PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

First of all, thanks (as always) to the very informative, ethusiastic members of this forum that posted install pics, reviews, etc on this product.

My rating:
Ease of Install (depending on tools available): 5/10
Quality of construction: 8/10
Quality of digital sound: 10/10 (sounds EXACTLY like a burned *.wav extracted from a mp3 -- so... perfect digital sound)
Ease of use: 7/10 -- takes some getting used to the controls
Overall Impression: 10/10

So I reviewed the latest recommendations on this product comparing with all the alternatives, and from what I've gathered, this product is virtually flawless sound, flawless install, and no bugs (for people with TL non-navi that are NOT using iPhone).

I have an IPOD nano, and a 2004 TL non-navi with XM radio.

I decided NOT to take apart my dash (did NOT want to risk damaging any of the aesthetics, like the $100/piece brushed aluminum center console trim pieces...) therefore, thanks to a member on this board that posted pics, I did the following:

1) back up the driver's seat as much as possible for room
2) have a slim, MAG-like flashlight that can be maneuvered and pointed in tight spots
3) pull down the carpeting on the center console where it meets the center console plastic by the driver's R knee.
4) poking your head all the way to the accelerator and then looking to the right and BEHIND to the rear of the center console, you can see about a 4" by 4" opening where you'll visualize (with the flashlight) a white, 1"x 3/4" wiring harness (nearest you -- the ONLY visible white harness).
5) this is the XM input to the TL audio system
6) I used a long flat head screwdriver (about 3/4 foot long, 1/4" width flat head) that I BENT DOWN THE TIP (i used a vice grip to bend the very tip down so it had a 45 degree angle downward "tooth" with which to push down on the wiring harness clip and also to pull it out)
7) Using a LOT of contortion (and years of poor flexibility... for which I'll pay for in the morning tomorrow with LOTS of soreness), I wrangled the augmented flathead to THE TOP OF THE WHITE HARNESS and pushed down on the clip and pulled the harness out.
8) Then, I utilized the flathead once more to wrangle the now loose harness to the 4" x 4" opening so that I could now start making my connections to the Peripheral Electronics Y-harness.
9) I then used THE SAME augmented flathead, mounted the NEW PERIPHERAL harness to the flathead by wedging the flathead into a part of the harness that had no wires, and wrangled the harness into the back of the Acura TL audio system (same spot where we originally removed the OEM harness in the above steps)
10) I then MADE SURE TO FLIP ALL MY DIP SWITCHES TO THE OFF (DOWN) POSITION on the Peripherals control unti
11) I then plugged the black harness from the Y-adapter to the Peripherals control unit. I then plugged the IPOD wire (6 foot) to the very far left S-video-looking input on the Peripherals unit.
12) I then started testing (as per the instructions) and it worked right off the bat -- success!
13) I ran the 6 foot ipod cord under all the plastic along the driver's side to the center console, snuck it between the center arm rest base and carpet and then fed it into the top deck of the center console and VOILA!
An OEM sounding, perfect digital solution for IPOD in my car.. XM works great as it always has as well.

I welcome any questions comments -- this thing is really flawless... i've been listening to it over 3 hours, here are the features I love:

1) time song has been playing, ALL text (song name, artist, album) all accessible and can be toggled via "DISP" button on center console
2) Surf by artist/album/alphabet/etc .. PERFECT!
3) VERY FAST SURFING with the Right toggle knob of the center console and JUST AS FAST surfing with the channel button on the steering wheel -- kick ass!
4) HD ready thanks to the peripherals control unit (don't think i'll ever want HD, but it's there if I want it
5) the unit also comes with a 6 foot cable that has a mini-stereo headphone male connector for non-IPOD mp3 players, laptops, basically anything that has a headphone jack -- you can concurrently have this installed to the HD radio plug (just to the right of the IPOD input).

No regrets, cost me $150 shipped from an online vendor recommended on this forum by the Peripherals representative that posts here often. (I opted not to go with Ebay as I heard they have some techinical flaws).

Oh, and my unit came pre-loaded with the latest firmware, but the process to check the firmware with the online free software from Peripheral's website was SIMPLE.

Love this product.

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

SPECIAL THANKS TO CROOK (Acurazine senior member):

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...=590889&page=3

Crook, without this post with your wonderful post, your detailed installation discuss and tips, I would have have to waste my whole weekend (and probably incurring many rattles and damage/scratches to my center console) installing this PXAMG iPod controller.

