[Freezezero0]

I'm a new rider on a 21 Scout with about 1,400 miles so far. Loving it!

I have a full face helmet and I installed a Sena 5s bluetooth system for music and navigation. Navigation audio is fine. Music is VERY low. I'm into tech stuff and I've done the basics of making sure my iPhone volume is max, removed any high volume protection limitations on iPhone, turned Sena 5s all the way up, used their EQ to make sure I boost it, I have EQ off on the iPhone as I should, and I contacted Sena who told me the most basic stuff despite all this same info (did I turn the volume up?--seriously). I also played around with speaker location. Not much improvement.

From all the boards I've read, plenty of other Sena users have this same problem.

I tried wearing AirPods. I don't like this option for various reasons and would not use this route.

I love listening to music. Is there any way to boost the audio on the iPhone or the Sena to improve the music? Or better headsets out there someone could recommend?

Thank you.

I have the same sena unit and have one installed on my motocross style helmet and one on a full face helmet. I also have loud pipes. I wear the motocross helmet and my daughter wears the full face. We are able to listen to music and talk to each other and can hear both fine at highway speeds. However it took some adjustments of the speakers in the helmet to where they were positioned so the music goes straight to our ears.

On my helmet I had to buy some sticker Velcro to get the speakers at the best position, it took a lot of attempts mostly because the chin straps were in the way and would knock them out of position when putting the helmet on or off. I also had to get some of those metal sheets for mounting a magnetic phone case to hold the straps in place so they didn’t bump the speakers out of position anymore. My helmet wasn’t the best helmet for the job. When I got the sena s5 I got another helmet that also wasn’t best for it because it converted to a 3/4 and I had to position the speakers so you could still convert the helmet without being in the way of that function and thus the speakers couldn’t be where I needed them to be for best audio results, as far as volume went, it was installed by the employee but I couldn’t hear anything on the highway so I readjusted them to the best I could with that helmet and ended up getting it right but the helmet was a size too small so I got my current helmet and we’ll it was a chore to get dialed in.

My daughters helmet I didn’t have to mod anything i just had to reposition the speakers for the best audio for her. If I put her helmet on and leave the speakers as is then the audio is quieter for me because it’s not aimed at my ears like I need them to be.

so long story short you got to move the speakers around till you find the best position for your ears and not all helmets like head units. Even the ones with cut outs built for them you sometimes have to mount in a different location for your ears. Once you get it dialed in I promise you’ll be able to hear your music at speed with loud pipes no problem. Of course full throttle it’s a little quieter but you can still hear the song and lyrics and know what you’re listening to. Good luck!

 

[SteveA-VA]

I think I’m eventually going to go with a setup like this for music. I tried a mounting harness that I bought on Amazon specifically for this one but the straps were too short to go around the bars and back up. Im seeing there’s also one size larger so may try that

. The season is winding down now so I’ll have a few months to think about it

 

[Freezezero0]

I think I’m eventually going to go with a setup like this for music. I tried a mounting harness that I bought on Amazon specifically for this one but the straps were too short to go around the bars and back up. Im seeing there’s also one size larger so may try that View attachment 651579 . The season is winding down now so I’ll have a few months to think about it

If you have loud pipes don’t waste you’re time or money imo.

On my scout with loud pipes and a big fly screen speakers were never loud enough at anything over 50-60 mph, under that speed and it was still low volume, and I wore a half helmet at the time.

the speakers I used were the kuryakyn sound bar (300 watt version). I even went as far as daisy chaining it to their pod speakers and in a very last ditch effort added to that another kuryakyn sound bar (again 300 watt) but even with all that it still wasn’t loud enough.

they were loud af at idle but at speed pretty much useless. With a fairing it might’ve been a little better but I was fed up and had wasted enough money trying the mounted speakers route. It looked god awful too, lessen learned.

after that I just went back to my Bluetooth Jaybird vista headphones. Then I saw a convertible helmet (full face to 3/4 that was also certified that the chin portion wouldn’t come off in a crash) I had to have it and then just like going to Walmart for one thing I ended up leaving with the helmet and sena s5 head unit, because I still had to have my music and with that helmet my headphones wouldn’t fit (and I wouldn’t be able to skip songs even if they did fit).

as mentioned in my previous comment the head unit takes work to get dialed in, to get the best volume level possible to your ears but once it’s done your golden.

so for half helmets I say Bluetooth headphones and for full face (with or without a shield) or a 3/4 helmet then best to get a head unit. Leaves your bike uncluttered and you don’t annoy anyone with your music. Also can hop on any bike and have music, gps prompts and phone calls* (3/4 probably no phone calls and no phone calls with Bluetooth headphones, too much wind noise for them to hear you.)

others may have had better luck than me but that was my experience and my advice I tell anyone looking into getting music and or phone calls on a motorcycle. Hope that helps if not well I tried. Best of luck.

 

[TheRamblinMan]

I have the same sena unit and have one installed on my motocross style helmet and one on a full face helmet. I also have loud pipes. I wear the motocross helmet and my daughter wears the full face. We are able to listen to music and talk to each other and can hear both fine at highway speeds. However it took some adjustments of the speakers in the helmet to where they were positioned so the music goes straight to our ears.

