elf

Parrot's MK6000 is a Bluetooth hands-free kit that also provides MP3 audio streaming capability. It was a way for me to kill two birds with one stone --- a hands-free kit and iPod integration. So, after about a month of using this setup I decided to do a brief and general review for those contemplating going this route.

KIT:
* Parrot MK6000 Hands-free car kit --- $200
* QuickConnect wiring harness for the Bose-equipped RX-8 (http://www.parrotkits.com) --- $150

BLUETOOTH DEVICES USED:
* Motorola RAZR 3Vm cell phone
* iPod with stereo dongle (iMuffs MA110 Dock Adapter, http://www.wi-gear.com/products/imuffs/ma110.php)

INSTALLATION:
For the most part, it was relatively easy. Wiring was made much simpler by using the QuickConnect (QC) wiring harness. By far the hardest part was disconnecting the main OEM harness from the head unit (HU). I could only pull the HU about 1.5 inches away from the dash before it would get stuck. It felt like some of the cabling at the back of the HU were caught on something or maybe taped to other cables back there. How they ever managed to install this HU is a mystery to me. I had to remove the main harness via the glove box. It was a bit tight so I couldn't close my hand enough to get a good grip on the connector itself, so I grabbed the wires, and after pressing on the connector's release tab, managed to yank the connector off. The result of all that effort was a hand and arm that looked like it went through a meat grinder.

It takes about thirty seconds to make all the final connections to the Parrot kit with the QC harness: 1) plug the matching male connector of the QC harness into the HU, 2) plug the OEM male connector that was unplugged from the HU into the matching female connector of the QC harness, 3) plug the remaining male connector of the QC harness into the QC black box, 4) plug another smaller QC harness between the QC black box and the Parrot blue box, 5) plug the Parrot controller and Parrot mic into the Parrot blue box. Done.

The Parrot MK6000 controller was mounted on the center console, just in front of the seat-heater switches, for easy reach. The Parrot MK6000 dual-mic was installed just above the rear-view mirror, with its cable routed under the headliner, down the A-pillar, and into the area behind the glove box, where the Parrot and QC boxes are located. See sonicblue6's DIY for the installation of the Parrot CK3000 for more details, as the basic installation for the MK6000 is pretty much the same.

USE:
The MK6000 supports the pairing of up to five phones --- I take that to mean five Bluetooth devices, not just phones. So long as the Bluetooth devices don't try to use the same profiles, the MK6000 works fine with simultaneous connections. This goes for most recent Bluetooth dongles too. Since my cell phone uses the Hands-free/Headset profiles and the iPod (with adapter) uses the A2DP/AVRCP profiles, they both pair and work simultaneously connected to the MK6000.

For incoming AND outgoing calls, the MK6000 mutes all the other audio sources: the Bluetoothed iPod (or any Bluetooth MP3 player for that matter) and any of the audio sources on the HU (CD, radio, tape, etc). Playing the iPod will mute the HU audio sources. Playing around with your cell phone will mute everything. As soon as you hang up your cell-phone call, whatever audio source you were listening to resumes.

Since the Bluetooth stereo dongle on my iPod dock adapter supports the AVRCP profile, the MK6000 controller provides the basic Previous, Next, Pause/Stop controls. You can also use the iPod to control play-back, but volume is controlled with the volume **** on the MK6000 controller. In practice, it's necessary to use the iPod anyway to select the desired album/play-list/authors/etc. So, unless you want to repeatedly listen to a particular set of songs, I would keep the iPod in reach instead of stuffed in a bag in the backseat or in the trunk. MP3 audio is CD quality and is stereo to all the speakers; I can't tell the difference between MP3s streaming from the iPod and the CDs that I ripped them off of (high quality MP3, of course).

The hands-free side of the MK6000 works for the most part. For voice recognition to function correctly, the setup requires you to record MK6000 "keywords" such as TELEPHONE, HANG-UP, WORK, HOME, OTHER, etc. Most of these are to access the numbers of the MK6000's phone book which is synchronized with that of the cell phone's, if that capability is supported by the cell phone. However, using the MK6000's phone book is cumbersome at best since you have to use the volume **** to select the name/number you wish to call. In addition, multiple entries are created with the same name for a person with work, home, pager, etc. numbers. So a person with five contact numbers will result in five entries in the MK6000 phone book all with the same name --- which makes it hard to dial the correct number.