THANKS SO MUCH! you rock

And I ended up leaving the brain under the lower dash, by my remote starter brain -- I used some Locktite construction grade adhesive ($4.00 at home depot) to adhese it to the top of the kick plate (totally hidden from view) and I used a few zip ties to hide the two wire bundles coming off the brain.

20 minute install thanks to Crook.

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

I've been getting some PM's regarding my install... more info:

I have perfect digital audio transport to the Acura Stereo system, no audio bleeding from XM, no engine "whine" on top of audio.

I have TOTAL iPod functionality via my TEXT screen on the non-navi screen: i can search artist/album/song title/playlists.. i can use my steering wheel chan +/- to search, advance, etc. I can see song time (eg. 4:15), song artist, album, title in TEXT. My XM is fully functional WITH TEXT AND WORKS AS IT ALWAYS DID.

No compromise of audio quality of CD's, FM, AM, or XM. No weird skipping, no weird hissing, whining, or popping of audio. No hiccups at all.

I can use a RDM (random) feature to have the Peripheral brain randomly play through all IPOD songs, or random artists, or random albums -- very cool.

iPOD starts playing immediately when I start the car.. no weird or unusual delays. As soon as I disconnect the iPod mid-song .. song stops, audio stops, and as soon as I plug it back in immediately .. song starts right up where it left off, no hiccups.

When i receive a HFL bluetooth phone call, the iPOD does NOT pause, but HFL audio comes in exactly how it did before when I was listening to CD, XM, or FM/AM. When my call is over, it goes right back to the iPod, but later in the song (depending on how long I was talking for... ) I wish it would pause the song, but whatever, not a big deal.

When the iPod is not connected and I switch it the source: iPOD, it'll say "IPOD DISCONNECTED."

My sources are now: IPOD, SAT (xm), AUX 1, AUX 2...

Aux 1 is the mini-headphone plug (or rca inputs, depending on what you're connecting)

Aux 2 is HD radio (if you decide to buy the Peripheral HD radio module).

the unit does come with RCA/mini-stereo 6ft cable that you can PLUG CONCURRENTLY with the iPod plug, so in your armrest you'll have the iPod plug, as well as the RCA AND mini-stero plugs -- very cool -- total audio input capacity, only one little unit!

eluzion

Thanks for the review. I really want to pick up one of these but I have the iPhone 3G (doesn't charge). Looks like the updated cables won't be out until next year. =( I'll have to keep this thread bookmarked though.

Sal's Type S

iTrader: (1)

will this work with NAV Traffic or will it be lost?

playa4real

iTrader: (3)

I don't believe you have the new harness that Peripheral has created, but with the new harness the IPOD does pause when using HFL.

mynsbbg

I am curious to know if after installing the PXAMG in an 04' with Navi how the XM screen is affected? Same or is it replaced with the PXAMG rendering. Also, of course, would love to see pics.

I have my mouse on hover waiting to purchase....

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

There's a $30 adapter you can buy on ebay that'll attach onto the peripheral ipod plug (just before it goes in the ipod) and it'll charge your iPhone (this adapter is in turn powered by a mini-usb plug car adapter - which can go in your center console charger -- seems like a simple enuf solution -- why wait?

Sucks I didn't get the updated harness -- I don't feel like replacing the harness, it was a chore enough to wrangle my current harness into place. Pausing of ipod is not that important to me.

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

From the still shots of others on this forum that have installed the peripheral and other similar products (USAspec, etc), the XM looks the same on the navi as it "thinks" that the XM is still working, it's just that the text, and digital audio is supplied by the peripheral brain instead of the XM receiver. The nice thing is that you'll have artist, title, all listed at once.

Just buy it, ya won't be disappointed.

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

don't know.

Sal's Type S

iTrader: (1)

Peripheral testers said everything was working now, now it has to go in to production from what i read.

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

Extreme Cold update:

It's pretty cold here in chicago now .. leaving my car in the cold for about 12 hours while i'm at work (20 degrees)... when starting up the car, it takes about 30-40 seconds before the Radio will turn on (CD, XM, FM, AM, iPOD) in order to listen to music from any source.

once it's on.. it works as flawlessly as before. I Imagine this is secondary to the Peripheral unit being extremely cold.... will be interested to see how this works in the -20 or -15 degree Chicago weather.

