VW Mic - Fiscon Kit?

[p3eps]

Here is a question for anyone technical!

I've got the Fiscon Plus kit under my desk just now waiting for my car to arrive (hopefully within a week  )
I want to put the Mic in the overhead light compartment, but I've heard that the call quality can be a bit poor in there.
With this in mind, I've tracked down the VW OEM mic - as there have been no call quality problem reports with this one.

I've just double checked the Fiscon Mic, and it has a standard 3.5mm jack on the end of it (like you'd find on your iPod headphones).
I've attached a photo of the VW OEM one which is below - but it has a totally different 'block' style connector... so obviously wouldn't be a straight swap.

Both Mics have two wires.  I spend alot of my time at work soldering and making up boards etc - so I'm pretty confident with a soldering iron.  I'm tempted to buy the OEM Mic and try to fit a 3.5mm jack on the end.
I would make it a totally seperate cable and leave my Fiscon one in tact - just incase it doesn't work.

Does anyone think this will actually work?  The OEM Mic fits perfectly in the slot - and as a result doesn't have the road noise in call.
Worst case is I buy the OEM Mic and it doesn't work.  Not a great loss.

[am1w]

The OEM microphone is 'active' whereas the FISCON one is a 'passive' device wih a lower sensitivity. Hence its positioning.
There will probably be an impedence and sensitivity mismatch with the OEM one when attached to the FISCON Bluetooth device. They are therefore incompatable.
This is what I was told by FISCON UK.

[p3eps]

The OEM microphone is 'active' whereas the FISCON one is a 'passive' device wih a lower sensitivity. Hence its positioning.
There will probably be an impedence and sensitivity mismatch with the OEM one when attached to the FISCON Bluetooth device. They are therefore incompatable.
This is what I was told by FISCON UK.

Thanks for the reply...
What is the difference between active and passive?  Does the active one listen and only work when it gets a sound, and the passive one is on all the time?

[am1w]

The OEM microphone is 'active' whereas the FISCON one is a 'passive' device wih a lower sensitivity. Hence its positioning.
There will probably be an impedence and sensitivity mismatch with the OEM one when attached to the FISCON Bluetooth device. They are therefore incompatable.
This is what I was told by FISCON UK.

Thanks for the reply...
What is the difference between active and passive?  Does the active one listen and only work when it gets a sound, and the passive one is on all the time?

Are you trying to catch me out?

Anyway, here goes!

The output from a passive microphone is very low. It is therefore unable to drive an amplifier which in turn drives the loudspeaker. In order to increase the output of the passive microphone, an amplifier is built into the microphone (integrated) to increase its output. This is an active microphone. The output is now high enough to drive an amplifier.The OEM active microphone has probably also got some frequency shaping and a noise reduction circuit built-in. There is no doubt that the OEM active device is superior and FISCON also admited this from what I understood.

In the case of the FISCON passive microphone, there is a preamp built into the FISCON device itself, to amplify the passive microphone output so that it can drive the electronics. Therefore, the output from the OEM microphone will be too high for the FISCON device.

This is what I understood from my discussion with FISCON UK.

OR

I might be completely wrong! If I am: Oops!

At least I tried!

However, no harm in trying to get the OEM microphone to work.

[am1w]

Quick question: Does the OEM microphone have twin ports?

[p3asa]

p3eps, that looks like the mice that plugs into the RNS510 for voice control etc.
Is it?

[VWKev]

How much is the OEM Mic ?

[p3eps]

p3eps, that looks like the mice that plugs into the RNS510 for voice control etc.
Is it?

That is the one from the OEM VW Bluetooth kit.  I'm not sure if its the same as the RNS510 one?  The cable doesn't look very long though 

How much is the OEM Mic ?

I found them on ebay for £10 plus a few £'s postage.  I ordered one anyway before I posted the thread  :embarassed:.  Looks like it won't work.  Its only £a tenner... no big loss!

Quick question: Does the OEM microphone have twin ports?

All I know about the OEM Mic is from what I've seen in the photo.  It has 2 wires by the look of it - which is what I thought it might just be a case of chop and solder on a 3.5mm plug (and a bit more wire to get it from the roof to the back of the stereo).
Not trying to catch you out - I genuinely don't know the difference!  Thanks for the explanation.

[am1w]

Hi p3eps:
The reason I asked whether it has twin ports (acoustical) is because if it does, it is then even better as an active directional microphone and will be brilliant in filtering noise and thereby give a better speech-to-noise ratio (SRN) in comparison to the omni-directional passive FISCON microphone.
I can see why members don't wish to have a microphone sticking out of the 'A' pillar. Unfortunately, it seems, that the FISCON microphone will not work in the light housing due to its omni-directional nature, lower sensitivity, worse SRN, no noise reduction (NR) and no frequency shaping.
So annoying.

[am1w]

Hi p3eps:
Just spoke to the lads at FISCON UK again.
The active OEM microphone will not work with the FISCON set-up. That is a given.
Maybe you should cut your losses and not bother with it and stick to the supplied passive microphone.
Positioning is going to be a problem for a good S/N ratio with this passive microphone. Does not work in the overhead light housing very well. Best place for it is the 'A' pillar.
Happy fitting.