Garmin GMA 340 Music Input

I have a Garmin 340 panel and the installer put a music input jack for
it. So, I tried plugging my portable MP3 player output into the music
jack. At maximum volume on the MP3 player, the music was almost
completely inaudible. Does the signal need to be pre amplified in some
way, or did the installer mess something up?

-Sami
N2057M, Piper Turbo Arrow III

"O. Sami Saydjari" wrote in message
...
I have a Garmin 340 panel and the installer put a music input jack for
it. So, I tried plugging my portable MP3 player output into the music
jack. At maximum volume on the MP3 player, the music was almost
completely inaudible. Does the signal need to be pre amplified in some
way, or did the installer mess something up?

Did he ground the connection?

"O. Sami Saydjari" wrote:

I have a Garmin 340 panel and the installer put a music input jack for
it. So, I tried plugging my portable MP3 player output into the music
jack. At maximum volume on the MP3 player, the music was almost
completely inaudible. Does the signal need to be pre amplified in some
way, or did the installer mess something up?

I use both a satellite radio receiver (XM, Delphi Roady 2) and an MP3
player with my GMA340. The MP3 player is normally set to about 3/4 high
volume to hear it comfortably, whereas the satellite radio has to have the
audio output (a setting within that receiver) bumped up two levels from my
truck's setting for comfortable listening.

FWIW...

BTW, the lack of a way to disable the auto-mute when receiving radio
communications (not talking about the intercom mute, which has been
disabled) makes listening to music while in busy airspace difficult.

Certain PS Engineering and the re-branded Bendix/King audio panels have the
ability to disable this auto-mute feature, making the music input feature
much more practical.

--
Peter













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Peter R. wrote:

I use both a satellite radio receiver (XM, Delphi Roady 2) and an MP3
player with my GMA340. The MP3 player is normally set to about 3/4 high
volume to hear it comfortably, whereas the satellite radio has to have the
audio output (a setting within that receiver) bumped up two levels from my
truck's setting for comfortable listening.

FWIW...

BTW, the lack of a way to disable the auto-mute when receiving radio
communications (not talking about the intercom mute, which has been
disabled) makes listening to music while in busy airspace difficult.

Certain PS Engineering and the re-branded Bendix/King audio panels have the
ability to disable this auto-mute feature, making the music input feature
much more practical.


So does the GMA 340. Read the installers manual, please.

Scott Moore wrote:


So does the GMA 340. Read the installers manual, please.


Not exactly. The PS Engineering can be done by some sequence
of knob pushes on the panel. To get "Karaoke mode" in the Garmin
you have to restrap a pin on the back (which can be run to an external
switch).

Ron Natalie wrote:
Scott Moore wrote:


So does the GMA 340. Read the installers manual, please.



Not exactly. The PS Engineering can be done by some sequence
of knob pushes on the panel. To get "Karaoke mode" in the Garmin
you have to restrap a pin on the back (which can be run to an external
switch).

Yes, there is a switch pin, as well as another music input back there
that I wished I had hooked up on installation. The mode needs to come
to a switch, so you can choose if you are listening to important stuff,
or just keeping your eye on local traffic. Also, people talking in
the cockpit also cut out the music, which is often wrong, since everyone
must be told to shut up just to listen to music.

The second input would have been very handy now to hook my XM music player
to, and should have been a jack (#1 goes to the CD player). Oh well.

I would have also brought out at least one of the extra passenger jacks,
and probally both of them, to jacks in the front panel. You can plug things
in there, like a cell phone patch. There are 6 places on the 340, I have
a four place airplane.

Another "would be nice" is to be able to switch the front passenger to one
of the back places, essentially a crew/passenger switch. The reason is, we
travel as a family, and my wife often needs to be talking to the kids in
the back seat, while I am trying to manage the airplane. The "pilot" switch
does that, but I lose the ability to listen to music myself that way.

Of course, its getting to be I need an operator switch panel to make it
all work :-)

I agree that it would have been nice if the 340 had a front panel combination
for that, its clearly an oversight. But I still think the 340 is a nice unit.

Scott Moore wrote:



So does the GMA 340. Read the installers manual, please.

Hey, Scott. Before snipping at me like that, why not ask me if I did?

Know what the answer would be? I read it backwards and forwards AND I
called Garmin (told NO) AND I asked the techs at Lancaster Avionics, PA,
when I was down there last year for work (told NO).

There is NO WAY in the GMA340 to disable the auto mute when *receiving
radio transmission for the pilot station*.

Perhaps you were referring to the second output for the passengers, but for
the pilot... NO.

Now, I guess I could be guilty of not mentioning this nuance in the first
post, but since I am the pilot and prefer music while flying long trips, I
was looking at this issue from my perspective, not the passengers.

--
Peter


















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Peter R. wrote:
Scott Moore wrote:


So does the GMA 340. Read the installers manual, please.


Hey, Scott. Before snipping at me like that, why not ask me if I did?

Know what the answer would be? I read it backwards and forwards AND I
called Garmin (told NO) AND I asked the techs at Lancaster Avionics, PA,
when I was down there last year for work (told NO).

There is NO WAY in the GMA340 to disable the auto mute when *receiving
radio transmission for the pilot station*.

Perhaps you were referring to the second output for the passengers, but for
the pilot... NO.

Now, I guess I could be guilty of not mentioning this nuance in the first
post, but since I am the pilot and prefer music while flying long trips, I
was looking at this issue from my perspective, not the passengers.


The 340 installers manual talks about a signal line on the back of the unit
that disables auto mute. Did Garmin tell you that this didn't work for the
pilot ?

Scott Moore wrote:

The 340 installers manual talks about a signal line on the back of the unit
that disables auto mute. Did Garmin tell you that this didn't work for the
pilot ?

Garmin explained it to me as follows: The GMA340 has two aux inputs.
One input serves all intercom stations and one input serves just the
passengers' station. The auto-mute of the input when receiving a radio
transmission cannot be disabled for the input that serves all stations.
The auto-mute can be disabled for the second input.

Believe me. I *really* wanted this feature disabled when I first bought
the aircraft that was equipped with the GMA340 (last year) and had asked
everyone involved if this was possible. When I learned it wasn't, I
actually considered replacing the GMA340 with PS Engineering's
Garmin-compatible audio panel and selling the GMA340 on eBay.


--
Peter













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The problem is an impedance mismatch between your MP3 player's output and
the GMA340's music input. This website:

http://www.fremarllc.com/accessories/index.html

has an adapter that will fix the problem and allow you to get full volume.
On the web page, scroll down to "Stereo music impedance adapter"

Regards,

-Mike Murdock


"O. Sami Saydjari" wrote in message
...
I have a Garmin 340 panel and the installer put a music input jack for it.
So, I tried plugging my portable MP3 player output into the music jack. At
maximum volume on the MP3 player, the music was almost completely
inaudible. Does the signal need to be pre amplified in some way, or did
the installer mess something up?

-Sami
N2057M, Piper Turbo Arrow III