Saying, TELEPHONE at highway speeds will not work for me, but will work when cabin noise is relatively low, for example, waiting at traffic signals. HANG-UP always works, and as expected will hang up the phone conversation, as will pressing the MK6000's red controller button. Pressing the green controller button is equivalent to using the TELEPHONE "keyword" to start a phone call. It mutes the HU devices or pauses the iPod and, with my RAZR, activates the phone's voice recognition. From that point on, the phone's voice recognition works flawlessly.

PROS:
* Plug-N-Play installation
* You don't have to have anything on the HU turned on for this kit to work
* Paired Bluetooth devices automatically connect to the MK6000 (once, I forgot to turn off the iPod, which was in the house, and it connected to the RX8-MK6000 which was in the driveway --- wondered where the music was coming from).

CONS:
* Since the MK6000 essentially by-passes the HU, you lose its Balance, Bass, Treble, Fade, etc. controls in addition to the audio controls on the steering wheel. However, you can set the bass/treble from iPod, and volume is adjusted with the MK6000 controller.
* Since the iPod's dock connector is taken up by the stereo adapter, you are running the iPod on the batteries and will have to recharge more frequently. This is more of an issue with the iPod/Adapter setup, though, and not with the MK6000.
* Cost --- of course, the other mods I've done for my RX-8 are justifiable too

QUIRKS:
* MK6000 does not turn off with ignition-off, the majority of the time. You have to press the volume **** on the MK6000 controller to switch it off. The "Key-in-ignition" chime sounds to alert you to this situation, though. This behavior may be a related to the QC Bose-RX8 harness, as the MK6000 in my other car (non-Bose) shuts off when you turn off the ignition. Edit: This has been fixed --- see post #7
* Resuming iPod playback is more reliable if you pause the iPod before pressing the green button on the MK6000 controller to start a phone call. Then you need to press START on the controller or iPod to resume the music after the phone call.

CONCLUSIONS:
The MK6000 works very well for me, despite its idiosyncrasies. Hopefully, future firmware updates will address these problems. I also must mention that his kit will neither subtract or add to the quality of the audio (MP3 streaming, voice calls) you will hear from any particular set of car speakers. Feed it crappy-mode encoded MP3s and that's what you will hear. The same goes for chronically poor voice connections from your cell phone provider (or phone). Encode at higher bit rates and switch phones and/or provider --- your ears will thank you.

RX8Tech

Great write up! I think I read on the Parrot forum that the MK6000 has a mute line bug that tells Parrot to stay on even though the ignition is turned off. Maybe there will be a firmware update soon....

elf

Yeah, I read that on their forum. Don't know how often Parrot releases updates, though. Anyway, I've already got into the habit of turning the thing off manually, so it's not a big deal for me

dhallag

Parrot told me that the MP3 playback will only come out of the left and right front speakers -- no center, no rear, and no sub...

dhallag

I just talked to Parrot customer support and they confirmed what I said. Something about problems with Bose systems. Bottom line, they will be doing a recall on the 6000 sometime in the future to correct this problem.

dhallag

which sound system do you have in the RX8?

elf

Hmmm ... strange. I have the Bose system and I definitely get sound out the back speakers --- sat in the back seat to make sure when I installed the MK6000. Sound also comes out of both door speakers ... not sure about the center since I couldn't get my ear close enough (plus the stereo effect from the side speakers made it hard to tell). I wonder if the ParrotKit (QuickConnect) harness has anything to do with this since it completely replaces the harness that comes with the MK6000.

PS: Fixed the ignition-off-shutoff problem by inserting a diode (1n4005) in the blue-white line of the short harness (between the QC box and the blue Parrot box). Use the yellow mute line of the original Parrot harness for installations (non-Bose) that require that harness and line.

i2k

I want to get one of these Parrot MK6000 Hands-free car kit and the QuickConnect wiring harness for the Bose-equipped RX-8 any one have trouble with the sound that comes not coming out of the speakers? Also was going to buy a bluetooth transmitter so i can plug my mp3 player/ inno and have not have to worry about aux-mud or pie adatpors and firmware issues any one know of any issues or has any suggestions. And any one have experience with the kenwood wOOx sub and know if it sounds good and if it will fit under the driver seat.

thanks,

jquigley

Is the only difference between this and the 3000 the ability to stream music?

I have no intention of using it for music and was wondering if anyone had any luck with the other model.

Any help appreciated thanks!

Chamberlin

iTrader: (1)

Getting the MK6100 and harness next week.... hopefully it is free of issues...
but I will not be using it to stream Hifi audio however..... I have a CarPC & don't want to mess with PhoneControl anymore....

elf

Let us know how well it works. I wonder how well its mic pickup works since the the MK6100 doesn't have an external mic like the MK6000 (I guess it really depends where you place the MK6100).

