FM Modulator problems

Hi Folks,

 

As per reading many of the threads on here regarding the aux input options for the 05/06 stock head units I decided to go the FM Modulator route. So I installed the legacy antenna to Motorola antenna converters, hooked up the modulator power to the old cigarette lighter power and off I went. Right away though I noticed that the sound out of the modulator was bad, very bad, extremely quiet, and when I boosted the input signal it became even worse. sounding hollow (like listening to music through a garden hose). So I'm wondering a few things here..

 

1) Did I hook this thing up wrong? The radio works fine (receiving am/fm signals) the unit does power up, and I'm 99.9% sure I wired everything correctly.

 

2) Is it possible I ended up with a bad FM modulator? Should I try a different one?

 

3) Is this just how these things sound? Crappy?

Hi Folks,

 

As per reading many of the threads on here regarding the aux input options for the 05/06 stock head units I decided to go the FM Modulator route. So I installed the legacy antenna to Motorola antenna converters, hooked up the modulator power to the old cigarette lighter power and off I went. Right away though I noticed that the sound out of the modulator was bad, very bad, extremely quiet, and when I boosted the input signal it became even worse. sounding hollow (like listening to music through a garden hose). So I'm wondering a few things here..

 

1) Did I hook this thing up wrong? The radio works fine (receiving am/fm signals) the unit does power up, and I'm 99.9% sure I wired everything correctly.

 

2) Is it possible I ended up with a bad FM modulator? Should I try a different one?

 

3) Is this just how these things sound? Crappy?

 

I have an audiovox FM modulator and while it's painfully obvious that it is nowhere near CD-quality sound, it is still very listenable.

 

Do you have an iPod? What kind of iPod/mp3 connectivity did you use?

In this case, it's just using a simple 1/8" stereo phono connection. It doesn't seem to matter what I connect it to, be it ipod shuffle, laptop, phone, etc. same problems.

I installed one a few months ago and am pretty pleased with it. The sound quality isnt on par with a CD, but it is better than I had actually expected. It is quieter than when not using the modulator, but not terrible. The only thing I can complain about is that certain bass frequencies get some static when I have the jams cranked up loud.

Did you have it set to the right FM station? Most modulator will have 2 settings on them, double check that the modulator is set to the same station.

 

Double check the antenna adapters are connected firmly.

 

Does your Modulator comes with an on/off switch?

 

 

FYI - Using the FM Modulator you will notice you'll have to turn the volume up a little more compare to listen to an FM station or CD.

Yeah, I made sure it's using the right station. In fact, I've tried both station settings on this thing with the same poor results.

 

I'm suspecting something may be wrong with this unit as I have to turn it up a LOT more, both on the source device as well as on the radio it self. I also notice that the louder the source device gets, the worse the overall quality gets, even though it's still extremely quiet.

 

-cf

The only thing I can think of, is that not grounding it to the radio chases is causing these problems. Have any of you folks installed this so both ground and positive come right off the cigarette lighter power?

 

-cf

There is a huge range of difference between units. With that said don't expect very good sound . I tried two before I gave up trying to get my XM radio to sound properly.

That's the way I did it. Here is my walkthrough if you haven't read it yet.

 

http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103066

Yeah,

 

That's basically the exact same setup, same FM modulator as well. Just in my case, it's extremely quiet and sounds horrible.

 

When I say it sounds horrible. I do not mean that it doesn't sound as good as a CD. I mean it sounds worse than a weak AM radio signal.

 

-cf

I went a similar route except instead of the headphone jack, I went with a cable that hooks right up to the Apple Ipod connector with RCA connectors for the modulator. There is a 3rd connector on the cable for video should I want to go that route later on. I think the modulator is called a "Firenza" or somthing like that. No power switch and the instructions say that it has 6 presets to choose from.

 

I went on a trip to the west coast for easter and listened to it the whole way. For the most part sound quality was better than okay, but I did notice that some songs sounded better than others. All of the music was downloaded from my cd collection so maybe its a sampling rate thing?

 

I assume that you checked all your connections as well as the volume control on your ipod. Maybe the lighter circuit was overloaded or the ground is insufficient. Assuming your modulator has no on/off switch (like mine) you wouldn't be able to tell whether the modulator is functioning or not. What you may be hearing is the unamplified signal directly from your ipod.

 

Hope this helps!

Yeah,

 

That's basically the exact same setup, same FM modulator as well. Just in my case, it's extremely quiet and sounds horrible.

 

When I say it sounds horrible. I do not mean that it doesn't sound as good as a CD. I mean it sounds worse than a weak AM radio signal.

 

-cf

 

 

Can you hear your normal FM stations as before? If yes, then you might have a defective modulator. If no, then you need to check the connections at the antenna.

also had the audiovox in the leggy and as other stated it wasnt CD quality but it worked well

So after trying 3 different brands and having the last one ``professionally installed'' I decided to just give up on this. All of them sounded like crap. Some better than others, but none even close to FM quality. My next step is to try the no-blank cd aux in hack with board. =/

 

FM Modulation == teh suck for audiophiles

Bummer, sorry to hear that.

So I installed the no silent CD hardware hack. After a bit of struggle I managed to get it working. It's far better than any other solution I've tried thus far. I decided to change the color of the CR display to amber to match the other amber LED's in the car. looks great. I'll have pictures as well as the exact gel color code used soon.