I know the CPT9000 is old technology at this point (see below why it's "new" to me!). And that this post is WAY too long. But, the short version of my question is whether any of you who have, or have had, a CPT9000 installed had any difficulty hearing the party you were talking to? That is, the people I'm talking to can hear me fine, and say the quality isn't bad, but I really have to strain to hear them -- esp if I'm on the road or the person has a fairly soft voice. (My hearing isn't the best, I'll confess. But, I've had my 15 yr old daughter with me and she agreed it was pretty soft, so I don't think it's just my ears!)

Okay, so here's the longer version/history, to the extent it may be helpful for you "pros" (Rudy, I was going to PM you on this, since I saw in a thread that you'd had the CPT9000 and liked it; your profile now shows you've gone Bluetooth; and you are also obviousy VERY up on virtually everything to do with these fine cars!! But, I'm following your guidance and throwing it out here for any help from anyone!):

I have a Feb 04 build 530. It did not come with a phone, but after a lot of research here and elsewhere, I determined that I could have the CPT9000 cradle retrofitted. Since my "build" was a month too early for the software upgrade to Bluetooth, this was pretty much my ONLY option, plus I travel a fair amount in rural ND (yes, that's North Dakota!?!), so being able to tie into the shark fin was/is important to me. (Even if I spent the big $$ for the new TCU, the service bulletin says a cradle cannot be used "due to wiring incompatiblity" -- so I'd be out of luck on the shark fin.)
Just getting to the point of figuring out what I could/couldn't do with my build date, getting the parts, etc., required some patience and a helpful parts guy -- since not too many people are interested in retro-fitting to a CPT9000!! (BMW doesn't even sell the phone anymore -- but the good part about that is that with everyone going to bluetooth I got a good used one for about 10% of what BMW would have charged!) But, they special-ordered the cradle, I got the phone on ebay and got it activated on Verizon, etc.

About a month ago, I headed down to Minneapolis to get this installed and some maintenance. (As an aside, I'm certifiably nuts having a BMW where I live -- the closest dealer is 400 miles away. BUT, I made the mistake of driving an 04 with the sport package/active roll stabilization!!)

I'd been getting some steering/suspension error messages, so they did the "reprogrammed and coded the entire car" as part of the warranty and didn't need to do anything additonal for the phone "activation" part of it. My printout doesn't show the CIP version number, but I'm sure I got the latest/greatest, because my eyebrows don't work now! (It was November 30, 2006.)

Back to my question: I've been quite pleased with the phone and its integration into the car's idrive, etc. But, as I said, I really wish there was a way to get the volume up on the "incoming call" side of things. I've used both the steering wheel and dash controls in the car, opened the armrest and raised the volume on the phone during the call, made sure that the phone was at max when it went in, etc. These things ARE making a difference, i.e., they DO change the volume of the call, it's just that "low" is virtually non-existent and "high" is about where I'd like "low" to be!! (Even upped the "speed" volume control for the radio/stereo, which someone on one post in another forum thought made a difference, although it didn't seem to change anything for me.)

Reading a thread on problems with the initial bluetooth software, there was much discussion about the quality on the other end -- the person in the car heard fine, but the person on the other end said the quality was lousy. A couple of the posts made it appear that if one turned down the volume on the car end the reception on the other end went up, and it was suggested that was the natural result of the signal processing problem of avoiding feedback. So, I'm wondering if the latest software may have moved the volume down "in car" to deal with that. BUT, wouldn't that processing being done in my TCU -- not the vehicle coding? So, anyone with any experience/advice relating to that TCU --- which, as best I can tell was in the E60s from first production through Feb, 04 (84.11.6.942.592-01)

I've also been looking at some cell phone forums (I spend WAY too much time on this!!) and could maybe look at a software hack to up the gain table in the phone. But, since the V60s is so old, the latest info the phone hacking front is all for newer technology too. Plus, I'd be in way over my head there, and am reluctant to risk screwing something up the the BMW-unique software on this phone. Besides, out of the car in "normal" use, the call volume is quite good. Again, my hearing isn't the best, so I've used a couple of phones where that has been "if-fy". But that isn't the case with the CPT9000.

Finally, I'm looking at the BTUM as well, since it would be nice to not keep forgetting the phone in the car (I could just add a line to my family plan and leave the CPT9000 in the car for that issue, but there'd be some "convenience" and "cool" factor involved to being in the Bluetooth world). But I don't want to add yet another variable to the mix at this point, unless, of course, someone has found the BTUM actually improves the sound vs. the CPT9000.

