BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

gogs01 wrote: but I would have liked the extra cubby hole that comes with the audio unit - can't have too many cubby holes .....

+1, can you buy them?

Yes.  Look in Real OEM.

Brilliant, cheers!

Previous post on this has all the parts

/viewtopic.php?p=28023#p28023

Thanks again, sorry I missed the earlier post.

gogs01 wrote: I don't like leather car seats and I don't want a radio on a bike so I don't have either.
Don't really see the connection between the two .....

It's all about saleability when you want to change.


In the second-hand market, an RT without audio is about as desirable as a Jag with velour seats and a manual gear box.  Somebody chose it - but WHY??


:alas: :alas:

Without the audio you have room to store all types of other unnecessary junk like radios, fuse boxes controllers for Christmas lights ........

richardbd wrote: Somebody chose it - but WHY??
:alas: :alas:

Because my helmet has a radio already.

Sullivj wrote: Because my helmet has a radio already.

+1.  This is the bit I don't understand......  As I can merrily listen to my toons inside the privacy of my own lid, with better quality too, why would I want to inflict this on all and sundry by having it blasting out of the bike?  :silence:

RTman10 wrote: Without the audio you have room to store all types of other unnecessary junk like radios, fuse boxes controllers for Christmas lights ........

Isn't that only the case if you dig out all the space behind the speaker grills yourself?

Sprintgull wrote: +1.  This is the bit I don't understand......  As I can merrily listen to my toons inside the privacy of my own lid, with better quality too, why would I want to inflict this on all and sundry by having it blasting out of the bike?  :silence:

I completely agree about the bike speakers - they're ridiculous.


However, if you've found a helmet BT set with radio reception and sound quality even close to the RT's on-board audio system, I'd love to know which one it is.  I've switched to a GS and am really missing the quality of the RT's audio set-up.  For what it's worth the quality of audio from the Nav5 over the BMW BT system isn't a patch on the RT system either...

richardbd wrote:
I completely agree about the bike speakers - they're ridiculous.


However, if you've found a helmet BT set with radio reception and sound quality even close to the RT's on-board audio system, I'd love to know which one it is.  I've switched to a GS and am really missing the quality of the RT's audio set-up.  For what it's worth the quality of audio from the Nav5 over the BMW BT system isn't a patch on the RT system either...

I can't comment on the quality of the RT audio as I've never heard it, but mine is a Sena Headset.

Much as the easy detatchability of the sat sat nav is a pain in the butt, my solution is to keep the right hand breast pocket of my jacket empty. Then it's a simple case of popping it in there out of harm's way. The downside is putting all your gear back on and realising you haven't put it back again!

I went for the audio system on my new RT, but I didn't do it for sound quality reasons.

Firstly, most of my riding time is unfortunately spent on motorways, often for longer periods than a single album will last. Speaking from experience on my GS, trying to change music via the Nav 5 while driving is dangerous. Whereas with the audio system on the RT I can sort through my music and make a new selection much more easily and safely.

Secondly, I am an iTunes man and all 600+ albums are stored on my computer in that format. When moving albums to the Nav 5 I had to first convert them to MP3 then manually copy them to the Nav5, which even with an SD card has finite storage. I also can't do playlists on the Nav 5 - not easily anyway. On the RT I have been able to plug in an iPod which I can very easily sync with my iTunes library including playlists.

So for ease of use and convenience the RT audio system beats the Nav 5 out of the park. Whether or not that is worth the £1100 retail price (I paid quite a bit less for mine) is a personal decision.

My Sena headset was £100.  It plays music from my phone and has a built in radio. 

Simple, but effective.