2017~2024 So just who designed the speech announcement system?

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'24 CX-5 Turbo Premium
Just a bit of whining here about the 2017's MazdaConnect interface with the GPS and other speech warnings.

The fact that the speech announcement system is not tied to the actual volume of the audio system is about the dumbest thing I've ever seen, it's as if no one at Mazda actually tried it in the real world.

Since the right speakers don't reduce volume when the system makes an announcement, if you have the stereo cranked up you can't hear the voice unless you manually turn up the announcement, and that of course can only be easily done when it's actually talking. Then when you turn down the audio volume you get blasted by the voice since you cranked it up to hear it over the music. I love the speed and red light camera warnings, here in Chicago those things are everywhere and are known to be rigged in favor of revenue over safety, (the city got sued for that and lost the case, and they had to refund many tickets) but many times the announcement isn't audible because it got turned down too low or off due to turning the volume control down at the wrong time.

And of course it doesn't help that it only speaks through the left door speakers, which makes it sound like a voice from the grave. Why doesn't it come from the center speaker and turn down all the others? And then have proportional volume level relative to the other speakers? That's how it works in the wife's Acura, and it's always easy to understand the GPS, regardless of the audio system's volume level. In her car you set the relative levels once, then they track together. Simple.

This is the same issue I had with my '15 CX-5, and I would have though they would have fixed it in the '17's and later models. I kind of understood it in the '15 since the whole thing was kind of a kludge between the Tom-Tom and the rest of the system, but with the integrated MazdaConnect you would think they would have a better system.

Other than that the system is worlds better that the '15's and overall I like it. But warning systems you can't count on are worse than no warning system at all. Just ask the folks in Hawaii who thought the nuclear Armageddon was coming.(wink)

Rant over, thank you for listening.(rant)
 
Just a bit of whining here about the 2017's MazdaConnect interface with the GPS and other speech warnings.

The fact that the speech announcement system is not tied to the actual volume of the audio system is about the dumbest thing I've ever seen, it's as if no one at Mazda actually tried it in the real world.

Since the right speakers don't reduce volume when the system makes an announcement, if you have the stereo cranked up you can't hear the voice unless you manually turn up the announcement, and that of course can only be easily done when it's actually talking. Then when you turn down the audio volume you get blasted by the voice since you cranked it up to hear it over the music. I love the speed and red light camera warnings, here in Chicago those things are everywhere and are known to be rigged in favor of revenue over safety, (the city got sued for that and lost the case, and they had to refund many tickets) but many times the announcement isn't audible because it got turned down too low or off due to turning the volume control down at the wrong time.

And of course it doesn't help that it only speaks through the left door speakers, which makes it sound like a voice from the grave. Why doesn't it come from the center speaker and turn down all the others? And then have proportional volume level relative to the other speakers? That's how it works in the wife's Acura, and it's always easy to understand the GPS, regardless of the audio system's volume level. In her car you set the relative levels once, then they track together. Simple.

This is the same issue I had with my '15 CX-5, and I would have though they would have fixed it in the '17's and later models. I kind of understood it in the '15 since the whole thing was kind of a kludge between the Tom-Tom and the rest of the system, but with the integrated MazdaConnect you would think they would have a better system.

Other than that the system is worlds better that the '15's and overall I like it. But warning systems you can't count on are worse than no warning system at all. Just ask the folks in Hawaii who thought the nuclear Armageddon was coming.(wink)

Rant over, thank you for listening.(rant)

I agree with you 100%! Mazda's implementation of this system is just plain stupid! My VW Jetta's system worked as you described above and it was perfect. The only difference was that the voice system used all of the speakers and muted the music as the announcement was made. Also, VW's system allowed one to select the max audio volume for the system when the car was restarted. This way you never get blasted if you forgot to turn the volume down when you last shut the car off. How many of you have started the car only to find out that the music is too loud because you forgot to turn it down last time?
 
Frankly - I have 2016 CX-5 and have scenarios where my audio is at a rather high volume and GPS notifications at half. I never had the issue you're describing since the audio tends to get almost muted and I can hear the GPS announcements clearly. I had to dial down the GPS volume as I found it too loud considering its coming from driver side speakers. Whether I have accompaning music at high or low I can still hear and react to GPS notifications quite well.
 
Frankly - I have 2016 CX-5 and have scenarios where my audio is at a rather high volume and GPS notifications at half. I never had the issue you're describing since the audio tends to get almost muted and I can hear the GPS announcements clearly. I had to dial down the GPS volume as I found it too loud considering its coming from driver side speakers. Whether I have accompaning music at high or low I can still hear and react to GPS notifications quite well.

Does your 2016 mute all the speakers or just the driver's side? Just curious.
 
Just the drivers for GPS. Everything else "Incoming call, press the pickup button to answer" comes through all.

I thought this was going to be a completely different rant. The voice actions in general speaking to the car are a bit useless. 14 months of ownership, and I never use it. Oh, I did once... to show my Mazda 6 friend the 2 or 3 things it might be useful for (tuning the radio).
 
Just the drivers for GPS. Everything else "Incoming call, press the pickup button to answer" comes through all.

I thought this was going to be a completely different rant. The voice actions in general speaking to the car are a bit useless. 14 months of ownership, and I never use it. Oh, I did once... to show my Mazda 6 friend the 2 or 3 things it might be useful for (tuning the radio).

Yeah... they are useless, voice commands. BUT, BUT - after the 504 upgrade firmwire its now better!! Try it 7E. In fact, there's now setting also VR something....
 
Interesting. My 2017 works differently. There's no announcement about an incoming call, it just plays the ringtone through all the speakers like it was playing music from the phone.

And I've had pretty good luck with the voice controls too. It will almost always get the right name for making a call, though with the GPS it's a little more dicey. Also, for some reason the voice recognition on GPS has gotten a little more finicky recently. For the last few weeks it hasn't wanted to accept an address often, where previously it was mostly pretty good. Nothing has changed, I haven't updated anything. It just got cranky. When I get some time I'll look into it.
 
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