On my helmet I had to buy some sticker Velcro to get the speakers at the best position, it took a lot of attempts mostly because the chin straps were in the way and would knock them out of position when putting the helmet on or off. I also had to get some of those metal sheets for mounting a magnetic phone case to hold the straps in place so they didn’t bump the speakers out of position anymore. My helmet wasn’t the best helmet for the job. When I got the sena s5 I got another helmet that also wasn’t best for it because it converted to a 3/4 and I had to position the speakers so you could still convert the helmet without being in the way of that function and thus the speakers couldn’t be where I needed them to be for best audio results, as far as volume went, it was installed by the employee but I couldn’t hear anything on the highway so I readjusted them to the best I could with that helmet and ended up getting it right but the helmet was a size too small so I got my current helmet and we’ll it was a chore to get dialed in.

My daughters helmet I didn’t have to mod anything i just had to reposition the speakers for the best audio for her. If I put her helmet on and leave the speakers as is then the audio is quieter for me because it’s not aimed at my ears like I need them to be.

so long story short you got to move the speakers around till you find the best position for your ears and not all helmets like head units. Even the ones with cut outs built for them you sometimes have to mount in a different location for your ears. Once you get it dialed in I promise you’ll be able to hear your music at speed with loud pipes no problem. Of course full throttle it’s a little quieter but you can still hear the song and lyrics and know what you’re listening to. Good luck!

just updating on this post. I did follow your advice and played around with the speaker location using the extra buffer things that came with the unit. When I get the speakers properly positioned against my ear the sound difference is amazing. I can hear this going 80 miles an hour with earplugs in with no problem. The problem is the pressure this put on my ears is so painful that I can’t take it. I thought I had it well positioned and even took a two-hour ride with it. As soon as I took the helmet off and try again to properly position I cannot get the speakers to stop hurting my ear. I am out of town with the bike at present but once I’m back home I will need to play around with how to get them to stay positioned against my ear without the ear pain. They definitely made it so I could hear it. Thanks for the info.

 

[Wharf Rat]

Do you have a Dremel tool?
I reamed out some of the helmet's energy absorbing liner.
No more pain.

 

[Freezezero0]

just updating on this post. I did follow your advice and played around with the speaker location using the extra buffer things that came with the unit. When I get the speakers properly positioned against my ear the sound difference is amazing. I can hear this going 80 miles an hour with earplugs in with no problem. The problem is the pressure this put on my ears is so painful that I can’t take it. I thought I had it well positioned and even took a two-hour ride with it. As soon as I took the helmet off and try again to properly position I cannot get the speakers to stop hurting my ear. I am out of town with the bike at present but once I’m back home I will need to play around with how to get them to stay positioned against my ear without the ear pain. They definitely made it so I could hear it. Thanks for the info.

No problem glad my advice was helpful and that you got it mostly sorted out minus the pressure on your ears. I wish I had a tip for that but with my helmet that wasn’t ever an issue. Best of luck sorting that out though!

 

[saxmaniac]

just updating on this post. I did follow your advice and played around with the speaker location using the extra buffer things that came with the unit. When I get the speakers properly positioned against my ear the sound difference is amazing. I can hear this going 80 miles an hour with earplugs in with no problem. The problem is the pressure this put on my ears is so painful that I can’t take it. I thought I had it well positioned and even took a two-hour ride with it. As soon as I took the helmet off and try again to properly position I cannot get the speakers to stop hurting my ear. I am out of town with the bike at present but once I’m back home I will need to play around with how to get them to stay positioned against my ear without the ear pain. They definitely made it so I could hear it. Thanks for the info.

Yeah positioning is everything, and I’ve had to hack around the interior of the helmet to get it closer to my ears. My main problem is that the speakers fit in on an angle, so part of it is too close, and part too far away.

 

[Dragsterman8]

I bought the sena outrush helmet and the music is loud. Actually turn it down around town. No problems hearing it at 120 either

 

[saxmaniac]

I bought the sena outrush helmet and the music is loud. Actually turn it down around town. No problems hearing it at 120 either

I think the built in is a different animal. Has perfect positioning, way more power, and built in noise cancelling.

OP do you run earplugs? Full face or not?

 

[TheRamblinMan]

I think the built in is a different animal. Has perfect positioning, way more power, and built in noise cancelling.

OP do you run earplugs? Full face or not?

Sorry, just saw this response with a question to me as OP. I have full face and foam ear plugs right now as a newbie. I have re-positioned the Sena ear pieces and I can now hear the music loud and clear. The only problem I have is that it is KILLING my ears. They are bright red at the end of a ride and it kills me to remove them. I haven't had the time to play around with cutting it slightly or something else to improve things.

 

[saxmaniac]

Sorry, just saw this response with a question to me as OP. I have full face and foam ear plugs right now as a newbie. I have re-positioned the Sena ear pieces and I can now hear the music loud and clear. The only problem I have is that it is KILLING my ears. They are bright red at the end of a ride and it kills me to remove them. I haven't had the time to play around with cutting it slightly or something else to improve things.

