Sat Nav volume really quiet

I have a 2017 Prius Excel (UK), which includes the JBL sound system and Touch 2 Go Plus.

If the music (USB) volume is set to 0, the Sat Nav volume (set at Max) is really quiet. So quiet, that if I have the windows open at 30MPH, or if my kids are in the back talking to each other, I can only barely hear and understand the Sat Nav instructions.

If the music volume is set higher, then the Sat nav volume automatically increases to overcome the music, and this actually usually improves things, depending on the music playing. If the track is a quiet one for a given music volume level (e.g. classical music) the Sat Nav will be quite loud, but if it's some kind of pumping techno super loud dance track (again for the same music volume), then the Sat Nav will get drowned out.

I've tried turning the automatic volume level adjustment on and off too, but the problem still persists.

By comparison, if I set the voice recognition volume to the same volume, it is painfully loud. If the voice recognition volume is set to 2, it's around the same volume as the Sat Nav when set to maximum. In fact, if I set ANY of the other inputs to anything above 2 or 3 they're louder than the Sat Nav at Max.

Any ideas?

 

That's how I adjust the Sat Nav volume too. It's at Max, and certainly quieter than a human talking softly.

 

Exactly! All other cars I've owned have lowered the music volume when the sat nav is speaking.

Pixel 2 ?

 

Yeah sounds like something is up with mine. It's not so bad when the music volume is up, as the sat nav volume is correspondingly higher. But for me when music is set to 0, and Sat Nav to Max, it's too quiet too hear if the windows are open at 30mph.

Pixel 2 ?

 

I'll give that a go.

How do you adjust the Master Volume? In the menu I only see settings for Navigation, Phone Incoming, Phone Outgoing, Ringtone, and Voice. Adjusting the volume using the buttons on the display or steering wheel adjusts the currently active source (e.g. Sat Nav if it's speaking, music if music is playing, etc).

SM-T813 ?

 

I miss that! So much faster than pressing a touch screen button or steering wheel button several times to quickly increase/decrease.

 

Yeah maybe that's bad wording on my part!

So it works like this (in my car, and this agrees with the manual)... The actual output of the Sat Nav is Sat Nav Volume + Media Volume. This is so that if I have my Sat Nav Volume set to 1, but I'm blasting out dance music at Volume 30, I should still be able to hear my Sat Nav. That's all good and how it's meant to work.

I think where I wasn't clear as that the system doesn't actually know how loud the music is. If I'm playing an MP3 of silence at volume 30, the Sat Nav will still be 31 in the above example, and hence REALLY loud. As a side effect of this, I guess because I normalised the volume levels of all my MP3s on my PC prior to using them in my car, my MP3s are (I guess) quieter than what the car expects, so in the above example my music happens to be Volume 30 (which sounds like 20 due to my quieter MP3s) and hence the Sat Nav would be 31, and hence the reality is it sounds like the Sat Nav is 11 volume levels higher than the music.

Either way, I would expect if I set the Sat Nav Volume to Max, it would be REALLY loud in all scenarios, but it's not. It's a little bit louder than my music, and if the music volume is 0 it's about as loud as a human speaking quietly to me from the back seat. It barely overcomes the road noise, and is really hard to hear at 30MPH with the windows down, or 70MPH with the windows up. I might have expected that with the Sat Nav volume set at, say, 10%, but it's up full.

 

Test something for me... Turn your radio volume down to 0. Drive at 30MPH with the windows open. Get the Sat Nav to say something. Is it still loud enough to hear clearly?

 

You can press the Media button, then the off button. The screen says Audio Off. But, this doesn't affect the Sat Nav volume. It's still too quiet to hear if you're traveling fast or have the windows open above 30.

The only work around I've found is to select an audio source that is silent (e.g. Aux with a cable plugged in) and crank the volume up on that. The Sat Nov volume of whatever the currently selected media source volume is plus the Sat Nav volume.

 

On mine it's pretty simple. There are separate volumes for all sources and the satnav. I can find them all together on one of the settings pages. I can alternatively adjust the volumes by just turning the volume up or down while that source is active (sat nav overrides current source of it is speaking).

So, if you want the radio down and the sat nav up, simply select the radio, turn the volume down to 0, program the sat nav to navigate somewhere, when it speaks turn the volume up quickly and that'll increase the sat nav volume.

It does seem different areas have different systems though. Mine is the UK "Touch 2 Go". The issue I have is that if the entertainment audio is at 0 (as above) the sat nav volume is about the same volume as someone speaking very quietly. With the windows open at 30mph you wouldn't even know it had spoken.