Ok, I've been working on trying to upgrade the setup I have in two different vehicles. One is my T/A, one is my plow truck.

Lets start in the t/a....

Need a deck that has aux in, preamp out, remote control of some type, and bluetooth that is capable of triggering my phones internal voice command, with an external mic.

I'm looking to be able, with a single button press on the REMOTE, (want this for use with a PAC adaptor) to go from listening to a hardwired aux source to the voice command beep through my speakers and the bt mic waiting for me to command it.

I purchased a pioneer 6100bt, and it does work the way I want, except that the interface that you use to get to the point at which you're ready to give a command is terrible. It's two separate press and hold commands, and then a separate manual switch back to the aux line in. The command is also not accessible from the remote that I can find.

Also, I noticed that the unit allows you to disable a2dp, but leave avrcp enabled. I found out that it worked still to change track, but, the phone was connected via line in. Switch source to line in, and then the controls no longer send BT commands. I'm a little confused, as I thought that's why you would want to leave them on with A2DP off.

If I could solve these two issues with a different deck, I'd be golden. The next step is to hollow out the dash opening to accept a double din, and then put a single din motorized screen in above the audio unit. Total cost should be no more than around 300 dollars. But for the life of me I'm having trouble envisioning this whole thing, I can't seem to find a deck that does what I want - run the avrcp and bt voice command from my steering wheel controls.

Fire away, I'm sure someones come across this before.

 

I don't think it is possible to do what you want with the steering wheel controls using a PAC or PIE adapter. Both adapters have a set list of functions that they can control (the common audio functions such as volume, seek/scan, source select, etc.) and cell phone voice command isn't one of them. Programming consists of matching those preset functions to the desired buttons on the steering wheel. Some HUs may have what you want on a separate remote but that would kind of defeat the purpose - if you have to reach for the remote then you might as well reach for the head unit buttons (unless you're in the back seat for some reason )

Switching to voice dialing on my Kenwood involves pressing a button to select the phone screen then pressing another button to activate voice commands. This doesn't actually change source, it just mutes the original source while using the phone.

 

Thanks for the input!!

I did some searching, and came across the pioneer deh-p7100bt. Apparently, this model actually comes with steering wheel controls (RF based apparently, not IR) in and of itself, but is also compatible with a pac adaptor via hard wire on the rear of the unit. On the remote, there seems to be a trigger for the voice command. This just might be what I'm looking for, or at least as close as I can get - it doesn't seem that any of these decks can "divorce" the avrcp controls from the streaming bt audio source.

 

That may work for you but it doesn't use your phone's built-in voice calling feature. It has its own voice recognition system that is separate from your phone. This is a universal recognition system that doesn't have a learning mode. So you can say things like "dial 555 212 1414" or "dial john doe" and hopefully it will recognize what you want. Unlike many phones, you can't record your own commands (like "call home") so sometimes the command recognition will be hit or miss.

But you're right about the RF steering wheel remote. You mount it to the steering wheel rim and it has various control buttons including a one-touch voice command button for the phone.

 

Actually..........I think the Pioneer is an oddball here, because I did look at the manuals for the kenwood and sony competitors, and indeed they function just as you describe.

But with the 6100bt (on "loan" from bestbuy for testing), I figured out how to activate it's voice dialing feature, and was rewarded with the exact same "beep" noise that my phone gives when triggering it's built in VC. Sure enough, the icon came across the phones screen. Just to be sure, I said "start google maps" and google maps launched on my phone. Also, if the phone was confused, it was able to talk back to me and tell me so.

I'm not sure why they are configured differently, especially since both companies make a big deal out of advertising that Parrot does the bluetooth for them.

From what I am guessing, I think that the 7100 pioneer deck SHOULD be able to function the same as the 6100, but it seems from reading the manual that the 7100 makes accessing that feature much simpler than the 6100.

But I still cannot figure out how to assign the deck to spit out AVRCP commands while listening to the aux 2 source.....maybe I can get inside the deck and find the traces for the BT audio source and just rewire them??