46

Maximum Volume

Stefan Van Camp

11 luglio 2014 15:43

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Hi,

When using my 20s in combination with my custom made noise reduction plugs, the volume is a little bit too low at higher speeds (120 km/h). The "female voice" is also too quiet at speeds ranging from 70 km/h and above.

I realize upping the max volume could be harmful for users without hearing protection. But for those who do use plugs (or for the hearing impaired bikers like my father who uses a hearing aid, but can't while wearing a helmet) it would be a handy feature if we could disable some sort of "Enable Volume Limiter" toggle button in the firmware config screen.

Please let me know if this is coming in one of the future firmware updates or otherwise which workaround you would advise.

Thanks in advance!

Stefan

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138 commenti

• 0
  
  Gary 2 febbraio 2015 17:45

  Will Adams you are missing the point. We (I) bought these to get away from having to wear buds and fiddle with wires, etc. DJ, I also upgraded to the Tork X speakers and it helped a lot. Much better fidelity for music and a little better volume for use with ear plugs. Marginally acceptable now although I do not think I would buy them again. This complaint is very old and Sena has not responded. Guess they don't care.
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  David 9 febbraio 2015 17:59

  my friends and i have upgraded from a sena 10 to a sena 20. with firmware upgraded on the S20 to v 1.2, we still notice that the volume is not loud enough compared to the s10 when riding above 50mph with ear plugs on. would like to see an increase in both max volume control and command tone volume. 

  Is there going to be another firmware upgrade that would fix this anytime soon? We are thinking of switching back to the sena 10 to use until this issue is fixed just because the volume is better. 

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  Michael Walls 10 febbraio 2015 19:03

  Again, I think this is something Sena should (and can) fix. I shouldn't  have to go purchase another set of speakers to get the unit to work as it should. Both the Nolan and the Sena SMH-10 have plenty of volume to overcome foam earplugs. I have no idea why Sena can't fix this. If new speakers are the only answer then Sena should provide them gratis. I had high expectations of the 20s and I'm disappointed. 

  I am however impressed with the customer service. I sent mine back for poor FM reception and they replaced it quickly with no qualms. Now if only they would respond and get the volume issue fixed.

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  Dave Silva 10 febbraio 2015 20:55

  I bought the Tork X-Pro Motorcycle Helmet Speakers and IMHO it did not help increase the volume.  In fact, I think that it reduced the volume for me.  The Tork seem to include or even focus more on the low frequencies, and that makes for a better range (maybe), but I find it harder to hear using them.  It is unfortunate because I do think they are more comfortable than the Sena Speakers.  I plan to switch back the Sena speakers, just as soon as I find that little screw that holds in the plug (oops)

  I am not hijacking this thread, Sena S20s Volume is less than my 10's for sure.  I just wanted to put my opinion out there because I just blew $80 on the Torks :(   Again, Just my opinion.
  
  
  

   

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  Pjgalligan 17 febbraio 2015 04:22

  The correct solution is to use in-ear headphones, which do the job of your earplugs while providing much better quality sound than the speakers. That's why the 20S has the 3.5mm jack.

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  Michael Walls 17 febbraio 2015 18:27

  The correct solution for PJ isn't the best solution for everyone. I prefer using foam earplugs. Other units (nolan or SMH10) have the volume to overcome the plugs, but the Sena so not. I DO NOT want to use in ear headphones. I just want more volume at the speakers which should be doable. It was on the SMH-10

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  Wayne Friend 28 febbraio 2015 00:19

  Fresh purchase of the 20s, fitted to a Vision R. Sounded ok in the living room, but couldn't hear a thing on the bike (wearing foam ear plugs) Very disappointed that Ive had to buy  in-ear headphones

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  Marc Parnes 28 febbraio 2015 01:07

  I originally had the same complaint back when the 20s first came out but subsequent updates and playing with the settings seems to have fixed it. So now I'm wondering what is the problem that is still causing people to experience the same low volume. In my case I have an Android phone paired to my 20s. I'm using Heros High Fidelity plugs and occasionally foam plugs as well. Here is a link to the plugs I use most of the time:

  www.hearos.com/products/high-fidelity-ear-plugs-311

  With the hifi plugs the volume is such that I run the 20s at about 85% of full volume for Pandora and about 50% for phone calls. On my R1200RT I installed a J&N bluetooth dongle that I use to send the bike's XM to my 20s. In that case the dongle itself adds power so I have to run it at about 50% volume. So what are the devices you're using where you're having volume trouble and what are the settings you've got the 20s set to? Maybe we can figure out what the hell is wrong. If it works for me it should work for everybody which obviously it doesn't. 

