I am by no mean a audiophile, but I can sure tell a difference between my hardwired XM in my TL versus the wireless FM I put in my TSX last night.

I have been holding out for a adapter to run a XM through my Navigation unit, I bought the roady for $94 off ebay and figured this would hold me over until the adapter came out.

The sound is terrible and I am going to gave to spend the $100 to buy the schnod3 and control it through the remote unit.

 

I don't mean to sound like the Count in The Princess Bride ("Remember, this is for posterity, so - be honest"), but could you describe the way in which the sound sucked, for the folks at home?

Was it only on loud passages?

Was it intermittent, or did it always sound bad?

Was it worse in some areas more than others?

Most FMMs give you a way to try other FM frequencies, and I assume the Roady has this ability. Have you tried another frequency? (It's possible that a local radio station is "sitting" on top of the freq you are set to now).

 

It just doesnt sound as clear. I have tried all the channels that I can and they all sound the same.

Its hard to describe the sound, kind of AM sounding, almost like like a telephone.

Bland, Blah.

 

Yep, FM modulation sound quality sucks. I had a Griffin FM modulator for my iPod. Tried it once, and never again. It sounded horrible. Thankfully, the aux input adapter is available for the TSX or I'd still be stuck with that thing.

 

Well, at best, FM modulations can sound like... well, an FM radio station... If I'm going to spend money on a digital broadcast, I think the AUX adapter is totaly worth it.

 

Hmm.. is it really that? I remember complaining about this several months ago shortly after I got this car but haven't done much about it except listen to more AM talk radio and stick to CD's. I can't stand listening to FM reception in the TSX. It just sounds like there's bad reception. I hear static and clicks and pops all the time on supposedly strong stations. It's hard to point out when I'm trying to listen for it to prove to others, but I do find that whenever I turn to FM to find some music, I can only stand it for a few minutes.

It's like on some stations the bass is just hollow and muffling out all the midrange, and I am by no means an audiophile. Some would point out that it is an intrinsic characteristic of this sound system, but I don't notice it bothering me when I play CDs.

Maybe it's just that the audio system in this car is better and more clear than my previous cars so it's more noticeable by contrast. I was listening for it on my friend's Civic (with integrated antenna as well) and didn't notice the problem, even at the same intersection.

 

That's not normal, sounds like you have a bad piece of hardware somewhere... I'd go in and complain

 

I've been meaning to for a while now, but like I said it's kind of difficult to point it out to people for some reason. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes not... depends on what's playing and how sensitive their ears are.

I was going to complain about my sunroof rattling and my dash jingling as well...

I'm just not sure which dealership I want to take it to yet either. I don't like the service department where I bought it from.

 

You have probably done this but try turning the audio gain level of the Roady all the way up and see if that helps.

 

 

when i first installed my XM commander i did like you did i went the FM modulator route till i got the adapter.
when i installed the adapter i left both connected and was switching between FM and AUX with the XM radio playing. there is a night and day difference between the 2. i tried all the stations in the commander fm modulator to see if any sounded any better. for the most part no matter the frequency the FM was just kinda flat sounding. the highs were almost not existant and the channel separation was noticably weak.
also there is always a hiss heard from the system between music passages.