Using factory mic with aftermarket headunit

I installed an aftermarket headunit, Alpine, to be more specific. Currently using it with the supplied Alpine mic but the quality is not up to my standards. The factory mic has a exceptional sound quality (tested before/after). I took the original mic apart, unsoldered it from the small pcb and hooked up the mic straight to a TRS / mono jack cable. It works but feels like it could use more gain. My question is what’s the purpose of the small pcb that the mic is hooked up to? Is it an amp for the mic ?

You may ask is it really necessary to go that far? Well I like keeping as much as I can OEM in the vehicle, but also I have a passion for electronics.

 

Correct, it’s a small little amplifier and filter

 

Any idea where should I solder the TRS / mono cable in order to take advantage of the amplified signal ? As you can see in the pic below I soldered straight to the board but I am getting a hissing noise when it gets power.

 

This is a very creative idea

 

Good luck figuring this out. But if you continue to have issues, this mic from Enfig works great with aftermarket radios, but fits in OEM location. I had issues with the mic that came with my Kenwood headunit and went to this one. People can clearly hear me now without issue.

https://shop.enfigcarstereo.com/product/enfig-mic-toy1/

 

Nice work. Someone on T4R created a mount to use an aftermarket mic in the OEM location so I had him send me one.

 

I used that same mount with the Kenwood mic and the performance was very poor. I found the mount blocked some of the openings in the mic. The Enfig mic solved all my issues.

 

May give it a shot. A buddy did say it doesn't sound good when I call from my Runner.

 

I ended up soldering the mic wires to the TS / mono jack cable. The headunit has 15 levels of gain for the mic, so I set it to the +5 and couldn’t be happier. Great call quality, the others couldn’t tell that I am calling from inside the vehicle .

 

I just moved the factory mount out of the way a little and installed the Alpine mic where the factory one was. Works perfectly.

 

That’s how initially had it with that 3D printed bracket, nothing wrong with that is just that call/voice quality can’t match the OEM mic for some reason. But hey that’s just for me, I am a little picky.

 

So you totally bypassed the factory preamp, but you are still using the factory mic, is that correct?

 

Correct