I haven't had a chance to listen to a new RL sound system. How do you like it/dislike it?

-thanks...

 

On my test drive, the radio was on for a fair amount of the time and I found the system crisp, clear, and pretty decent at sound reproduction. It's not a seriously bass thumping system (few factory systems are), but it sounds incredibly good for a factory system. You'll enjoy it when you have a chance to listen to it.

 

Thanks... I'm glad it's not "a seriously bass thumping system". I prefer sound systems to be flat and balanced.

 

Well put. The system is outstanding... and when playing DVD-Audio nothing can touch it.

 

Fantastic sound for radio, XM, or CD. If you pick up a DTS or DVD-A you will get a special treat. Not bass thumping unless you want to fiddle (which is fun on the nav screen) but I like my sound clean, acurate, and musical. No need to upgrade this system!

 

I love the fact that you can turn the Center Speaker on for regular CD's, MP3's,...ect. THis was a smart move on Acura's behalf!

C.J.

 

I find the sound system excellent. I am puzzled with the noise cancellation system, however. While roughly four out of five auto writers praise the car for its exceptional quiet interior, even at highway speeds, mine seems exceptionally noisy. It is noisier than the Lexus ES I traded in, noisier than my previous Acura, the CL-S, and about as noisy as my Honda CR-V. I have asked the Acura customer people whether the dealers' technicians have a test procedure for this sub-system, or whether I need to rent an audiometer and test drive mine, then a demo model, over the same road surface. The Acura rep gave me a rather vague answer about dealership technicians having a specific method. My dealership denies this and says the noise system is simply installed and sits there and works its magic. As for moi -- I suspect not.

 

That's interesting. I find it as quiet, if not quieter, than the GS300 I owned and much quieter than the '04 TL I traded for it. There is road noise from the tires on certain surfaces, but that's about it.

 

Possible that your system isn't working?

 

I've been wondering the same thing about my RL. In terms of road and wind noise it sounds on par with the Passat W8 I traded-in and possibly a little worse. My girlfriend has mentioned this as well, and I usually can't get her to notice noises,squeaks,rattles, etc. in my cars, she always thinks I'm crazy. I was going to mention it to my dealer during my first visit, which I luckily I haven't scheduled yet since I don't have any serious issues.

 

As I said, I suspect the system AIN'T working. The damn car is noisy.

 

Is this inverse grammar correction?

Acura should have put on "off" switch for the noise cancellation for diagnostic purposes. What if you want to check for a bearing noise for instance? I suspect the dealer can shut it off.

 

I believe there is a means to turn AudioPilot noise compensation on & off.
According to the QUICK START GUIDE, try this:
1) Press the AUDIO button on the left of the interface dial.
2) Press down own the interface dial selector and then rotate the dial to choose SOUND.
3) Rotate the interface dail to select the setting you want to adjust (in this case, AUDIOPILOT) and then push in on the dial selector.
4) Rotate the knob until the setting is at the desired setting, press the selector to lock the setting.

Perhapz someone turned yours off by mistake ... Hope this helpz.

Ciao,
427

 

I could be wrong, but from what I have read I don't think the AudioPilot feature is the same as the "always active" noise cancellation system. The AudioPilot feature seems to just apply to audio that's playing through the audio system.

Here's a link to the Bose site relating to AudioPilot...

http://www.bose.com/controller;jsess...tive/index.jsp

If AudioPilot is the same as the ANC system, then the new Audi A6 and some other cars would be able to claim that they have noise cancellation features as well, which I haven't seen listed in their specs, although I haven't looked too hard.

 

I believe the AudioPilot is simply a feature similar to that in my former car, the ES300 with the Mark Levinson audio option. It compensates for road noise by kicking up the volume by the same number of db as the road noise it senses. Interestingly, this dynamic was the inspiration for Dolby's invention of the first anti-hiss system for tape players. While studying in Scotland, he noticed that while driving his old Volkswagen, he couldn't hear the hiss. The next step was a system that kicked up the level in the hiss frequency range by a couple pf notches when recording, and attenuating them on playback. A few years and a couple of Star Wars episodes later, he was immensely wealthy.

 

You folkz could be totally right ... Sorry if I led someone astray with my post. One question regarding the ANC: If it plays the cancellation signal through the audio system's speakers (as stated on the Acura RL website), does the radio need to be on for this feature to function?

Then again, if the radio is on and the cancellation signal is playing thru the speakers, how does it react with the ongoing song? This electronic "magic" is too much for me ... I better go back to my old Corvette and just listen to the sidepipes barking in the night.

 

Everything I've read says the audio system does not have to be on for Active Noise Cancellation to be working, even though it feeds through the speakers.

 

When I played the DVD-A sample that was given when I bought the car, the thunderstrom sound nearly blew me away. It sounded so real. I am very impressed with the system. But there aren't many places that sell DVD-As though.

 

Do a search in the TL forum since those owners have had DVD-A for well over a year and have scoped out all the sources. There are quite a few websites mentioned.

I've personally found that Virgin Mega carries a decent selection of DVD-A's. If you don't have a store nearby you can go onto their website. I will warn you, however, that very few DVD-A's will sound as good as the Acura demo. When I heard it, I asked the salesman if the barking dog was on the sound system or right outside the car.

 

I'm happy about it

 

The system is basically on par with the Mark Levinson system in the LS430 and with DVD-A it is easily superior. I am happy with it.

 

mungoac-I agree with you, my RL is not as silent as some have reported. I think I notice the engine revving just before it upshifts the most.