Thank god for my Compustar remote starter!

playa4real

iTrader: (3)

really? given im not in as cold of a climate as you are, i never had that issue last winter (CD, XM, FM). we'll find out what happens with the peripheral unit in the next couple of months

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

I'm curious what those of you with Peripheral PXAmg feel about the song volume:

Most of my new iTunes mp3s really need to be at Volume 15 -> 20 in order for me to really enjoy the song while driving (i'm not deaf, I promise.. but as a reference, I usually have FM music at 10-13 and XM music at 13-16 volume). I feel that I have to turn the volume up to 30 for older mp3s that I have imported into my iTunes library.

As far as I know, adjusting the equilizer on my iPod only augments sound through the mini stereo plug, not the digital audio that goes out through the iPod interface to the Peripheral..

Anyone with ideas on how to increase the "pre-amp" signal?

It doesn't bother me too much as I never need to raise the volume past 30..

playa4real

iTrader: (3)

I totally agree with you. When listening to the ipod, I need to turn the volume up as well just to get the same level as the other inputs. I brought it up with peripheral, but havent received a response yet.

lindsaydyan

How do you get the new harness?

playa4real

iTrader: (3)

^^a few of us on here tested the new harness for Peripheral. It is just a development harness, its not in production yet. he should have them made by 1Q 2009.

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

I imagine the next firmware update could potentially increase the volume issue..

eluzion

I just picked this up at Best Buy (iSimple) and installed it today. I bought a screw driver to bend but I had no luck with that so I just took apart the left trim piece and the left panel. I ended up breaking a clip hole on the left panel but everything snap backs together just fine so I'm not worried (but I was pissed for a few minutes).

So far everything works pretty good although I am having some skipping issues. If I change to a different song the skipping usually goes away. I updated the unit to the latest firmware as well. Just a note for Vista users -- the firmware file is NOT in the .zip file they have you download for Vista. Only the updater utility and drivers are in that file. You have to download the .zip file for XP and extract just the firmware file and use that.

Right now the Peripheral unit is just sitting on the ground (ghetto) but I just picked up some velcro at Lowe's and I have to find a place to mount it. Still trying to figure out how to use this thing but so far I'm pretty satisfied.

eluzion

I'm finally home and figured out how to work the Peripheral unit a little better. Updating the firmware definitely fixed a lot of issues. Before the update, it was so very laggy and the text was not updating properly. With the firmware updated, everything is pretty much instant now (maybe a 0.5 to 1 second delay at the most when browsing through songs for the text to update).

Personally, I find the volume levels compared to CDs and the radio to be pretty similar (just a tad lower, but not much), so no complaints there. Quality is excellent though.

greenleaf81

Great info peter! Thanks.

If you could get some pics posted here that would make your post and description so much better! If you don't mind getting sore again for showing us your slick technique (without opening the dash) that would be awesome!

jennb

So I actually have a 2006 Honda Accord but am trying to find any info. I can...I just had the peripheral electronics isimple ipod adapter installed, twice actually. The first time the unit did not work at all, now the second unit has been installed and my ipod works great, however the XM radio does not. I am told by the installer at Best Buy that you can have one or the other, but not both. The Honda dealership told me the same thing, but if I buy the Honda Music Link for $380 that both will work. I have seen several posts online that suggest that the xm should work with the ipod adapter installed. Any insight? Oh, and also, when I'm playing my ipod, I get no text on my radio, no title, artist, time, nothing...Please help!!

mglax13

iTrader: (3)

So wait, I've been interested in a unit that allows me to control the iPod from the steering wheel, but I was always under the impression of 2 things:

1. I either get to see the text of the XM, or the iPod...not both
2. It won't work with nav

But from what I gather above, does the Peripheral PXAMG allow you to see text on BOTH and work with a nav screen? If so, I'm sold!

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

Dude... the peripheral does both .. that's why I still can't understand why people are still fascinated with DICE, USA Spec.. etc...

Peripheral does it all, it's reliable... it's cheap ($150 shipped).

Case closed.

mglax13

iTrader: (3)

I am SOLD!

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

Unfortunately, I can only speak for the TL .. don't know if the Accord is the sample configuration. You techinically (even with the Accord) should be able to have fully functional XM as well as IPOD with text and steering control.

Perhaps it's different with the Accord -- has peripheral (company) gotten back to you regarding this issue?

