Ear-splitting Autocom ringtone

[TomS]

Some background:

The Active-7 Smart Autocom has served me well for years with my phone connected by cable. But the TomTom Rider GPS my wife gave me for Christmas opened up some interesting possibilities for controlling the phone, so I got an Autocom Bluetooth module, plugged it into the Phone socket an paired it with the TomTom. Fine. Phone talks to TomTom. TomTom talks to Tom (me). Phone stays out of the rain in jacket pocket. I can now Accept / Reject calls, see SMS messages and access the phone address book via the TomTom.

 

Here comes the problem:

The sensitivity of the Phone channel on the Autocom is very high. The TomTom GPS volume has to be turned down to 10% to get a normal listening level. But ringtones and "system" beeps and warnings levels do not follow the volume setting of the unit. They get pumped through at 100% no matter what. That translates to what feels like 30.000 watts of beeps and ringtones im my ears. More than enough to cause hearing loss...?

 

And, in case you wonder: If you turn the ringtone down or off on the phone itself, that has no effect on the tone transmitted thorugh Bluetooth. (SonyEricsson P990i.)

 

A semi-solution:

After much TomTom research I found that if the sound files "ringtone.ogg" and/or "smsreceived.ogg" exist in the root directory of the GPS, it will use those, not the built-in tones. Fine. Being a computer person by occupation, I quickly made sound files from my favourite ringtones at -12db. and my ringing problems were over.

 

The remaining problem:

The "system" beeps are still threatening to make me deaf.

 

What is the ultimate catch-all solution?

An Autocom Phone jack with less sensitivity.

 

Will upgrading to another Autocom unit help? Anyone?

[TomS]

Just a thought. I don't use the comms DIN plug. Can I hook up the GPS unit to it if I solder up a conversion lead w/ plugs? Is its input less sensitive than the phone plug?