BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

The blue tooth sound quality is terrible to my Sena 10s. I have done a factory rest and updated the firmware on the Sena and its still bad . Is this a problem with compatability with the BMW blue tooth and is there any fix?

oldtraveler wrote: The blue tooth sound quality is terrible to my Sena 10s. I have done a factory rest and updated the firmware on the Sena and its still bad . Is this a problem with compatability with the BMW blue tooth and is there any fix?

It’s not great no matter what you do, I have found the sound quality can be slightly improved by lowering the bass and treble to -6 setting.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

There is a solution. This video shows the mod on a K1600, but it's the same for the 2014+ RTs.
https://youtu.be/7SQx-dSW37g

this looks like an easy fix to problem that should not exist. I have seen there is BMW comm. system out now but I am unwilling to buy it because who knows if its any better than what I have. Thank you for your solution to my problem.

oldtraveler wrote: this looks like an easy fix to problem that should not exist. I have seen there is BMW comm. system out now but I am unwilling to buy it because who knows if its any better than what I have.

I couldn’t agree more.

I haven't bought an LC yet but on the one I recently tested the audio sounded just fine using bluetooth to my Sena 20S Evo. The issue I had with the standard bluetooth on the bike though was that you can't use the wheel to control volume when the speakers are off and the BT is on.
So this project would seem to cure that issue even if you were satisfied with the bike's standard BT audio quality. Thanks.

I did the same as 'Rambler358' on my 2016 R1200RT, but I hooked the wires thru the front speaker wires. Works great, although I am having trouble with my SM10 3.5 audio jack seems to have gotten loose over the years I have had it.

I just did a DIY version of the Motochello (that Rambler358 posted a video of) for just a few quid. You do need something like that Motochello device because you can't just connect a headphone cable to the speaker outputs of the Alpine radio, like I've seen some people posting about, for two reasons;
1)  the impedance is different and the peak to peak voltages for the speakers are too high to feed into headphones
2)  If you don't know for sure that the audio commons for each stereo channel are indeed common then you could blow the amplifier in the alpine. I don't know if they are or not but I wouldn't risk it. By connecting a headphone cable to the speaker wires you will absolutely have to join together the -ve leads. If that doesn't blow the amplifier you are likely to get interference, hum and ground loop problems.


So I've re purposed a speaker-to-line-level-converter that I was using on my 2005 RT to feed the speakers into an Autocom. This time I'm using it to feed the speakers into a (more modern than the built in) bluetooth transmitter and do without the Alpine bluetooth functions. This way I can use the wizz wheel for volume control, use the speed adaptive volume and choose a bluetooth transmitter with up to date codecs.
These speaker to line level converters are generally less than a tenner such as THIS ONE on Amazon.


I am also fitting a switch at the front of the bike to easily disconnect the speakers.
I can draw a diagram if anyone is interested in this mod.
EDIT: See THIS POST for more details of this mod

gadgetgaz wrote: I just did a DIY version of the Motochello (that Rambler358 posted a video of) for just a few quid. You do need something like that Motochello device because you can't just connect a headphone cable to the speaker outputs of the Alpine radio, like I've seen some people posting about, for two reasons;
1)  the impedance is different and the peak to peak voltages for the speakers are too high to feed into headphones
2)  If you don't know for sure that the audio commons for each stereo channel are indeed common then you could blow the amplifier in the alpine. I don't know if they are or not but I wouldn't risk it. By connecting a headphone cable to the speaker wires you will absolutely have to join together the -ve leads. If that doesn't blow the amplifier you are likely to get interference, hum and ground loop problems.


So I've re purposed a speaker-to-line-level-converter that I was using on my 2005 RT to feed the speakers into an Autocom. This time I'm using it to feed the speakers into a (more modern than the built in) bluetooth transmitter and do without the Alpine bluetooth functions. This way I can use the wizz wheel for volume control, use the speed adaptive volume and choose a bluetooth transmitter with up to date codecs.
These speaker to line level converters are generally less than a tenner such as THIS ONE on Amazon.


I am also fitting a switch at the front of the bike to easily disconnect the speakers.
I can draw a diagram if anyone is interested in this mod.

That is a great solution if you are going to use your bluetooth headset for bike-to-bike. I am still using an Autocom unit on the RT for it's stone-cold reliability.


If I do use a Cardo Packtalk headset with the RT it is very important to pair it as a Audio Streaming device and not as a HFP (hands-free-profile) headset profile.

oldtraveler wrote: The blue tooth sound quality is terrible to my Sena 10s. I have done a factory rest and updated the firmware on the Sena and its still bad . Is this a problem with compatability with the BMW blue tooth and is there any fix?

I just put a post about what I did with the S20.  I found if I had both helmets paired to the bike the music skipped like crazy.  Pairing the riders helmet only and then doing the music share on the sena solved my problem.  The summary is pair the phone to the bike and pair the riders helmet to the bike but not the passenger.  Pair the two helmet together.  Start the bike, music, and both helmets.  Connect the helmets so you can intercom together.  Then on the S20 you hold the jog wheel in on the Riders helmet until you hear three beeps.  That will allow you to share the music with the passenger.  It all seems to work for me.
Douglas180