No Waze Audio Alerts through DSR1 - 2020 CarPlay JBL

Hello All,

I started this in another thread and didn’t want to continue hijacking that one. Sorry to Bigolbaddy. Been quietly reading all I can find about the JBL systems and upgrades.

Like a lot of you, I got a system upgrade with DSR1 from tech12volts (James) for my previous truck, and I have moved it into the 2020 with CarPlay. The improvement in sound quality is not in dispute, and James has been great. I’m trying to solve a problem that’s important to me — I’m not getting Waze audio alerts to play through the system without the factory amp.

I’ve convinced myself that the factory amp must remain in the vehicle because it overlays this audio to the dash speakers only. It doesn’t appear to be broadcast to one of the four main main channels the DSR1 uses. When I called Rockford, they said integration was all iData. When I called iData, they said they hadn’t evaluated the 2020 CarPlay radio yet, but that ALL audio is captured by the four main channels. This does not appear to be true from my situation. James graciously reflashed my DSR1 with whatever software and vehicle data is the most current, but that didn’t change anything. I’m going to try leaving the factory amp in to run dash speakers without modification, and running the main four channels through the factory amp and DSR1. I’m waiting for harness parts to arrive to cobble something together to test this setup.

I hope to hear from anyone who uses Waze thru CarPlay and the DSR1 to confirm or deny the absence of alerts or turn directions. This could be just my system. I also need an education on the DSR1. I don’t have a Windows computer, so if something other that changing the harness type from Maestro to Universal with the app is required I will have to sort that out. It seems that vehicle data is no longer involved and it’s just flattening the signal. Is that correct? What am I missing?

Thanks much!

 

What's weird is I believe all the other car sounds play through the DSR1/aftermarket amp without the stock JBL amp? I will try and remember to turn on Waze sound promps on my way home to see if it plays through the system without the stock JBL amp.

 

Is it only Waze that's missing audio? Do you still get the Siri voice prompts and everything else that would route through the voice guidance channel? I don't have the same audio setup as you so I can't help much on the specific nuances there...

 

Great point and I don’t know about Siri. I reverted back to the factory amp because knowing where cops are is more important to me than volume and boom in the short term.

 

Hhhmmmm..... maybe knowing the relation of your foot position on the long, skinny pedal is better to know than where other people are. I'm one of those guys that put cops on the Waze maps randomly anyways

 

Man, one day I was driving about a quarter mile behind someone that kept putting a cop on the Waze map randomly. Every 30 seconds "Police Activity Ahead." - I ended up shutting off the sound and never turning it back on.

 

Were you driving through Texas that day, by chance?

 

Unfortunately no.

 

At least we can rule out @TXTundra2722 then.

 

Haha! I like stirring the pot.... but I do it within reason

 

There's a spot on the way to my kid's daycare that ALWAYS has a motorcycle cop hiding and waiting for some BMW to fly by doing 60 in a 45. I'll throw down a marker there whether he's there or not now just to get some people to slow down in case he does show up.

 

Only had the continuous bogus alerts one time. Ended at the state line so I figured it was a trooper doing it. Funny thing was there were times where I could see them pop up and that spot on the earth was in view — early morning, no vehicles in sight, and I never caught up.

 

If I remember correctly, the alerts are sent to the center dash speaker. Do you have the center speaker connected?

 

Is the center channel distinct on the JBL systems? On the non-JBL it is a dual voicecoil speaker bridged from each front speaker, not it's own channel.

 

I’ve had the center speaker connected in both configurations. I’ve not tried other voiceovers like Siri yet, forgot about her. Will try tonight to get a better evaluation.

 

Catching up from where we left off yesterday. Center channel is distinct in my 2020 JBL. Waze, Siri, and phone call audio plays clearly through L/R/Center dash speakers, and front door tweeters if you haven't modified the factory wiring arrangement. It seems pretty clear this is an integration issue with the iDatalink Maestro end of the DSR1. Email from James says this is not exclusive to 2020s and that he is working with them to resolve the issue. Thank you, James!

