Ok got a bit more information in case anyone is still following this thread or has any ideas. If I put the exact same Igo install onto an Android device running Android 2.x, I don't have the problem! The TTS voices are nice and loud over headphones and I can have music and guidance no problem. As soon as I get Igo onto an Android 4.x device, I get the problem back, very quiet guidance with the rest of the system nice and loud. Makes me wonder if there is something wrong in Primo as we needed the special Jellybean version just to get sound.

Booce

Yes, same problem here. I even bought a small Chinese Bluetooth speaker (about $15). Works great, EXCEPT in Primo. If you use it everywhere else in the system, including it with TTS (I use Ivona) the sound is loud and clear. When you go in Primo however, the sound is very low hardly you can hear it (it's lower than the speakers).
I checked all the settings I could find releted to IGO in general, they don't make any difference. From your discovery that it works in 2.2 it looks again that is an Android problem, or a specific sound library used by Primo (the one which was "hacked" to even allow working in 4.0). To bad we don't know who did that hack, probably is the best guy which have an idea what could be wrong.
Please post if you find any fix or info about it, at least we know now what the probable cause is.

I'll post here as soon as I find a fix. I actually spent a good few hours this week trying to fix it again, going as far as re roming my nexus 4 with CM10 and AOKP, but the problem persists. It's a Google problem for sure so I think our only hope is that Google sort it out with Key Lime Pie. Sadly that's not due for a few months yet. The only work around I've found is to set your music volume to about 30%, then you can hear Igo. For me this is unuseable as my car has a crap stereo which gives me loads of hiss when I have music at 30% and igo running with the volume turned up to max on the car stereo.

Damn you Google!

I think is more likely some compatibility or version of some library used by Igo so maybe there is a chance that a fix will come from a newer Primo build. First, any release until now, does not have any sound working in Android 4.x, without a "hack" (there is always a special apk with a sound fix). Why is this hacked library required ? So the application does not work at all in Android 4.0 without this change. I'm not sure what exactly the change does, but for sure is related to sound. Again, to bad we don't know the person which is doing the hack, will try on other forums.
I was hoping that the add on speaker will work , it's a small 3W USB powered speaker , and the sound is great for any other application (even the TTS reader sounds great) but in Primo the sound it's even lower than in speakers.

For nexus 7 I even tried some hacks (Nexus Louder - in XDA dev) which gives a boost to speakers, but again the boost works until you get in Primo, where the sound drops back. I even compared TTS in settings and TTS in Primo it's a clear difference in sound (just play the test message).

The GPS and software works great but the sound is on the limit and if you keep the radio on, which probably you do you will miss the turning instructions. This is on Nexus 7 on the phone is worst as the speaker is smaller so at the end the voice is even lower.

More testing, more confusing results.

1. Nexus 7 running JB 4.2.2 stock )using external Bluetooth speakers:

All aplications I tested ( afew players, Google Navigations (TTS) , Montano reader (TTS) ) work as supposed. With the external 3W BT speaker the sound is great more than enough even set at 80%. Primo is the ONLY application which has the low volume probably less than 50 % (hard to say but it sounds even less than this).

Using internal speakers there is still some difference between all other programs and Primo but it does not look so big, it sounds more like a 20% reduction, but speakers are lower anyway so not to good for car use.

1. Phone (Chinese model running JB 4.1.2) . Speakers are lower in volume than Nexus 7 and it's hard to say if Primo is lower than the rest.
BT speaker - interesting is that the speaker sound lower than Nexus (why ? it's the same speaker), but interesting I can hardly feel any difference between the rest of apps and Primo in volume. To my year they sound the same, and for sure Primo volume output via BT speaker from the phone is LOUDER than the output on the same BT speaker from Nexus. This does not make to much sense, I use same version of Primo and settings on both. Really no idea why.

Found more info:


It looks like the problem is not only with Primo but it comes from Android:

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I understand also that the problem varies from one device to another. Unfortunately this does not fix the problem

It appears that there are separate volumes in the system , which can not be adjusted separately one is for media and another one for navigation, which is used probably by Primo also. So everything else sounds good because it uses a general media volume but navigation uses another one which is automatically set lowered by the system.

Thanks for the time and effort you've put in to this baluba, it's been driving me crazy for about a year now so it's nice to know someone else is having the same issues. I'd seen the Google threads of other people complaining about the same types of issues. You're right about some clever and industrious hacker fixing the basic problems with Igo, it'd be wonderful if we could get in touch with that individual and persuade them to switch Igo's volume output to a different channel, say notifications or ring volume as it would be useful to be able to have media at one volume and Igo at another. We can only hope that they catch this thread and take pity on us :-(

Maybe you want to try a different firmware?
I'm using the USB Rom Kernel by T. Mehrvarz based on the Cyanogen mod 10.1.
Not only does it start faster is also has much options for the various device settings.
Main reson for me was the USB host support with charging.
This way I can use my big maps on a SD while the N7 is charging in the car.
I don't have any BT speakers that I could test though...
But IMHO the USB Rom is worth the change anyway.

