I've had my 2007 TL for 5 1/2 months now and recently turned XM radio back on... Does anyone else think that the sound quality is really bad? Is there some setting that I've got turned wrong? When I change mode from XM to FM, I feel like I'm going from Mono to Stereo. I have been listening to 26, 20, 30, 16, & 11, and all of them make me think the same thing.

Primarily I use my iPod via MusicLink, but would use XM more if it didn't sound so flat.


Anybody else experiencing this?

 

Thats how XM is...dont expect to get HD sounds out of it.

 

I didn't think my xm was that bad actually...not hitting Ipod quality, but much better then AM...I wouldn't consider it flat though

 

You are not alone: Audio Quality is Poor in 2007 TL

 

It's total junk. People on here can say crap like "I'm not looking for glass shattering sound levels" or something even more stupid like "It's the accuracy of the sound reproduction I'm looking for". That's all total BS. People that say stuff like that are in complete denial over the fact that this ELS system sucks!

At first, I wanted to blame my poor quality sound (2006 w/o navi) on XM's compressed signal. Someone told me XM compresses their signal so they can get more channels but this reduces the quality of the signal. I don't know if I want to fall for that or not because I've got XM in a 2004 Maxima that sounds 10 times better than the junk TL's. I actually enjoy listening to XM in that car.

I was in denial during the interview process (test drive) and during the first six months of ownership about how awful this system is. I wanted to think it was because of the humidity, our solar system, or someone adjusting the XM satellite in space. After reading some of the posts on here about how much better the system sounds after replacing some of the speakers, I unfortunately fell for that crap also and spent over $300 trying to help this thing out. I replaced all of the front speakers and thankfully gained my senses BEFORE wasting more money (rear speakers) on trying to improve the sound. I think it's absolutely absurd to have to spend ANY money to get a DECENT sounding stereo system on a $30k plus vehicle. TOTALLY absurd!

My stereo system in my 99 Avalon kicks the crap out of the XM or FM fed TL. I'll give the TL some credit for good sound with a DVD but that's it. The rest of it's crap--yes even the rediculous 5 channel DVD audio crap. Nice try Elliot but when you were splitting all the channels and sounds, you forgot to listen back to it.

I'm the average listener who expects clear bass, controlled mids, and clear highs from any stereo. I don't think that's too much to ask is it? I recently test drove a 2004 Accord that sounded MUCH better than the TL so I'm convinced it's this lame attempt at surround sound that resulted in low quality.

I'm certainly no audio expert and will probably lose at any audio knowledge debates. But I can tell you my ears say the TL's audio is garbage. I should've bought the 2007 Maxima and not worried so much about resale value. If you keep cars forever like I do, resale value don't mean jack. Muddy tunes, however, do mean jack.

Thanks for listening to my tirade. Been wanting to say all of this for a year now.

 

Although I agree with everyone here that the audio system really sucks, there is a setting that might help your XM sound much better. Scroll down to your dolby setting and have it turned off while listening to XM is it will sound much much better and louder. I've compared the system to my wife's 06 Accord and her Accord sounds so much better. This is really disappointing knowing that I just dropped almost 40K for my car but atleast things significantly change once I hit my gas pedal

 

I agree. The sound system is not as good as I would have hoped for in a car of that price. The Mach 460 in my 99 Cobra I traded in was much better.

Don't even bother with the Dolby setting that emulates 5.1 surround. It sounds terrible. I have to admit that the DVD-A demo disk that came with the car sounds good though.

 

I'd really like to sit in someone's car who says the audio is crap, just for comparison. I do not think the sound in my 07 is crap at all. It really makes me wonder if there's something wrong (in your cars) causing this.

Don't get me wrong, it's not my home theater or anything, but it's not all that bad, in now way would I call it crap (others who have listen to it agree). FM does not sound better than XM, and when I connect the nano to the aux input, there is very little improvement over XM. Yes, AM does sound like crap.

 

I should have added this to my above post...

If you turn the volume up above 30 or so, it will begin to distort and will sound like crap. The amp(s) are not very powerful, and you'll get awful distortion if you want a high SPL.

If you try to play it "loud", it will sound like crap.

 

Overall, I'm very pleased with the sound system in the car. By no means is it a competition-style system, but for everyday driving it's clear. DVD-A sounds awesome and CDs sound great. My iPod is connected via MusicLink and with high-bitrate (320) mp3s, it's a close approximation of cds.. I haven't ever listened to AM, but FM is steady and clear.

The only feature I'm disappointed with is the XM radio. I have tried dolby on/off and ended up leaving it off, but switching from FM to XM is a noticeable drop in quality. The dynamics of the songs seem to be missing with XM (hence my comment about the flat sound). I don't notice that same problem using the RoadyXT in my wife's car, and that's with its built-in FM transmitter.

I don't know.. 95% of the time I'm listening to my iPod. When my XM trial ran out I didn't renew it at first, but when I went out of town and my wife drove my car for a week I had it re-activated for her. The more I listen, the more curious about the quality it's made me.

 

I turn the system to 35 a lot of the time, and it never breaks up. FM mode doesn't sound that good, but when you pop a CD in, theres not much to complain about. The only thing I would have wanted is a more powerful sub...other than that, the system is far from "crap". For a stock system, it has better than average highs and nice mids. The bass is decent, but could be more powerful IMO. It also depends what kind of music you listen to I guess.

