Dr. Monkeypants
New member
So, I bought a Kenwood head unit to replace the factory system because I *REALLY* like wireless AirPlay and was disappointed to find there’s no way to interface with the factory mic. GPS? Yup. Camera? Yup. Steering wheel controls? Yup. But no goddamn mic adapter.
There’s plenty of writeups on how to locate and route the wires for an aftermarket mic in the factory location in the overhead console so I won’t get into that. What there *isn’t* is a decent bracket to hold those mics in the factory location.
Until now, lol.
I’m constantly in awe of the quality of some of the hacks here, so I had to bring my A-game. I took everything apart and thoroughly measured it all up and came up with a solid solution that isn't janky or cobbed together...
Overhead console with the factory mic:
My 3D printed brackets, fresh off the printer. I designed them as open as possible to make sure the side facing mic openings weren’t obscured, and the upper mic bore is ovalized to give it a little spring pressure and hold on to varying diameters better:
Fitted in the console:
Fitted to the mic (sorry for the dark pic, I did this after work tonight):
Mated up (again, sorry it got dark after work):
And reassembled. The blue isn’t visible without the flash and the mic is perfectly centered in the opening:
Seems to work great. Everyone I called said I sounded clear and not muffled. Siri works as well as ever (faint praise, at best).
It’s designed around a Kenwood mic, but should work for any mic with about a 0.525” outside diameter. PM me if you want the STL file to print yourself. I wouldn't recommend printing this on an FDM printer as many of the cross sections have to be fairly thin to make it all work. I have an SLA machine, and that works pretty well. I'm sure you can get one printed at any of the online places.
Josh
There’s plenty of writeups on how to locate and route the wires for an aftermarket mic in the factory location in the overhead console so I won’t get into that. What there *isn’t* is a decent bracket to hold those mics in the factory location.
Until now, lol.
I’m constantly in awe of the quality of some of the hacks here, so I had to bring my A-game. I took everything apart and thoroughly measured it all up and came up with a solid solution that isn't janky or cobbed together...
Overhead console with the factory mic:
My 3D printed brackets, fresh off the printer. I designed them as open as possible to make sure the side facing mic openings weren’t obscured, and the upper mic bore is ovalized to give it a little spring pressure and hold on to varying diameters better:
Fitted in the console:
Fitted to the mic (sorry for the dark pic, I did this after work tonight):
Mated up (again, sorry it got dark after work):
And reassembled. The blue isn’t visible without the flash and the mic is perfectly centered in the opening:
Seems to work great. Everyone I called said I sounded clear and not muffled. Siri works as well as ever (faint praise, at best).
It’s designed around a Kenwood mic, but should work for any mic with about a 0.525” outside diameter. PM me if you want the STL file to print yourself. I wouldn't recommend printing this on an FDM printer as many of the cross sections have to be fairly thin to make it all work. I have an SLA machine, and that works pretty well. I'm sure you can get one printed at any of the online places.
Josh
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