BT microphone sounds like garbage

[AmIdYfReAk]

Hello all!

I'm driving a 2004 Passat with a Kenwood KDC-BT855U, the stock microphone was always a little quiet and sounded like you where in a tunnel.

So this install I decided to use an OEM microphone from a 2007 ish Mercedes.
It's installed in the stock location from the Passat, wired with 18ga copper wires to a mono 3.5mm plug to the HU

At first the microphone worked but everything was blown out and was clipping like crazy, so adjusted the gain to -16 and it sounded great when the car was parked with a slight reverb picked up through the mic.

But when I'm driving, there is so much noise picked up that no one can hear me at all!
The car is quiet inside the car, I basically have to yell directly to the mic to get something picked up!

I'm thinking of swapping the wire with a shielded wire and seeing if that helps, do you guys have any ideas?

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[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

The mic is going to measure everything, not just what you want. Seems the gain is still way too high. Sheilding won't help, the issue is that the mic has no noise cancelling (a feature the 2007 Benz likely had). Noise cancelling requires two mics with known locations so they can cancel noise that is common to both but boost audio that is at the expected location.

The Kenwood mic will work best when placed in an optimal location (as close to you as is feasible, and in front of you). Nicer head units have better microphones. Cars seem quiet but are actually quite noisy when measured with a microphone.