Silvaccordex01

iTrader: (2)

I have a 12 TSX TECH, and have some questions about the XM Radio. A few things i have noticed is that it cuts out a lot, even with clear view of the sky. Also, the sound quality isn't that great, you have the have the volume up considerably higher then if a cd or ipod was attached. For example, when playing my ipod at level 12, it takes xm about a level 22 or 23 to get the same volume out of it.

I had a loaner ILX a few days ago, and noticed the XM was considerably higher quality. Didn't cut out at all, and the volume was the same or very close to the same when switching between ipod/xm. It also came in with better sound quality.

My question is, does the TSX just have a low quality xm system, or is there an issue with my antenna or something? I have asked the dealer, and they say there is no problem.

How does your XM sound to you?

robpp

iTrader: (2)

a hard disk will ALWAYS sound better than something recieved over the air......xm or fm or am.

my XM does require a bit more volume level for the same sound as iTouch..........but not much adjustment,

further, my XM does go out when I am under an overpass or even sometimes at a drive through when close to one wall. not any different than any other vehicle I have owned with xm.

thunderbt3

There has been a couple TSB's regarding XM on 2nd Gen TSX's

mrgold35

I have an 06 TSX, 08 RDX tech and 11 MDX Adv/Ent and the XM sounds the same and consistent in all 3 vehicles. Sound quality is about the same as FM stations, not as good as CD, bluetooth or USB audio. The only time is cuts out when the XM signal is being blocked by some structure and it only happens for a split second.

A few years ago, XM had one of the main satellites go down for a few hours XM sounded just like the way you described (poor reception from back-up satellites). Sounds like you are not receiving the full signal into your XM module like from a bad antenna jack, a bad antenna, a lose cable, a lose connection to the unit, a faulty unit, a damaged cable, etc...

ESHBG

Take it to the dealership, I had the same issue as well and my XM antennae needed to be replaced (and the XM module had to be replaced as well, but that was done before the antennae). The results were like night and day and it never cuts out now and the sound quality is better. It's still limited to XM quality mind you but in comparison to what I was experiencing, it is definitely better now.

Silvaccordex01

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the input everyone. I will see if the dealership will replace the antenna under warranty.

rawger

Not to take over your thread, but I am kind of noticing something weird with the volume in my TSX also, not only XM. So I start the car up and the volume is only around 10 and it sounds nice and packs a punch, even I was shocked at just how loud 10 really is. But then after I drive the car around for a bit I notice that I'm having to put the volume at 15-20 to get what I was getting at 10 parked...

I'm not sure what this can be attributed to, maybe the alternator? I say the alternator because sometimes when I turn the headlights or even the AC on I see the RPM bounce a little. Is this normal? I have a 2011 tech. The battery was changed 6 months ago.

EricInMaryland

The radios work differently between XM and Sirius, and as I recall XM used to use that as a marketing benefit.

I believe XM is sky distributed signal and Sirius's signal is distributed by ground based antennas (more chance of obstruction).

So, you're supposed to stay connected to XM better than Sirius. I had many dropouts on Sirius, so far none on XM.

ESHBG

Are you sure it is not just as simple as road noise? When you are parked you don't have the engine getting louder as you accelerate, tire noise, etc.; our TSXs don't have the quietest cabins.

Also check and see if the speed sensitive volume controls are activated, as I found mine to be a little annoying and it did odd things with the sound volume at times so I turned it off.

rawger

It can't be cabin noise. Even at cruising 40mph, it just doesn't sound the same. I did hear for 2011+ they tired to improve cabin noise with thicker windows and other sound deadening stuff, I thought the cabin sounded pretty quite.

And I did go into the settings. I think the feature you're talking about is called SHV or SVH? Something like that? I'm thinking if I should try the factory reset to see if it does something.

rawger

So I finally brought my iPod and used that through USB and now it sounds consistent, whether driving or parked which is good news. I hate the radio anyways same old songs everytime, kind of the reason I wanted the tech so I can use the iPod integration.

But I'm still curious as to why it would happen. Does the fin on the roof only control XM or radio as well? Thinking of taking it to Acura since someone mentioned there is a TSB for XM, I assume that effects regular radio as well?

ESHBG

Yes, it's true that the '11+ supposedly are quieter but I still don't find the TSX cabin to particularly quiet when compared to some other cars that I have driven.

Yep, that's it. Try turning it off and see if that helps.

My regular FM/AM radio wasn't effected at all and it was just the XM.

dhaden3

I am new here and can't even figure out how to start a new thread or check similar thread topics. This is the closest to what I want to ask so I'll enter it here.
I have a 2005 rl and have subscribed to SiriusXm for 2 years. I have had a few very long conversations, if you can call them that, with the folks in the subcontinent who man the phones for them. They always end their call with "we have done everything we can from our end; you should be able to receive all of our stations; the problem must be with your equipment, would you like to buy a new Sirius/Xm radio? Eventually after 6 or 8 calls working my way up the ladder I find they have screwed up my radio number in their system or something like that that fixes the problem. I just got off two long calls where they did the same thing over and over and didn't solve the problem.