  Marc

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  Ken 28 febbraio 2015 16:42

  Someone told me recently that if the helmet speakers are in deep wells and that if there are layers of padding between the speakers and one's ears, that the volume will be too low to hear with foam plugs in the ears.  

  Pretty much makes sense.  So I put material behind the speakers in the speaker wells to bring them up to the underside of the helmet padding.  BIG DIFFERENCE!  Just moving the speakers closer to my ears made the audio much louder.  This is without foam plugs, which I hate, anyway; but instead for riding around in the city and on city highways at speeds to about 75 mph.  

  For long trips, I still put my wired noise-blocking earbuds in my ears.  The audio must be turned way, way down with earbuds or it'll split my eardrums.  

  Ken

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  Will Adams 1 marzo 2015 04:26

  In case Sena does read these and they do decide to up the volume for those who want the speakers to really blare while they wear ear plugs, I would offer this suggestion: you will absolutely need to add some detection for earbuds.  I have already had instances where the existing high volume nearly burst my ear drums with ear buds.  So if the volume is increased even more, I am certain that several of us who wear earbuds only will break ear drums as a result if the volume is not limited when headphones are in use.

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  DJ Hank 1 marzo 2015 11:27

  @ Ken, i am with you on this. Always be careful with your ears.
  Just out of curiosity i have replaced mine with the Torx speakers. I recently purchased a carbon Shark  Explore-R helmet which is far more suitable for BT systems than my Shoei Neotec.
  Speakers are better positioned (closer to ears) now and there's a significant improvement.
  So overall it turned out to be a big step forward and loud enough.
  FM radio still not good. instead i use 4G smartphone for streaming internet radio. Works great! Even Spotify is nice.

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  Ken 1 marzo 2015 22:20

  Sure would be cool if Bluetooth noise-blocking earbuds would pair and work with our Sena headsets.  Stuff 'em in your ears like simple foam blockers and have stereo sound from the Sena.  No earbud wires.  

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  DjPaul 15 aprile 2015 15:41

  So it's spring on the Canadian west coast and I'll be pulling out the bike for another summer. 

  I went back to review the SENA is trying to kill us via dangerously loud BEEPS aka MAXIMUM VOLUME and noticed with in the two page thread, this,

  Based on customer's feedback we are working on a solution to help resolve the issue with upcoming firmware update.

  August 12, 2014, 2:13 PM

  Does anyone know if there's been any BEEPING changes to the set up? 
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  DjPaul 26 aprile 2015 16:34

  I've got updates directly from SENA... and it's not good

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  Nick Sardelianos 27 aprile 2015 12:53

  explain?

   

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  louis loong 7 maggio 2015 11:40

  I'm on firmware 1.4 Sena 20 S and it is crap. Move tyhe bike and the jog dial moved up and started beeping. It need another firmware upgrade. nothing is right on the 20S.

   

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  louis loong 7 maggio 2015 11:42

  I wish they could take away the max volume beep.

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  DjPaul 7 maggio 2015 15:56

  Ive actually been in touch with a SENA tech', via a request for answers from SENA, and although the answers I got are helpful, the technician is quite skilled at not answering anything regarding the beeps.

  So while the latest update does include an ability to "save volume settings" for each and all add on's there's still that very dangerous BEEPS. 

  The save Volume settings is pretty good, Switching from FM Radio to Phone or back to Music the volumes for each are all saved and comfortable as I/we switch between each.

  Get your 20s updated. once it's done, you'll notice, There's no prompts, no sub menu, it just does it automatically, FM radio volume set to where I/you want it, it's set.

  Music volume set it where i/you want it, it's set, Phone, Ipod. groups etc etc.

  To that, Thank you SENA! :)

   

  So over all this is good, but we still have a very long BEEPING way to go 

  I'm still not happy but feeling better

  :(

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  Kathy Brojakowski 25 maggio 2015 21:11

  Got our 20s pair a few days ago. We booth wear foam ear plugs and the volume is too low. Firmware is updated to latest. Not sure what to  think of these yet.

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  Ken 26 maggio 2015 01:17

  Hi, Kathy.  Several people have complained that the volume is too low.  But others say that it's good.  I'm not an expert on the subject, but look at the way the speakers are mounted in the helmet.  If possible, mount them closer to the ears.  Some speaker wells are deeper than they need to be.  Also, any foam or covering over the speakers is going to absorb the sound before it gets to your ears. 

