496 audio out?

To those who have wired up the XM music from their Garmin 496 to their intercom, where did you get the signal from? The manual indicates that the Power/Data cable has two wires labeled "voice" that are brown and orange, is that the source? If so, where does one get ground? I don't see any other possible audio sources... no 1/8" jacks anywhere and nothing on the XM antenna.

Oh, I should also ask, will the audio out have enough gain when put into a PSEngineering PM3000? Even though I'm building a single place airplane I really want to be able to a) quickly adjust the music volume via a knob, and b) be able to use "soft mute" or no mute which is selectable on the PM3000.

Inquiringly,

randylervold said:

To those who have wired up the XM music from their Garmin 496 to their intercom, where did you get the signal from? The manual indicates that the Power/Data cable has two wires labeled "voice" that are brown and orange, is that the source? If so, where does one get ground? I don't see any other possible audio sources... no 1/8" jacks anywhere and nothing on the XM antenna.

Inquiringly,

Click to expand...

Randy--I'm not sure about the 496, but on my 396 I used the 1/8" audio out jack which is on the bottom, back side, and left as you look at the screen (or to the right, across from the power/data and USB cable if you're looking at the back)

IIRC, the wires in the power/data cable only carry the monaural voice alerts, which come over the other audio as well. There is no way to get stereo (or music) out of the power/data cable.

Each time I remove or install the 396, I hook up 3 cables.

If you're compulsive, sufficiently talented, and have an audio panel, you can hook the voice alerts into an unused input (like DME or ADF) so they don't get overriden by radio traffic like the music does. Since I have an intercom but no audio panel (single SL30 and GPS in the EFIS) I didn't hook it up that way.

Hi Randy,

The 496 has the same 1/8" jack that James mentioned. You just have to look under enough of those rubber plugs to find it.

As for the audio wires on the power data cable, I'm not sure you get anything on those wires, but I'm not dead sure about that. When I had these same questions last year, I found some info that suggested those wires were for marine applications.

Does the PM3000 have a sereo music input? My PMA4000 does not, and I can't tie the left and right channels of my 496 together without getting static at the volume setting you need to run. I can run either left, or right, but not both. Whatever the problem is, it's specific to the 496 since I can swap it with my friends 396 and move the problem from one plane to the other.

Cheers,
Rusty

13brv3 said:

Hi Randy,


Does the PM3000 have a sereo music input? Cheers,
Rusty

Click to expand...

I can confirm that the PM3000 is stereo, and that the 396 works well as a music source. The only downside of this setup AFAIK is that radio transmissions can squelch the warnings from the Garmin. The warnings will override the music, but radio or intercom traffic overrides the Garmin. I know some of the Cirrus guys use dual inputs so that the warnings override everything.

Randy--if you haven't flown with the Garmin, it's going to be an eye-opener. It has a very cool TAWS-like function that will warn you: "OBSTACLE, PULL UP!" etc. It will annunciate "sink rate" on the backside of a loop, and give you a 500' AGL callout in the pattern if the destination airport is in your flight plan. I feel funny flying without it now.

Thanks guys, I found the female 1/8" jack on the back, duh. It is not mentioned in the manual anywhere and only appears up front in the pictorial callouts which I missed on first pass. The "Installation Information" section in the Appendix makes no mention of it.

Since the power/data cable has two voice wires marked as plus and minus they must be for the voice warnings. I will have an Advanced Flight Systems AF-3500 also with the integrated AOA. It will have voice warnings for the AOA ("angle, angle, push!") and also for most of the warnings in the engine monitor. If I wire in the voice warnings from the 496 in too I wonder if all these things together would be too much... constant voice warnings. I can selectively turn off warnings from the AF-3500, and if I wire in the 496 audio those warnings are probably software defeatable too, but does anyone have any experience with warnings on everything?

Lastly, just want to confirm that the volume from the 496 is adequate when routed through a PM3000, can anyone confirm that?

randylervold said:

but does anyone have any experience with warnings on everything?

Lastly, just want to confirm that the volume from the 496 is adequate when routed through a PM3000, can anyone confirm that?

Click to expand...

Randy, I have the same AOA, wired into the PM3000, a well as the Garmin. I don't have annunciation for engine instruments, but it's not a problem at all. The voice prompts from the AOA (angle, angle and "flaps") squelch the music (and the Garmin warnings) but are audible with radio or intercom traffic.

I personally feel the audio volume is fine with the 396 plugged right into the PM3000, and have used an iPod nano and and XM roady with good results. Passengers also seem to hear it without problems. I usually run all of the gadgets at about 70% of the available volume

I know many people have reported trouble, but I suspect some of it may be headset selection. I most often use a quiet technologies in-ear headset, but also use a Telex Stratus D50 and and early Bose (the old Series II, not the newer ones). They all work well in both the RV-8 and in a Cirrus through the audio panel. The Cirrus list is full of complaints (and solutions) for low audio levels, but I've never found it to be an issue.

My RV-8 is not particularly quiet, with a 4-into-1 exhaust and IO-360. If you come to Memphis, I'll be happy to give you a ride and let you try it yourself;-)

randylervold said:

Thanks guys, I found the female 1/8" jack on the back, duh. It is not mentioned in the manual anywhere and only appears up front in the pictorial callouts which I missed on first pass. The "Installation Information" section in the Appendix makes no mention of it.

Since the power/data cable has two voice wires marked as plus and minus they must be for the voice warnings. I will have an Advanced Flight Systems AF-3500 also with the integrated AOA. It will have voice warnings for the AOA ("angle, angle, push!") and also for most of the warnings in the engine monitor. If I wire in the voice warnings from the 496 in too I wonder if all these things together would be too much... constant voice warnings. I can selectively turn off warnings from the AF-3500, and if I wire in the 496 audio those warnings are probably software defeatable too, but does anyone have any experience with warnings on everything?

Lastly, just want to confirm that the volume from the 496 is adequate when routed through a PM3000, can anyone confirm that?

Click to expand...

Randy:

The 496 Audio Out is via the 1/8" cable jack. The lines included in the power plug are for the car use only. Garmin cautioned me against hooking them up to an audio panel or intercom. I use the audio warnings via the 1/8" jack into my intercom. Of course, depending upon your intercom, these inputs may be via the music input, and as such subject to mute during an ATC transmission or intercom voice activation. Some intercoms make this feature adjustable. The XM Radio works just fine via the 1/8" jack.

Make sure you get and install the latest Operating System on the 496, this will work best with TruTrak autopilots. Early versions of this O/S had dropout issues with the DigiTrak and Pictorial Pilot autopilots when the 496 screen refreshes. The latest O/S for the 496 takes care of this issue. You can read up on this elsewhere in VAF under GPS TruTrak/Garmin 496 compatibility.