Chamberlin

iTrader: (1)

Will do, I'll be happy to make a full report in this thread!

Hopefully the twin mics on the display will be up to par, and although I am not sure where I am going to mount it yet, it will be in an obvious line of site type of location, which should also (with any luck) coincide with a 'line of sound' from my voice...

It better sound damn good for the $375 i just dropped on the setup!!!!
I have an older Sony S710a (as well as a S710) and I am guessing I am going to have basic, but limited feature functionality....may have to spring for a new phone too

-C

Warren8

Great review, I found it very helpful.

Did you use a guide for taking out the HU?

elf

I actually used a couple of very good guides in the DIY section.

Chamberlin

iTrader: (1)

MK6100 and cable harness have been received, will be installing this weekend! Looks pretty neat! The thing updates firmware through a bluetooth capable computer....hmmm, funny, I have one of those in my car too! I also have one of those bluetooth stereo Logitech headphones with the adapter that plugs into any audio device... I wonder if I can plug that adapter into my Archos personal media player and stream the audio to the car from that? Or just keep the adapter in the car so that anyone could use their Ipod, etc. in the car? Man the bluetooth possibilites aside from just phone stuff are hurting my brain. Although, with a full blown Vista CarPc, I probably would be doing some redundant actions, but it will interesting to see. I never had had much luck with bluetooth integration in the past few years, but the Parrot kit seems to have really maxed out the capabilites with this MK6100... imagine what they are going to do with the next generation BT protocol!
-C

elf

Post some pics after the install

Tell me about it ... I once accidently streamed music from my computer that was playing in a room above the garage ... had me stumped until I realized what was going on LOL

Chamberlin

iTrader: (1)

DONE AS OF TODAY!
PICS COMING TOMORROW!
WORKING GREAT SO FAR!!!

Tried streaming some music from a friends phone (turned out not to have the feature), and also from the aforementioned Logitech bluetooth headphone adapter, but no luck on that one either.... but all phone functions are working, and it synced up all my contacts and everything right from the start...it is a breeze to use also...
Very happy...

Chamberlin

iTrader: (1)

Some quick late night last minute photos, sorry for the flash photo showing all the dust and dirt, but I wanted you all to see the install of the display and the keypad location that I chose... It does block most of the speedo, and from about 3K down on the tach, but those are two things I really don't use anyways

Actually, if you lower the wheel all the way, and don't gangsta slouch, the speedo is fully visible... most importantly, the mic is direct line and works great (said the people on the other end of the phone). The voices over the car speakers though, sound overly digitally processed in my opinion. Not to the point of unintelligibility, just to the point of audiophile annoyance. It is also fun to hear it try to pronounce some of the names in my phone book. Most of the time it does a good job.

I have the audio levels adjusted on the 3rd party box adjusted WAY low. It doesn't take much signal to blow you out of the car. This harness works great though, and was a piece of cake to install. I decided to re-arrange my glove box lid and relocate my USB hub, which gave me room to install the two boxes on the lid. I wanted to have easy access to the level adjusters, so I didn't feel the need to bury the boxes in the dash (not that there isn't any room left in there anyways!!!).

If you guys have any specific questions regarding this MK6100, let me know, as this is my first Parrot kit, so I don't know what stuff has been done in comparison to the older units.

-C

elf

The display on the MK6100 is nice ... bright, easy to read ... I like it. Sounds like the built-in mic works well too.

I don't think you can stress enough on how easy an install this is with the QuickConnect harness --- you can almost do it blind folded.

So you're running the MK6100's display on battery power?

Yeah, I have a generic bluetooth stereo dongle (connects to any 3.5 mm audio) that the MK6000 doesn't like to work with either. But the one for my iPod (listed in the first post) works great. I guess it depends on how well the manufacturers implement the bluetooth standards/profiles.

Chamberlin

iTrader: (1)

I agree Elf, it is a very easy and quick install, especially if you already know how to remove your factory deck!! Which I can do in 60 seconds!

The OLED display is powered by the Parrot Blue Box, there is a cable running down the top back of the steering column that you probably can't see in the photos. The OLED display is also removable from it's pedestal, so that you can hide it from thieves, and/or direct sunlight. It comes with a velvet storage pouch. The remote controller **** thingy however, is powered by a single wafer battery and is also removable from it's mounting piece.

Safewireless.com

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Thanks--