Do you have any analog speakers (connect via audio output) ? The problem is still there, even worst. You can hear the music great, but when you get in Primo you hardly can hear anything. Just curious if this ROM changes it.
What I found, like I read in google thread is that the problem varies with the device. For example on my phone there is still a lower volume but not so big as in Nexus when using external speakers (either analog or BT). I think there is something in Android which sets the navigation volume let's say 20% lower but different devices (chip, kernel, driver?) apply this differently and Nexus 7 is one of the worst.

PS - I put the question in this thread also, I see a few Igo experts in it (if you use any skins, you will now which) :)

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Just a status update. Nothing I've tried seemed to help, the sound in Primo stays lower than the sound outside Primo whatever you do. The difference is smaller with build-in speakers and major using any external speakers either analog (via audio out) or blue-tooth which is bad because the small 3W BT speaker I tried has much better sound (outside Primo) than internal ones.
What I've ended up doing is applying a sound patch from here:

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If you set the parameters properly (tried Eizo ) you get bot an improvement in loudness and in sound quality (so it's not equalizers only). This works inside Primo also so now internal speakers are usable at volume set to maximum for directions. There is still a difference, outside Primo max volume is already to loud you need to lower the volume, but the sound is usable on Primo for directions.

I could not find the explanation, it looks like both related to the software itself (it's lower inside Primo) but also related to the version of Android you use. Also it is different from device to device, on my phone, there is a difference in sound with external speakers but it looks to be much smaller than on Nexus 7.

Thanks for the Eizo tip baluba, I've just applied it to my Nexus 4 which is what I'm primarily using for nav and music these days (Stupid mount for nexus 7 broke the car's air vent!). I'll test it out and report back my findings here, but I'm sure I tried this patch a while back and had no joy. Everything gets louder but that still leaves Igo being too quiet :-(

@downunder, I've tried multiple different roms on my Nexus 7 and 4 but they all exhibit the same problem. This makes me think that it's a google design problem, especially as igo has to be hacked to even make guidance work at all on any v4+ of Android.

Right now all my hopes are pinned on Key Lime Pie, but it wouldn't surprise me if the problem is still there or even worse when it arrives.

Still, I appreciate being able to chat with others who have the same issue driving them nuts too. Good to hear the things others are trying, who knows, perhaps we will stumble upon the solution one day.

Well, all I can say is that with my Rom I can use different Equalizer settings for the normal volume, headsets and bluetooth over the DSP manager.
Have played around with the sound settings in Primo?
For example:
[dynamiccompressor]
compressor=1
a0=56806
thrs=24703
ratio=8
gain=10

[sound]
csv_voice_enabled=1
sound_q_length=200
queue_length=200
ding=0
sound_volume=255
voice_volume=255
os_volume=255
use_os_volume=0 - Changing that to 1 might give you normal volume in Primo if it can override the internal settings

Yup, tried every sys.txt modification under the sun, none of them help when you have your device connected via the headphone socket to speakers and you have music playing. The music always drowns out the guidance. The guidance is there, as you'll hear it if you happen to get an instruction between music tracks or you get a quiet bit in a song, but the guidance volume always seems to stay at about 30% of the music volume.
Research has shown that the [dynamiccompressor] settings have no effect on android, they are a left over from Winmo days.
Here is my current sys.txt sound section and it has no effect.

[sound]
csv_voice_enabled=1
ding_muted=0
dev_channels=2
voice_volume=255
effect_volume=255
os_volume=255
media_volume=255
media2_volume=255
alert_volume=255
guidance_volume=255
alarm_volume=255

I do appreciate you trying to help, I'd love to get this fixed!

Assuming you are playing the music using the Android and not Primo,
I would set the OS_VOLUME to let's say 128.
Not 100% sure as I never had that problem, but OS Volume suggests the volume of the device itself.
However I don't know if that still affects the Android.
Maybe Primo realises that a BT connection is used and assumes a headset, therefor lowering the volume.

I also tried all settings related to sound (pretty much what is posted by Booce). Many settings from CE do not have any effect in Android. I even found a way to see it Primo recognizes a setting or not. After changing or adding a value in sys.txt start the application end close it. Go in save/profiles/01 folder and check system.ini .If you see the setting there probably is used if not Primo does not know about it, most likely (at least for sound, some other settings are not mirrored in there).

For me the Xlouder hack did not improve external speaker sound (or not by much) but it improved internal speaker by maybe 15%
which more or less compensate for the drop in Primo.
I would still like to be able to use my BT speaker as I said, but for now I don't see how. My speaker does not have it's own volume to try to crank it up locally, maybe other model could work.

Reading a lot of threads related to sound I see that Google did changes between the versions. I understand the idea but it creates side effects. For example on my phone when in Primo and changing the volume from buttons it changes Ringer and System volume (media volume is not touched by Primo). When in Nexus 7 which does not have a ringer volume (probably because it's not a phone), changing the volume in Primo moves the System and Media volume. (You can see this using an app called Audio Manager).
It looks also that NavNgo never tested Primo in a JB device, as sound does not work at all without a hack. I suppose they just tested it on the OEM devices they sold it which use older Android versions (2.x most likely).

I compared the files and the hack is in the binary "so" file itself it's not just a simple setting, so somebody used a disassembler to do this (lucky for us).