FrogFighter

I installed the Peripheral unit under the carpet that is immediately to the right of the gas pedal. The carpet is easily folded down and access to the unit is easy. I faced the PS/2 connections for the mini-jack connection and the ipod towards the gas pedal so that they can be easily removed. Once they are removed I can take the unit out and disconnect the harness. Behind the carpet is a flat piece of plastic that I used to velcro the unit to.

So far I like it but I'm a little disappointed by it not pausing when using the HFL. Where can I get the harness that allows this to happen?

AnthraciteAspec

iTrader: (6)

You have to wait til first quarter 09 and I believe you will need to relocate the box to the trunk at that point. See this thread as he is the only guy on here who has the new harness already:
https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-audio-bluetooth-electronics-navigation-94/i-058-playa4reals-peripheral-pxamg-install-3g-type-s-698771/

jma9

i have an '08 TL. i just installed the isimple with the 15 minute technigue. thanks for that. i am thinking about installing the hd radio module. is there any way to access the am/fm antenna without pulling out the stereo? will i need an adapter or is the antenna a motorola type plug? i am thinking about pulling out the glove box and possibly one of the side panels in the passenger footwell but the complete stereo removal on this car is a pain. thanks.

jma9

if the unit is installed in the trunk on the TL (with the old adapter) before the xm tuner, the xm will not work (i tried it). when installed in the dash it will work. if they installed the unit in the trunk that may be what is causing the xm not to work. the other thing is that your box might not have been flashed with the latest firmware. something does not sound right with the install you had done. again, i installed mine in a tl so the accord may be different.

djbonsu

iTrader: (3)

I just installed this Peripferal kit and like "eluzion" i removed the driver's side panel to get better access to the xm plug (my head is too big...lol). i installed it using heavy duty double-sided tape mounted to the computer panel right behind the storage bins up front. its definetly tucked nice and neat and out of the way so my foot will never 'snag' one of the wires. the performance is quite nice and so is the sound quality. it is a bummer that is doesnt pause when i get incoming calls tho but, no biggie...so far a sound unit tho

tonester

iTrader: (1)

i'm gonna attempt the installation tomorrow of my peripheral unit, but before i do that, i want to make sure i have the latest firmware. the sticker on my unit says PX0608.26. Can someone confirm that this is the latest firmware?

thanks

playa4real

iTrader: (3)

.26 should be the latest firmware. you can double check by going to the mfg. website http://www.peripheralelectronics.com/firmware/

tonester

iTrader: (1)

thanks

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

So... emailed tony at Peripheral... volume issue cannot be fixed as "[ipod input] is at the same level as the XM signal" and they would have to overdrive the input signal to both in order to increase the volume from the ipod.

I'm fine with using the Volume 20-30 range to listen to my ipod (for 15-20% of the softer mp3s) -- it's clean, hiss and static free digital audio and I'm still very impressed with this product.

JCL622

just installed mine a few days ago; very very happy with it; and yes, the volume does need to be pushed up a bit more than normal;

so burn your all time favorites onto 6 discs; and then everyhting else in the ipod

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

There really should be a gain knob on the peripheral brain .. help increase the pre-amp signal intensity

CarrieLynn

iTrader: (2)

ok, just finished instaling mine today, I have an 04 TL w/navi. I installed it myself following the directions in this thread but i found it much easier to take off the panel to the right of your knee. In order to do this I had to remove the panel under the steering wheel also. No big deal though it only took me an extra 10 mins.
I started my install yeserday but after a few hours of trying to get to the harness at the back of the radio with no success I was frustrated and had to walk away. I went back out this morning and started again, after a few mins I realized I needed to remove the two extra panels, after I did, instant success!!
Everything works great except my ipod is not charging. I removed the peripheral box and just updated the firmware, we will see if this works. I will report back in a few weeks with my likes/dislikes. As of now though I love it!!

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

congrats on the install -- what generation/type of ipod do you have .. iphone,and late gen itouch are not supported for charging.

tonester

iTrader: (1)

i just finished my install today also and i ended up mounting the peripheral box at the foot well location using velcro. I mounted the box as high as possible where it won't interfere with my right foot. This way, i can also have easy access to it when i need to update the firmware. i'll test out this location with a few days of driving and let you guys know how it feels.



as for charging the ipod touch 2gen or iphone 3g, i contacted peripheral about the issue and they sent out a newer 5v cable to me that will charge my 2gen Ipod touch.