Figuring this is not something that will be corrected very soon, I'm still looking at interim solutions. Seems like splitting the audio has two options: Feeding the speaker level leads from the factory amp to the the DSR1, or a PAC Amp Pro.

 

You said Waze/phone calls/Siri audio is played to left, right, and center dash speakers. But it is your perception the left speaker is incorrect. So what about the center and right dash speakers? Are they playing the audio? Trying to understand.

 

Sorry for the confusion — my earlier perception was left dash only, and that was wrong. This audio plays across all three dash speakers, and to a far less audible degree the front door woofers in my 2020.

 

Edited post 1, 16, and 17 to avoid confusion.

 

As far as I can tell all Waze does when sound is on is occasionally interrupt the music - nothing plays for a second or two but it sound more like the music cutting out. This does not happen when Waze audio is off.

 

PWMDMD - Yes, awesome, thank you! That's what mine does, and this lets me know it's not just my system that is affected.

We (James really) think this is due to a setting flashed to the DSR1 that sends "Prompts" like Waze audio and Siri to the center channel. But most of us with the tech12volts upgrade aren't using the true center channel created by the DSR1 -- we piggyback the leads from the front channels or leave the dash speakers out. The pause or dimming of the main audio is where the prompts are being sent to the missing center channel.

I will post an update as soon as I get a chance to put the new equipment back in to confirm all this.

 

Humm I have the JBL and DSR1 and have no GPS prompts VIA the OEM HU's GPS. My phone is ALWAYS on mute as I wear an Apple Watch. I hear the music pause/Lower volume but there is no Voice in the system at all. Just my center is disconnected as of now. But when I programed the DSR1 and did the FW updates that were available I made sure I clicked the box to send all them prompts to the front L+R+C speakers. We need to figure this out.

 

MikeDelta is testing Jame's suggestion today. I believe it involves under "Features" during the DSR1 setup leaving the center channel speaker to "Not used" - counter-intuitive so lets see what MikeDelta finds out today.

 

So I stand corrected...my center channel is NOT currently powered. Anyone know if I can just piggy back this off say the rear door outputs like I piggybacked they front door tweeters off the front door speakers?

 

you can piggyback off of any speaker you want but why? The center channel is used for alerts and soundstage (low volume). Will need another amp channel to power it like it was meant to be used. If you don’t care for the alerts and soundstage, leave it disconnected.

 

For me, this is the bottom line for now -- we'll have to wait for iData to work out the CarPlay integration in the 2020 HU. I cannot get any audio prompts from any GPS app (Waze, Apple, or Google Maps) with my phone plugged in for CarPlay. All apps do deliver these correctly through the DSR1 when the phone is connected via Bluetooth.

Now some rambling. I reflashed my DSR1 to ensure all prompts played through the front speakers, not the center channel. I have no way of knowing if this was an issue before, but that variable is eliminated now. By the way, I discovered Mac users can flash software to their DSR1s with a desktop application available at the iDatalink Maestro website. I was under the impression it had to be a PC until now. We still are unable to update firmware though. Siri and phone audio work as expected through CarPlay.

 

_SP_, how is your phone connected when the GPS audio is missing? If by cable, see if switching to Bluetooth makes a difference.

 

I will, I have not figured it out yet. I use Tidal HiFi and use the cable most times. Using the cable also lets be browse some music from Apple "Music" thats been downloaded. I wish the factory HU was capable of more. But my tunes finally sound good with the speakers and amp and sub im using. Im sure one day I will change out the factory HU. But for now its fine.

 

So I got my system updated with DSR 1 and kappa 5 amp and took the rug for a test drive. No voice prompts from Apple Maps just like wade for the OP. When I got home, read this thread and tried what y’all are trying. I could actually hear siri from l/c/r but the audio was CRAZY low. When I pushed the volume to max I could hear it. Anyone have a guess as to why, or can verify their 2020 does the same?