Hardware

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TKVoice requires IOS 9 or above. This means you’ll need a compatible IOS device such as an iPhone 4S (or above) or an iPod Touch capable of running at least IOS 9.

To get the most from TKVoice you will want to use an external microphone and speaker.

At the time of writing there is no support for Bluetooth and this is unlikely to be added in future.

You will need three components: A microphone, a speaker and a splitter cable.

Please note not all recommendations have been tested by myself and may be community reported. These will be worded accordingly.

Fitted Audio System

This is an example working setup attached inside a chest plate. This uses components listed below.

Splitter Cable

The splitter cable breaks out the iPhone input into a separate microphone and headphone connector. These are often called headset splitters and are used with in gaming circles. During testing there’s been a lot of issues with getting a good splitter. The cheap sub $5 ones on eBay aren’t made well and tend not to work. This is the one place where you’re going to have to spend a little bit of money on the recommended item.

Conversor CON01PMY

Conversor CON01PMY – This splitter is specially designed for use with iPhone and the sorts of inexpensive dynamic microphones you’re likely to be using.

Also available on Amazon UK : Newegg US

Note: if your microphone has a mono jack rather than a stereo jack you will need an inexpensive mono to stereo adaptor to get this splitter to work.

Mono to stereo adaptor

An example 3.5mm Mono to Stereo adaptor. It takes a 3.5mm mono in and then converts this to a 3.5mm stereo out. These can be had for about $1.50/£1 on eBay.

Available on Amazon UK : eBay UK

Microphone

The microphone takes your voice and sends it into the iPhone.

A Dynamic Microphone – Any dynamic microphone should work with the recommended splitter, with a few caveats. The microphone supplied with the Aker speaker systems will work perfectly, so long as you use a mono to stereo adapter. I have also tested with a couple of cheap lavalier microphones and those also work.

Speaker

Speakers should just work. If it has a 3.5mm input or you can adapt it to one then you should be golden. Just remember that you will need this to be loud enough to be heard in a possibly loud environment and small enough to hide inside the armour somewhere.

Products by Aker and Pyle-Pro are popular.

Aker on Amazon UK : Amazon US : eBay UK : eBay US

Miscellaneous

You will also need an assortment of short cables and adapters to link this all up. My setup uses some short right angle adapters to allow for better cable routing and also a short 3.5mm Jack to Jack cable to join the speaker to the splitter. Try to avoid the cheapest of the cheap but there’s no need to spend a fortune here. It might also be worth having a spare or two of the key items incase you lose a cable or one goes bad.