Yeah it takes a while to find a good balance between pain and volume. You might also try better earplugs which only attenuate certain frequencies, made for motorcycling.

 

[Hirpwr]

I have the 20S EVO and tried a number of helmet speakers found nothing that work. Ended up adding TabPerformace pipes with zombie baffles (loud as hell smiling). the only thing that I found that works are custom fit ear pieces (expensive) but well worth the money IMO InEarz Audio | Custom & Universal In-Ear Monitors . Can hear ever note of every song, phone and or directions... my one complaint is that I don't know how or quick enough to turn the 20S to outside monitor to hear people talking....

 

[saxmaniac]

I have the 20S EVO and tried a number of helmet speakers found nothing that work. Ended up adding TabPerformace pipes with zombie baffles (loud as hell smiling). the only thing that I found that works are custom fit ear pieces (expensive) but well worth the money IMO InEarz Audio | Custom & Universal In-Ear Monitors . Can hear ever note of every song, phone and or directions... my one complaint is that I don't know how or quick enough to turn the 20S to outside monitor to hear people talking....

How do you get the Sena to send audio wirelessly? Mine only has an aux jack.

 

[Hirpwr]

I use the aux jack also

 

[TheRamblinMan]

Do you have a Dremel tool?
I reamed out some of the helmet's energy absorbing liner.
No more pain.

I was going back today through this thread I started and I must have missed this question. Sorry about that. I think you've hit on what I may need to try. I do have a Dremel but I admit it's one of the tools on hand I've used only twice for very specific purposes. I will need to figure out how to cut some I believe as the ride I had today killed my ears (but at least I heard music...ha).

 

[wed66]

Sorry, just saw this response with a question to me as OP. I have full face and foam ear plugs right now as a newbie. I have re-positioned the Sena ear pieces and I can now hear the music loud and clear. The only problem I have is that it is KILLING my ears. They are bright red at the end of a ride and it kills me to remove them. I haven't had the time to play around with cutting it slightly or something else to improve things.

I had this repositioning issue with my Shoei RF-1200 but NOT my Shoei RF-SR. 3M makes different size/thickness round Velcro pads, so you may play around with that to move them further from your ears but close enough to make the music louder.

 

[TheRamblinMan]

I had this repositioning issue with my Shoei RF-1200 but NOT my Shoei RF-SR. 3M makes different size/thickness round Velcro pads, so you may play around with that to move them further from your ears but close enough to make the music louder.

I had this repositioning issue with my Shoei RF-1200 but NOT my Shoei RF-SR. 3M makes different size/thickness round Velcro pads, so you may play around with that to move them further from your ears but close enough to make the music louder.

That's a great idea. Thanks for the tip. I will check it out. I prefer to avoid cutting the helmet unless I need to. Will look into this idea. Thank you!

 

[Diana357865324678]

I'm a new rider on a 21 Scout with about 1,400 miles so far. Loving it!

I have a full face helmet and I installed a Sena 5s bluetooth system for music and navigation. Navigation audio is fine. Music is VERY low. I'm into tech stuff and I've done the basics of making sure my iPhone volume is max, removed any high volume protection limitations on iPhone, turned Sena 5s all the way up, used their EQ to make sure I boost it, I have EQ off on the iPhone as I should, and I contacted Sena who told me the most basic stuff despite all this same info (did I turn the volume up?--seriously). I also played around with speaker location. Not much improvement.

From all the boards I've read, plenty of other Sena users have this same problem.

I tried wearing AirPods. I don't like this option for various reasons and would not use this route.

I love listening to music. Is there any way to boost the audio on the iPhone or the Sena to improve the music? Or better headsets out there someone could recommend?

Thank you.

Hi, had the same issue trying to hear phone navigation while using intercom with my passenger. It turns out that I stumbled across a background volume setting on my sena 5S that is default set to 5. I turned it up to 9 and now navigation voice is as loud as my passenger’s voice. Not sure where I found it in settings maybe near the multitasking setting?

 

[Diana357865324678]

I'm a new rider on a 21 Scout with about 1,400 miles so far. Loving it!

I have a full face helmet and I installed a Sena 5s bluetooth system for music and navigation. Navigation audio is fine. Music is VERY low. I'm into tech stuff and I've done the basics of making sure my iPhone volume is max, removed any high volume protection limitations on iPhone, turned Sena 5s all the way up, used their EQ to make sure I boost it, I have EQ off on the iPhone as I should, and I contacted Sena who told me the most basic stuff despite all this same info (did I turn the volume up?--seriously). I also played around with speaker location. Not much improvement.

From all the boards I've read, plenty of other Sena users have this same problem.

I tried wearing AirPods. I don't like this option for various reasons and would not use this route.

I love listening to music. Is there any way to boost the audio on the iPhone or the Sena to improve the music? Or better headsets out there someone could recommend?

Thank you.

Look for a background audio setting. I had same issue with my 5S when using intercom with my passenger. Background volume was default set to 5. Set it to 9 and now navigation and passenger voice are same level.

 

[saxmaniac]

Another option is to disable audio multitasking. It improves the voice quality at the same time, at the expense of switching between the audio streams.