 

I agree the XM radio sounds flat. However, CD's quality is great and FM sound is good.
I drove an '07 G35 for a couple of days while my wifes I-35 was being serviced.
The G35 system didn't sound nearly as good as the TL's.
I'm generally happy with the TL audio, but disappointed with the XM sound.
(I won't be renewing my subscription).

 

wow, i listen to pretty much those same channels, and mine sounds fine. one thing, the channels that have commercials don't sound as well. also, are your windows tinted? i've heard metalic tint may mess with your reception (similar to the way it does with AM)-not sure of the validity of this however.

 

I guess my hearing is not as well tuned as the posters here but all inputs(never used a portable MP3 player) sound fine to me, I was impressed by XM(never really like the idea of paying for Radio but after using for a few days the idea is growing on me.)

Dan

 

I once did a back to back song comparison after hearing a song on XM that I happened to also have on a CD. On the CD there was a spot where a little mic feedback sounded like it had crept in to the mix - actually a bit annoying. However, that song when played on XM sounded quite "flat" - and that key audio signature of feedback that had annoyed me also was barely audible. There is a definite loss of quality in XM as compared to CD.

Also, if anyone can ever explain this to me I'd love to hear the explanation. I have burned some 320kbps mp3s down into wav to be stored on a home made DVD-Audio using the "adobeman" scripts - and I would bet money that the same song sounds better coming off of a DVD than it does coming off of a CD. I know that can't make sense - they are almost the same stereo "bits" for goodness sake - in fact - the CD should sound better because the wav->320 kbps mp3->wav process should cause some audio degradation - but I swear that I can hear a difference - and the DVD sounds better.

I drive an '05 TL.

 

On Saturday, I heard a song on XM that I also had on CD so I switched bet. the two sources. It shouldn't be a revelation that the song sounded better on the CD.

 

It has nothing to do with the TL's audio system. XM compressed all their broadcasts like crazy to save money, since they're losing a lot of money. You can observe the same quality on any XM player. FM sounds better than XM now.

 

Overall the ELS system is just average. The front speaker placement (windshield) is not optimum; should have been on door near door handle. And, the amp is quite weak.
I travel quite a bit and thus rent cars. Two days ago I rented an Azera with an infiniti system. The xm sounded much clearer, more dynamic with much better sound stage. The plug in Sirius unit--for howard stern--also sounded better even through the fm modulator.
I bought an extended warranty and suspect that it will be voided if I upgrade speakers and or amps. Looks like I will have to stay with the ELS system.

 

Xm transmits a 64kps audio stream. 64kps..... thats what bad quality internet radio is. I noticed a marked difference between the XM and CD. I guess it's great if you like the convenience of it, but the sound sucks.

 

I turned my XM back on for the Hockey season. Now that it is over, the music quality really does suck.

Some times it comes in very clear and sounds almost as good as the radio, but most of the time it sounds like I have tin cans over each of my ears.

This is in an 05 with Nav.

 

Doesn't matter if the windows are tinted. XM is a digital signal, and as such, you will either recieve "the whole thing" or nothing at all. If you can hear music, you're getting full receception. If you can't hear anything, you aren't getting full reception.

It's psychological - it's all in your head. Truth is, the differences between a 320kbit MP3 and the original CD are engligible.

False. XM compresses their broadcasts because, like every other time- and frequency-division-multiplexed signal, there is a limited amount of bandwidth. Your XM reciever recieves all of the XM channels all at the same time. When you select a channel, all your reciever is doing is playing one small piece of information it gets and discarding the rest. As such, like any other electronic system, there are limits to how much information can be transmitted and recieved at the same time (bandwidth). The reason why the strems are compressed is because they have to balance the amount of bandwidth is available to them and the amount of channels they wish to offer. So again, when you switch channels, your car isn't sending a signal to the satellite or anyone else asking for that one channel. In fact, XM communication is one-way only. There's no way for your XM radio to communicate or upload any data or channel selections to anything.

False. XM transmits channels at 56k. Although, it's 56k aacPLUS and not 56k MP3. aacPLUS is a more efficient compression algorithm. 56k aacPLUS is approximately equivalent to a 96k MP3 stream.

Well it's time you fell for it, because it's the truth.

 

Let's just hope that after the XM and Sirius merger (Feb 2007, in the news), there's gonna be more available bandwidth, thus better audio quality without cutting back on the number of channels. For music at least, anything below 160k MP3 sounds awful. Let's also hope that our dear engineers at Acura so tied up with designing the '09 model have heard the news.

 

What a pleasant surprise, someone that actually knows what he's takling about!!

 

I have had the same issue with my 06 TL since the day I bought it. Thats acutally why I came to the site. Would love to hear of any fixes. I primarily listen to XM but after being used to aftermarket equipment and sound quality I have a hard time dealing with the XM now. My CD's sound great so I know the ability is better than what I am hearing. FM should never sound better than XM!

 

When I first heard Sirius it sounded very "tinny" and empty.. but that's how it is. It's friggin coming from space and it costs roughly $10 a month; i've grown use to it - right now I have an Alpine head unit w/ Infiniti Speakers and a 12" woofer.. I listen to sirius + my iPod; iPod is better of course but Sirius sounds great to me. I have DirecTV @ home and it has XM music channels; I usually listen to the blend and it sounds fine. I have a Harmon/Kardon 5.1 system - doesn't sound bad at all.

 

TL's stock audio system is not bad, particularly when it plays DVD-A. CD and FM both sound decent, but XM and AM suck. Does anyone use the casette deck anymore? I have a lot of tapes (including metal and digital tapes), but have not really used the deck much.