Finally, one other probably irrelevant piece of info is that the voice control system voice ("plese say a command", etc) is VERY loud when I have things cranked up to the max -- to the point that I want to turn THAT down, but then when the call comes on (ringing starts) the volume drops off. (I think I read another forum that earlier model year 7 series had low volume for everything and that you could buy a little amp to wire into your system. I don't really want to start messing with that either, since then I'd really be in the soup if the TCU crapped out or something!)

I know I've written a book here. But, I also see that some of you are VERY knowlegeable about these issues; and also that stuff like "build dates", "software version" "TCU model", etc., etc, all do make a difference --- or at least introduce more variables for everyone!!

Thanks in advance for any help!!

Tim

 

Tim, first of all, welcome to the forums. Secondly, thanks for posting this here instead of PM'ing me. You'll get many more opinions, etc. if you stay public.

My experience with the CPT9000 was sort of hot and cold. There were times when it was adequate or fine and there were times when I just hated it. At the beginning, I had issues with callers saying they couldn't hear me very well but I could hear them fine. (The major complaint wasn't one of volume, it was that people said I was echoing a lot.) I mentioned it to the dealer (and probably posted about it here, I just haven't tried searching for anything yet) and they changed the microphone. I seem to remember that there was supposedly a newer microphone that helped with the echo, etc. so I was optimistic about things working better after that. I think the new mic helped somewhat but there were still people complaining and I had pretty much just accepted the fact that the system wasn't the best but it was better than holding a phone to my ear, etc.

After using that hard-wired phone for a while, news broke that my 3/2004 build car was able to get BT with only a software upgrade so I knew that was the way I was going to go eventually. I started out by getting a Nokia 6230 that had BT capabilities. I was able to use the Nokia with the car's BT but still people were never quite happy with the clarity. After that, I used a Treo 650 and again, the sound quality wasn't too impressive, just adequate.

Recently, I changed from the Treo to a Blackberry 8700c and I'm happy to say that the sound quality is much better than the other phones. Nobody ever complains about quality anymore, etc. I would've never thought that sound quality through the BT interface could vary between phones -- I figured that the microphone in the car was one of the problems -- but all I know is that the BB works great!

That being said, I don't remember ever really having an issue with my ability to hear other callers. I could turn the volume up and it was fine. If it's determined that nothing is wrong with your car, I wonder if it has something to do with the phone (or carrier? -- I was on AT&T TDMA -- since you are with Verizon.)

If the BTUM is still something you are considering, maybe that'll help you out? There will be others here that can chime in on BTUM experiences (I think Lomag has one) so it'll be interesting to see what they say. I realize that with the BTUM, you'll be giving up the external antenna connection and the charging cradle but it still might be worth it...

Good luck!

Rudy

 

Thanks Rudy -- for the info and the welcome! (I have a feeling I could spend a lot of time following all of the threads here!!) Now, if the guy from whom I got such a great deal on this car (because the Navy sent him back to Europe) would have only waited another month to order his dream car, I'd be in the same situation as you and would have Bluetooth all "turned on" now!! (Or, if I could figure out what it is that "isn't working", so they need to replace my TCU, huh??)

But, given where I am, I would be interested in others' experience with the BTUM compared to the CPT9000. If I went that route, I've already figured out how I could fish the antenna wire out of the console where it now connects with the cradle, and have talked to my phone guy about them making an adapter which would then fit the external antenna plug on the back of whatever phone I"m using. (Most phones have them -- you just have to go to somewhere other than a "company" store to get the adapter. I've used them for several years with one of those "stick it on your roof with a magnet" external antennas. Something you learn about in ND! I just don't really feel like sticking my old "magnet mount" antenna on the roof of my baby!) Anyway, if I got that done, then when I headed out to the sticks I could just put my phone in the compartment in the console below the cradle/BTUM and have the phone plugged into the shark fin. I'd still be missing the charging feature, but that's no big deal for me since I don't spend days on the road or talk for hours.

But, my concern is that if all the BTUM does is take the info from your Bluetooth phone and translate into "CPT9000-speak" that I'm -- at best -- going to have the same low volume issue with whatever phone is Bluetooth-ing into the system. Particularly since, as I menioned, the volume on the CPT9000 seem pretty loud when not connected to the car, so I'd be afraid that another phone would maybe end up sending an even weaker signal to the car's system.

Also, from what I"ve read on a couple of phone forums there seem to be all sorts of issues relating to sound quality, pairing, etc, with Bluetooth in general. ..... So, any feedback on how well the BTUM works would be appreciated.