I can't get the radio, media etc (whatever is playing at the time) to reduce in volume while the satnav gives instructions.

 

I've tried various options within the 'Tone' menu ('Volume Settings' sub-menu, and 'Navigation and Voice Control' sub-sub-menu) with no success.  This menu has 2 sliders :- 'volume' and 'minimum volume' - I'm not sure what the 'minimum volume' one actually represents - you can move it higher or lower than the 'volume one' but with no effect on the volume reduction that I am looking for.

 

I know this should work as I had a Columbus in my previous car (Octavia), and it did it perfectly.  I bought the Octavia second-hand though, so it may just be that the first owner had managed to set it up perfectly.  I've also looked in the manual and searched on here, but run out of things to try.

 

While tinkering with the various options I also noticed that the volume drop function for the PDC only works if on high i.e. the medium and low settings do not drop the music volume at all.  Just wondered if my Columbus has issues and these 2 problems are perhaps connected.

 

Could any of you L&K owners advise whether your Columbus drops the music volume properly for satnav instructions ?  If it does, perhaps you could let me know what your various volume settings are so I can replicate them and see if they work for me.

There is a setting in the 'Tone' menu for dipping of music volume when sat nav instructions are being given.

It's not the sliders that you mention, but a choice of 3 options / levels.

If you can't find it I'll have a look at mine when the perfect storm has finished (the actual weather not the film which is coincidentally on at the mo.)

There is also an option for turning up (or down) the volume of the satnav if you adjust the volume control whilst it is actually talking - and it then remains at that level until adjusted.

Press the right round button to repeat the instruction and adjust the left (volume) button whilst she's talking.

There is a setting in the 'Tone' menu for dipping of music volume when sat nav instructions are being given.

It's not the sliders that you mention, but a choice of 4 options / levels.

If you can't find it I'll have a look at mine when the perfect storm has finished (the actual weather not the film which is coincidentally on at the mo.)

 Yes, my initial wasn't clear on that but I have tried adjusting the 'Reduce Entertainm. vol.' setting between high, medium and low with no effect.

 

There is also an option for turning up (or down) the volume of the satnav if you adjust the volume control whilst it is actually talking - and it then remains at that level until adjusted.

Press the right round button to repeat the instruction and adjust the left (volume) button whilst she's talking.

It's not the voice volume that is the problem though, it's the fact that the music doesn't quieten down while a navigation voice instruction is being played so they both just play over each other at the same volume.

 

I wasn't aware that pressing the right dial repeated navigation instructions though, so thanks for that KBPhoto.

No problem. I was really adding the instructions to enhance the previous post.

Try rebooting the Columbus (<, > & i at the same time). My Columbus sometimes forget to dim the sound for nav instructions or when reversing. Rebooting usually works.

On my L&K, the background music quietens as expected when a satnav announcement is being made.

 

My biggest bugbear with Columbus is that you cannot NOT have any sound source on when using the satnav. It's beyond me why you can't use the satnav module independently of radio, HDD or whatever.

You can...

Start the Columbus & turn the media volume down until it mutes the volume.

Sat nav will function as normal.

Yes, I know you can do that - but it shouldn't be necessary! Added to which, the Columbus I had a few years back in my Octy Scout had a mute button, so at least you could achieve this with one touch rather than having to turn the volume all the way down to zero.

What's the difference between pressing a mute button and turn the volume down?

Apart from the fact that it's different to what you were used to...

OK, tried a re-boot but still the same unfortunately.

 

hmibennet, could you tell me what your settings are (just within the 'Navigation and Voice Control' menu) so that I can try the same on mine ?

Jumping on the thread, I've failed to set the traffic announcements volume - cabn adjust while they are on but doesnt retain setting and the setting in one of the menus seems to have no affect.

Yes, I know you can do that - but it shouldn't be necessary! Added to which, the Columbus I had a few years back in my Octy Scout had a mute button, so at least you could achieve this with one touch rather than having to turn the volume all the way down to zero.

I frequently didn't want to listen to anything, even the nav instructions, but the Columbus insisted on playing something. The only way to get it not to was to select aux.

Another bugbear with it is that it would always default to whatever media wax being played last, even if you had the map displayed last. It would never start up showing a map, just the radio or media screen.

It is a great unit but needs to give us more choices. And it needs to be faster.

Never mind. That is history now for me as I now use a 6" Tom Tom Go 6000 with Tom Tom's excellent traffic built in. I have a Kenwood 1 din KDC74BT head unit which has DAB, FM/AM, aha internet radio via iPhone, Bluetooth audio streaming, BT phone, 3.5mm aux, USB front & rear with iPod/iPhone control and Siri works with it as well.

OK, tried a re-boot but still the same unfortunately.

 

hmibennet, could you tell me what your settings are (just within the 'Navigation and Voice Control' menu) so that I can try the same on mine ?

 

Not sure this will be any help as I've never touched these settings. All I can see is that in Navigation settings, announcements are ON; in Voice Control, visual voice command help is ON for everything.

Not sure this will be any help as I've never touched these settings. All I can see is that in Navigation settings, announcements are ON; in Voice Control, visual voice command help is ON for everything.