  I cannot hear the speakers well myself, at 50 mph or above (with or without foam ear plugs).  But since the majority of my motorcycling time is spent below those speeds, I don't use any hearing protection.  Below 50, the volume is quite adequate for my old and tired ears.   But instead of foam ear plugs, I use sound-blocking earbuds when I'm traveling out of town at higher speeds.  With earbuds, the volume must be set very, very low;  else you'll blast your eardrums!  With earbuds, normal level conversations are as noise free and understandable as talking on the phone.    So since sticking noise-blocking foam in your ears isn't too much of a hassle, try earbuds.  I sure like mine.  I use the Klipsch white noise blocking.  They're relatively inexpensive and have good audio response.  Music sounds especially good with them.  

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  DjPaul 30 maggio 2015 15:30

  Hey everyone I'm not sure why we've hadn't done this a long time ago, but please click the link and add your vote to remove the beeps and very loud voice prompts.

   

  http://support.sena.com/entries/69210890-Remove-Beeps-

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  Kathy Brojakowski 1 giugno 2015 10:33

  We took our first ride yesterday using our 20s sets. Volume was a bit low. When we stopped for lunch I did a factory reset on both units. After that volume seemed to be better. I removed the foam pads from the speakers as well. Overall not bad- I like how fast the vox is. I used my Android phone for some navigation and the volume was very good on that.
  

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  Taffytaffy 17 giugno 2015 07:08

  stijn just going to order those speakers you mentioned, thanks for the tip hope they are as good as you say? thanks gareth

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  DJ Hank 18 giugno 2015 05:32

  Since last firmware upgrade FM radio is even more crap but volume is better. BUT; When the turbulence/vortex on the highway is tapping my helmet SENA pops up in my ears stating "say your command" unwanted. Sensitive, ehrrrr?
  FM radio stations wich i have programmed are not fit to listen to anymore. Reception is even worse and the "next" command does not bring me to the next radio station anymore.
  (Nor wil the jogdial. )

  Whats that SENA? Now my FM radio is as good as useless and now i'm forced to stream radio on 4g internet from my mobile.
  I know i know, its not easy to be a firmwareprogrammer......

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  Morrypayne 16 ottobre 2015 21:55

  On my SMH10, the hangup tone is ear drum shattering in its loudness.  So much so that I'm going to have to toss the Sena for another brand.  I've been having some cochlear irritation from riding with an open face helmet and plan to buy a new Shoei modular, but then the unbridled beep tone with be just that much louder, relative to the environment.  How hard could that be to program in the firmware?

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  DJ Hank 17 ottobre 2015 15:29

  Yo, this topic is about SMH-20S NOT the SMH-10.
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  DjPaul 17 ottobre 2015 15:52

  Morrypayne, I think what DJ Hank may, be offering,  is that, this thread topic is more towards the 20s.

  Dialog regarding your SMH10, may not be heard, ... heh, pardon the pun :)

  Personally, I do appreciate your comment, I think discussion about all Sena products is good.

  If I may... I do have a request for you Morrypayne, You commented that your experience with the SMH-10 hasn't been good. 

  To be honest, I moved from the 10, to the 20s hoping to have better experience only to find my self here, commenting/ranting/complaining etc about the dangers of the 20s.

  It's not a perfect product, and seemingly although Sena does make efforts in other areas of it's products, In my two personal issues, which i've read is shared by many, they don't seem to care? 

  I digress...

  Morrypayne, if, or when you do go to Sena's competitors for a "better bluetooth experience" ,  Would you please chime back in here and let us know what you've learned?

  ie - what's better or worse about which you've gone to?

  My two biggest complaints about the Sena line up is:

  1. Not water proof

  2. Very loud beeps could lead to death. 

  I've been looking at the Interphone,... I think SGM5? is it called? but maybe you'll find another brand that suits your needs. 

   

  Let us know, good luck and Safe riding my friend. 

   

  :)

   

  DJ Paul.

• 0
  
  DjPaul 21 ottobre 2015 15:30

  potentially, I've got some exciting news about the 20s and maybe even the SENA line up of communicators.

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  DjPaul 21 ottobre 2015 15:30

  Dangerously painful beep issue

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  DjPaul 21 ottobre 2015 15:32

  PLEASE SUPPORT SHAWN PRIEBE