I used to be on here with flipper2001 but the password is not working so i had to resign up again.

I just turned in my 2007 for a 2010/Tech and have a few questions. First, a dumb one, now that the center slide console stores the phone, where do you stick loose change, the 2007 had the little black change holder, is there another place?

Next, back on topic, with the 2007 there was a number of messages dealing with 'better settings' for the speakers. Example Bass -1, Treb etc... The acoustics are very different in this compared to my old one, much boomier bass *(not good)* and i keep turning the sub and bass down. Just wondering if there are any 'recommended' settings.

PS> I love the new features but touchscreen was alot easier then using the joystick now, you need one hand on wheel and another one on the joystick.

 

Congrats on the new car. As for using the Nav, try the voice commands. They work pretty well once you memorize the logic.

 

I find the sound acceptable with everything at center detent except for the bass which I have at -2. I played with the sub and found it didn't really make much of a difference so I left that at the center detent too.

 

I don't think there's a dedicated change compartment, but the center pocket (just in front of the shifter) works alright. It does seem to have grooves along the bottom as if they kind of intended it for this purpose, without wanting to commit it to that use.

 

After listening to the audio for a few days now I noticed that my CD's and IPOD are FAR better sounding them FM and XM. Is this the case or do I have a problem? In my 2007, XM was not great, but i think is either worse or the same, FM, was better in the 2007. When I say better, It's like it's missing much of the high's (treble) and I have it all the way up on treble and reduced bass to -1 or -2 to compensate. Many cheap cars I have been in have had much better sounding systems (factory). Is the FM and XM alot tinnier then Ipod or DVD/CD? I would like to know, in case there is something wrong.

 

FM and XM sound like crap on my system, worse than any other car I've driven. Thankfully the BT audio sounds much better.

 

DVDs and IPod are definitely better quality than XM and FM. One thing that I think makes the latter two a little better is to turn the Dolby PL off when listening to these sources.

 

Yup, I always have it off. The weird thing is that when I had a TSX 2010 loaner, i though the sound was great for XM, not sure what changed... It totally sucks in my car and I really am not very happy for nearly $40,000.

 

It sounds like the quality you'll get from XM depends on the stations you're listening to (some are compressed more than others), but in general, XM is approximately the same quality as FM. People in this thread talk a lot about quality and in general it sounds like XM streams have a 48kb bitrate and under except for the higher quality stations that XM might choose to not compress as much. It's all about how limited their bandwidth is. There's also some information on Wikipedia, but it was mostly too technical for me to fully grasp.

Personally, the only FM I listen to is the local NPR station which sounds fine except for the pops and breaking up you get with radio. Otherwise, it's all MP3 or Pandora which both sound great on the system.

 

Well I spoke to dealer and they want to see the car to see if there is a problem, but from what im reading, this is just how it is. More reason that angers me for getting this car. Navi is nice, but take a look at Ford's new Edge Navi with 'everything' just check out the demo.

 

Ford's system is definitely impressive and seems like the most modern and well-integrated system available. I suddenly feel like Acura's system is five years behind the curve. How disappointing.

 

Back to the issue of sound quality using XM and FM, after driving a base ZDX for a week, I think XM and FM sound better on crappier sound systems, if that makes any sense... I think the higher quality ELS system makes it much more obvious how low quality these signals are while the base systems mask those issues.

 

Flipper, any luck with the dealer? My 2010 Tech has great XM sound (5th factory XM system I've had, plus a couple Audiovox installs.) Let us know!
Swanny

 

I don't know if this helps or not, but I've also found that the sound quality of XM depends a lot on the stations you listen to. However, having said that ... after having just converted my system to an aftermarket set-up, including changing out all the speakers (save the two on the rear doors) to Focal's, running thru an MS-8 into JL amps, I've forgotten what the stock system sounded like. I will also say that I was very impressed with the stock system the one time I listened to the factory supplied DVD-A disc in the glove box, but for daily use I'm much happier aftermarket.

 

After having the car for the first 1000 miles i can say the bass/sub is too strong (too boomy). It needs to be much tighter. Example. Tom Sawyer by Rush, the bass is too strong and I find either lowering the volume to 5-7 to bass to negative numbers. In my 2007, it was not as strong (the bass) but it sounded cleaner

The big problem I have, as mentioned in several other threads. The HDD and Ipod suffer a huge flaw. I have 15g of my ipod filled up (364 CD's) - each one is a playlist for each cd. Starts with 38 special, then the A's.. B's.. etc.. Every time you scroll thru the list it starts with A. So let's say I want to hear Pink Floyd, I need to scroll down to P (which is about 90 seconds of turning the wheel till I get to P), then I start playing, but I decide I want a different Pink Floyd, well you cant jump back to P, it starts back A and you need to start all over. Both the HDD and Ipod have the same issue. There should be A....B....C...D etc.. (a dial to select the starting letter).

The dealer didnt help, Acura didnt help, but said it will corrected in newer year models (oh great that makes me jump...not.)

 

I've always felt that FM and SiriusXM over-process their audio to make it sound better on a crap system. Basically, they overcompensate for systems that can't reproduce quality audio and then when you play them on a good system it just sounds terrible. Like they're broadcasting with a high "loudness" applied to the signal. But I have no scientific proof to back that up, I just don't listen to it anymore

 

XM/Sirius radio is crap, however it wasn't always that way? When they merged the two companies is when I first noticed it, and not in the car by the way. I used to stream XM on my computer with a nice phat amp and great JBL monitors.

It never was CD quality to begin with, but after the merger it went from okay, to crap. Almost 8-bit quality low fi pooh, which is why I dropped XM's ass way back. Pandora sounds amazing!

 

I don't have the tech package on my car but drove one and listened to the CD player before buying the non tech package.

When I first got in I thought the CD sounded terrible. I was going to try to adjust it a little and the sales person said some one messed with it. He set every thing to center and I thought it sounded very good. This was actually the one thing I really liked about the Tech Package, it was tuned by a professional.

I have been fiddling with the non tech package for several weeks now and got it sounding pretty good to me. However I don't think it will sound as good as the tech package with out some serious upgrading.

I wonder how difficult it would be to just install the JBL MS-8 in my non tech car. I would think that this is where the MS-8 would make the biggest difference. Has anyone done that?