As to the noise-cancelling technology. My understanding is that it is always on (except that you can go through the audio system and turn it off as posted by 427 ) and that your speakers do not have to be on for it to work. Although the system works through your speakers, you would never notice it with your stereo on or off because it works by detecting a disturbing sound, then sending out a corresponding sound wave of opposite amplitude (I am very shaky on the actual terminology but you get the gist). I do not understand how the system knows what is a disturbing sound versus what is playing on the stereo. It would be pretty bad if parts of the music dropped away just because it sounded like background noise!

 

Actually, the engine sounds just before you upshift are an intentional effect, according to Acura, who refers to it as a "sportier exhaust note" in its lovely brochure, and explains that a certain valve gives the exhaust a straighter path to the environment above 3500 RPM. I have also seen it described as a satisfying, throaty roar by one of the more rapturous auto scribes after test driving the RL some months ago. Personally, I find it more reminscent of a scene from the movie Blazing Saddles. Fellow geezers will probably remember it. I'm referring to a scene I'll simply call Campfire Rhapsody in B-eans Major for Flatulent Cowboys, Beans and a Drunken Horse. It was the performance of a lifetime for Alex Karras, that magnificent former Detroit defensive tackle and gifted humorist. Let's simply say the roar was less throaty than farty, as is the case with the RL, IMHO.

The audio system turn-off (described by 427), has nothing to do with the noise cancellation system, as far as I can determine. The audio pilot simply turns up the audio volume to compensate for ambient noise -- noise cancellation or no cancellation.

The way the noise cancellation system knows what sounds are disturbing and what not is simply that it has been told, probably through a few acoustic algorithms that indicate that a somewhat deep rumble is ugly, while a degree of so-called pink or white noise is more acceptable. And when built-in microphones detect sounds in the ugly range, the system generates opposite sound waves that cancel the uglies out -- whether your audio system is on or not. The function is probably the same as that in the special Bose headphones that cancel out ambient noise when you fly. It will not impact the frequency range of the music you're playing. But it probably will save Honda a few bux on acoustic padding.

I would not bet the farm that my system does not work, however. I have somewhat sensitive ears and at my highly advanced age, I can still detect sounds above 18kHz and below 30 Hz. So it's possible that my expectations simply are too great. But I am totally convinced that my Lexus was much quieter than is my RL. We shall soon have an answer, however, even if I have to get hold of an audiometer.

Contrary to what an Acura technician told me, Acura has worked up a testing procedure. It generates a test tone loaded with the offending frequency spectrum. The technician then turns the noise cancellation on and off. If it works, the test tone dies when the system is on. I can't wait. It's a win/win issue. If my system is bust, I get the pleasure of being right; if the system is working, I can crow about being a very old guy with very young ears. I have so little left to brag about...

 

Hmm... I wonder if my dealer performed this test on my RL last Friday when I had it in for some other issues and asked them to confirm that my ANC system was working. They came back and said it was, but couldn't explain the test that they ran. I also made sure that they understood there was a difference between the ANC system and the AudioPilot feature of the sound system when I dropped off the car, and that I was asking to have the ANC system analyzed. At first the the service adviser didn't seem to be aware that there was a difference... it took a little explanation I should be hearing back from them soon on something else, so I'll push for some more details.

As far as you know, is the test tone played outside of the car or through the sound system?

 

Figures.. another negative effect foisted on us by a car company as a "feature"! How much does anyone want to bet that this "feature" can not be turned off? What you wrote is interesting because I notice the exhaust tone precisely when the tach goes above 3500 RPM. I was actually thinking, geez shouldn't the transmission upshift a little sooner, then you won't get the overrevved sound. Thanks for pointing that out, mungoac, I'll have to look for it in the brochure>>>Yep, found it on page 23 ... "strictly intentional".

 

I am very happy with the sound system and really have no complaints. It seems to really sound good at night when I listen to the XM 60's & 70's. Man them there speakers was a thump'n.

 

From the Edmunds stereo evaluation:

 

Pretty good review and I'd agree with it.

Naturally if you go to clublexus they will trash the system in the car without hearing it simply because it is a Bose system...little do they know it isn't like previous bose systems found in cars but even if they did they still would trash it without hearing it

The system in the RL really is right there with the ML system in the LS430. I am impressed...and happy.

 

I would say that the system in the RL is better than the ML in our Lexus SC430. The reviewer did not mention the DTS decoding ability of the Boss, which is also great.

 

I'd say the system is pretty similar to the Mark Levinson system I had in my '03 SC430, which seems to be one of the standards of the industry, although DVD-A blows everything else away.

The Edmunds article is spot on about the sub not having much bass, but the overall sound is still great. I find that turning the sub past +1 creates distortion, but you can turn the bass all the way up and it still sounds good. There wasn't a separate sub adjustment in the SC430, but I couldn't turn the bass past +2 because certain music (not even hip-hop BTW) would make the wood door panels vibrate. I'm sure they've corrected it by now.

 

yeah I have my sub set at I think 0 or +1. The bass is at 0 or +1 as well.

The sub in ML system in the LS430 would cause the covers for the air vents back there to vibrate as well as the covering for the sub if you turned the volume up a bit. That is annoying.

I would love to hear the ML system wiht dvd-a. Oh mama.

The biggest difference in bass between the two systems seems to be that the ML system goes lower but I mean that advantage gets wiped away since it causes shit in the car to rattle.