENA?? He is your friend after all...

 

[cougar8000]

I just recieved the Sena, I have a question can the Sena pair with the Scala? I would like to give the my old scala to a friend.

That is a NO. Simply because there is no standard out there right now. And each player want to convert you and your friends to their side. But what mark said. Friends don't let friends use non-Sena units

 

[CAJW]

Any of you guys have a guesstimate of the hours the battery will last with the intercom left on? All that I've read suggests that you should push the jog button to open the channel to communicate and then turn if off again when done. My pillion and I currently use a Collett that has a true VOX system hence no need to push a button every time one wants to communicate. I've been looking for a BT system and with the new offering (SR10 adapter) to hook up multiple devices, this just may be it. I have a Droid X, Garmin 2730/2820 & Escort 8500 that sounds like the new BT adapter they will be offering will be the hot setup. Another question that I have is does the unit have an auto mute for music when the intercom is actually being used i.e. speaking? If not, will the new SR10 offer that feature? If so, is it selective such as to have RD audio priority during a conversation, but auto mute music?

The need to select each person you want to communicate with right now would be a deal breaker for me on group rides. I can just imagine trying to coordinate a stop to fix a loose item etc... and having to select each of up to three others to confer with to prevent splitting the group up. Might have to revert to hand signals, how old school! My Collett works well with multiple bikes as all are on the same channel, but besides that one glitch, this system looks to have some really nice features. Thanks for any input.

JW

 

[Harald]

Harald, thanks for the tip about MP3Gain, it looks like a really nice app. I just ran the Analysis on my MP3 (used in the Zumo550) and a bunch of the songs show up as "clipping", I don't think I've noticed it when riding though. Did you make any adjustments to the Track Gain as well, to say eliminate clipping?

I used track gain to adjust all the songs on my Zumo to 96dB because my goal was as much volume as possible while still maintaining some rudimentary sound quality. Some were showing clipping before the adjustment and even more were clipping afterwards. Depending on how much of a signal is clipped off, it could sound horrible. But in my case of a motorcycle helmet speaker setup while cruising down the road with wind noise, I haven't noticed any objectionable degradation of sound.

 

[bobg3723]

The other thing I did was to download a really cool freeware program called MP3Gain that allows you to easily adjust the gain on all your music so all songs have the same loudness (could be louder or quieter depending on what your goals are). I increased (or decreased a few songs) all songs to 96dB. The program will do all selected songs without any input from you, so it's a piece of cake to accomplish. :yahoo: This would never fly for a true audio snob listening in his quiet room on $1000 headphones, but it works just fine for my motorcycle helmet use.

+1 on that music normalizer program. Just what I was looking for! :yahoo:

 

[cougar8000]

JW

You would still need to joggle between riders. I am not aware of any other similar system that keeps an open line between more then 2 units. As long as the first rider is pulling over I see no need for all to know what is going on until everyone stops. This is what I expect on my rides anyway. Kind of follow the leader thing.

Unless you will hook up a real CB unit to it.

Any of you guys have a guesstimate of the hours the battery will last with the intercom left on? All that I've read suggests that you should push the jog button to open the channel to communicate and then turn if off again when done. My pillion and I currently use a Collett that has a true VOX system hence no need to push a button every time one wants to communicate. I've been looking for a BT system and with the new offering (SR10 adapter) to hook up multiple devices, this just may be it. I have a Droid X, Garmin 2730/2820 & Escort 8500 that sounds like the new BT adapter they will be offering will be the hot setup. Another question that I have is does the unit have an auto mute for music when the intercom is actually being used i.e. speaking? If not, will the new SR10 offer that feature? If so, is it selective such as to have RD audio priority during a conversation, but auto mute music?

The need to select each person you want to communicate with right now would be a deal breaker for me on group rides. I can just imagine trying to coordinate a stop to fix a loose item etc... and having to select each of up to three others to confer with to prevent splitting the group up. Might have to revert to hand signals, how old school! My Collett works well with multiple bikes as all are on the same channel, but besides that one glitch, this system looks to have some really nice features. Thanks for any input.

JW

 

[wheatonFJR]

+1 on that music normalizer program. Just what I was looking for! :yahoo:

You won't need that with your fairing/ram mounted speaker system you're installing...correct Bob?

 

[CAJW]

JW

You would still need to joggle between riders. I am not aware of any other similar system that keeps an open line between more then 2 units. As long as the first rider is pulling over I see no need for all to know what is going on until everyone stops. This is what I expect on my rides anyway. Kind of follow the leader thing.

Unless you will hook up a real CB unit to it.

Any of you guys have a guesstimate of the hours the battery will last with the intercom left on? All that I've read suggests that you should push the jog button to open the channel to communicate and then turn if off again when done. My pillion and I currently use a Collett that has a true VOX system hence no need to push a button every time one wants to communicate. I've been looking for a BT system and with the new offering (SR10 adapter) to hook up multiple devices, this just may be it. I have a Droid X, Garmin 2730/2820 & Escort 8500 that sounds like the new BT adapter they will be offering will be the hot setup. Another question that I have is does the unit have an auto mute for music when the intercom is actually being used i.e. speaking? If not, will the new SR10 offer that feature? If so, is it selective such as to have RD audio priority during a conversation, but auto mute music?

The need to select each person you want to communicate with right now would be a deal breaker for me on group rides. I can just imagine trying to coordinate a stop to fix a loose item etc... and having to select each of up to three others to confer with to prevent splitting the group up. Might have to revert to hand signals, how old school! My Collett works well with multiple bikes as all are on the same channel, but besides that one glitch, this system looks to have some really nice features. Thanks for any input.

JW

Cougar,

Thanks for the feedback. The Collett system Collett website that I and my buddies use is an "open line" (VOX activated) between as many units as you can cram within the 900 Mhz radio range, which is about a mile LOS. We enjoy the "party line" type connection with everyone on as many a good joke is passed along on these rides as well as the occasional important call out such as, "forest rat on right, or watch that minivan on the left" which goes to everyone immediately, with no need to toggle between riders which would be pointless in that immediate need situation. Still, the Sena is interesting as it's got the BT feature and hopefully the SR10 will have the features I noted above as it would allow the user to set their priority audio inputs. Too bad Collett doesn't offer a BT duplex rider to pillion intercom as the range bike to bike on these units is pretty good.

 

[bobg3723]

+1 on that music normalizer program. Just what I was looking for! :yahoo:

You won't need that with your fairing/ram mounted speaker system you're installing...correct Bob?

The same wind noise that muddles the dynamic range in the range from quiet to loud musical passages in helmet headphones is the same effect on your eardrums when hearing them from loudspeakers outside your helmet, ya? YMMV