Last night I was driving and listening to SiriusXm and I thought the balance between left and right channels was not quite right. So I pulled over to fiddle with it. (Remember when you could just push in the treble knob and then you could adjust balance without even looking at the dash?) So I hit the audio button and you get this screen with something like "audio controls" on the right in a strip at the bottom ( I can't remember the exact words, but it was clear that that was where I wanted to go for balance adjustments.) The top of the screen has all these graphs that show where balance, fade, bass and treble are at present. The bottom strip shows one of those maddening down arrows that I take to mean that you move the big do-everything knob in a downward direction to get access to the hidden controls. That caused all kinds of havoc in the upper part of the screen so I backed up and figured it was one of those cases where to get to the bottom you turn the do-everything knob clockwise to move the blue outline down to the bottom where it would do some good. No. I could not find a way to access control of any of the radio controls and thought I should quit before I kicked the radio in. (Notice to Acura engineers here. Please look at the radio controls in the Legend and 1st gen RLs. Please do it that way again.)

Looking at my radio I see that I am still in SiriusXm mode, but at station 001, but my problem is different than the ones described in the thread of that title. I lost all stations between 001 and 102 and after 116. That is, I have lost all stations that you pay money to receive. My time with SiriusXm today was unable to correct the problem. Both fellows came to the conclusion that since my radio was 10 years old it had crapped out even though I pointed out to them that I was receiving their signal just fine on their free "stations" so why couldn't they open the pipe that gives me the non-free ones. They said they tried but couldn't, so it must be my fault. Would you like to buy a new radio?

So my question is: how do I reset the radio to get it back where hopefully SiriusXm can actually do something from their end? I guess I will go remove the positive battery terminal, but I seem to remember that the last time I did that the alarm went off and all sorts of wierd things happened. Is there an easier way.

Thanks for any help you can give.

ceb

Wrong thread, wrong car forum - but - call them back and have them resend the signal. Make sure your car is on, has a clear(ish) line of sight to the satellite and can be on for at least a half hour (although you should get the signal within a few minutes. Make sure they have your radio number correct.

Disconnecting the battery won't help.

TSXV6Guy

^ FWWI, I had signal refresh issues with the XM in my TSX. I had lost some XM stations. XM tried sending "refresh" signals to my unit but many tries had no effect.

Eventually, here's what solved my problem:

- XM customer service "unsubscribed" my unit from all XM services
- Disconnect the battery and connect the + and - leads of the cables (not the battery!) for a couple of seconds after waiting 3 minutes.
- Reconnect the battery, enter the radio code, and you should get XM to be completely refreshed, and unsubscribed. (you only get channel 001)
- Call XM and ask them to re-activate your unit.

May worth a try.

ceb

The issue may not be technical. What is telling is that the poster owns a 2005 RL for at least two years ("I've been subscribing to Sirius for two years") and doesn't know how to change the audio settings. He doesn't say that he asked them to resend the signal, just " [t]hey said they tried but couldn't, so it must be my fault ". Since the XM guys in the Philippines can't "do" anything that they get feedback on, I suspect they just tried to sell him a new radio. They cannot see that the resend was successful

Having them unsubscribe the radio, then resubscribe it is a good idea, but shorting out the battery cables is a very bad idea - especially on an '05 RL that has a very fragile electronics system (1st gen battery management). He could also try to escalate it to customer service in the US by repeating "I want to speak to a supervisor in the US" whenever they say "my name is Sally, I can help you with that problem."

My pet peeve is with the use of offshore support that has no clue about the product or the basic technology. A text to speech converter on a google site would give you more accurate information. "Sally" (real name Wattan) does not know what a satellite is, has never heard of Acura and the amount of money you spend on XM programming exceeds her family's annual income. These poor folks are exploited by the big corporations because they are very cheap labor and sometimes they'll push the right buttons on the computer and give the customer the right info. It isn't their fault but it doesn't solve your problem.

V-tecAc

My xm cuts in and out because i live in eastern ct and its hilly and cell reception is bad in alot of spots too. Thats just satalite signal and lack of it i guess. My dad just got a new nissan fronteer and his new xm signal is a lot less powerful than his old fronteer. I can see how the signal can be good or bad due to reciever in our cars. But one tsx to the next......idk
as far as sound quality goes, im an audio engineer and xm is torture. Buttttt i like the features so i deal. Also, never heard a xm reception above 128mb/s ever
sorry about the caps, work comp

musty hustla

The XM and GPS signal can be impacted by tall buildings flanking your vehicle. You can have a clear view of the sky but a poor signal. I imagine driving in a valley may have the same effect.