 

It's the settings within the 'Tone/Volume Settings/Navigation and Voice Control' menu that I meant - there are 3 menu items :-

1. 'Voice volume' which has 2 sliders for 'volume' and 'Minimum volume',

2. 'Nav. announcements' which has options of 'off', 'dynamic' or 'on'

3. 'Reduce entertainm. vol.' which has options of 'low', 'medium' or 'high'

 

After rebooting yesterday (thanks KBPhoto) I can detect a slight reduction in the music volume during nav announcements, but it's not enough to be of use and nowhere near as much as my old Columbus used to do.  Does your drop the volume considerably hmibennet ?

Tone > Volume Settings > Navigation and Voice Control > Reduce Entertainment vol (=High).

That my settings and it does dip the volume noticeably during nav announcements, but not massively.

In Voice Volume I have the Volume set at about 30% and Minimum Volume at about 40%.

HTH but I don't think that's the issue.

My PDC dips the volume at all settings, but the first is not noticeable in normal use. I have that set to 'High' which is enough (when it works as it often forgets this and the sat nav media dipping).

Thanks for those.  I'll try them, but also think there's more to the problem.

My PDC is virtually muted by the high setting, but doesn't reduce at all at medium or low !

I would estimate that, since the reboot, the music volume drops by maybe 5-10% for nav guidance, and that's on the high setting !

Thread resurrection time - it's been over a year since the above and I didn't do anything more about it until I booked the car in for it's first service in May.  The service receptionist asked if there was any issues with the car so I mentioned the above (basically, the Columbus doesn't reduce volume of media when making satnav announcements), this then triggered a 7 month long series of events (or mostly non-events) involving the Dealer, Skoda Customer Services and Skoda Technical.  I won't go into detail, but the end result is that Skoda are saying that it's just how the Columbus is, and they are all like that.  They accept that it doesn't do what it says it should in the manual, but there's nothing they can (or will) do about it.

 

I'm obviously disappointed that Skoda have taken this stance and have not offered a solution.  I'm also not convinced that all Columbus units have this problem or surely other owners would be complaining about it too (Skoda say I am the only one complaining about that aspect not working).  I'm sure the media dropped volume in my last car (an Octavia with a Columbus) but I obviously can't check that now.

 

Can I ask anyone with a Columbus in their Yeti (preferably an L&K Yeti so it's the same set up as mine) to let me know how their's performs.  I haven't seen any other L&K's locally but if anyone is nearby then that would be even better if I could have a look at theirs.

I've been playing with my retro fitted Columbus in a Yeti and it doesn't dip the audio volume during sat nav instructions no matter what setting its on.

It did in my '07 Octavia. Which does seem odd.

Especially as audio dipping during reversing (PDC) does work.

It's not the Columbus, but the relevant controller in the car that's at 'fault'.

Thanks KBPhoto.

 

You said last year (post #16) that it did reduce volume for nav announcements - has it changed since ?, or were you just mistaken last year ?

 

Although your is a retro-fit, it seems you are in the same position as me (mine worked perfectly in my '59 Octavia, but definitely doesn't in the '13 Yeti).  It's interesting what you say about it being a controller causing this, and not the Columbus itself.  My local dealer (actually 70  miles away, so not that 'local') and Skoda Technical have had access to the car a few times (apparently Skoda Technical can access it remotely when it's in the garage) and, as far as I am aware, concentrated their efforts on the Columbus unit.  I wonder if they considered checking what you have suggested ?

Curious - You are right that I did state that last year!

 

I've tested it today while driving around and it didn't dip the audio during nav announcements.

 

Only two things have changed since then: I've 'downgraded' the firmware to 4020 (but a different version to the one I had before) and fitted a MDI passthrough loom.

 

I can't see why the second one would make any difference, but the first might.

 

I'll have another play tomorrow and see what I can get going (if anything) and might resort to trying a different firmware again...

Sometimes my Columbus does reduce the radio volume during sat nav announcements, sometimes it doesn't!

The weaker the broadcast volume the higher you turn up the radio volume, and then the difference when sat nav chips in is more obvious.

Only two things have changed since then: I've 'downgraded' the firmware to 4020 (but a different version to the one I had before) and fitted a MDI passthrough loom.

 

Interesting.  One of the attempted fixes to mine was a firmware upgrade, which made no difference though if it is firmware related then it would be good to know which older versions performed properly (though that's back to it being a Columbus issue rather than a controller).

 

I also have MDI (factory fitted) so I wonder if that is a factor (though apparently my dealer and Skoda Technical had checked some other cars and they all performed like mine, and I don't expect they all had MDI fitted)

I've been playing and mine does dip the audio; but only a little.

And only if the music volume is up to at least a quarter or third.

And only on the 'high' setting.

And nowhere near as much as it did in the Octavia.

Seems a very odd difference to me!

That sounds exactly like mine.  At the level that I normally have the audio at there is no noticeable drop for nav announcements, though if I turn the media up really loud there is a small drop (and that's only on the 'high' setting, with no drop at all at the other 2 settings).