Static on JBL premium radio

Jared I am having problems with AM static and planned to bring this to my dealer's attention upon next service. I am absolutely certain it is in the radio/car interface, as if I shift into N while driving/coasing the static completely clears up. DanMan any suggestions as to how to present this to my dealer?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MarinJohn\";p=\"96058)</div>

No, because as I mentioned before in a different thread, AM is prone to static.

FM should be resistant to noise, especially if the noise is shifts in signal amplitude. I find the Prius radio, including FM a bit more prone to noise. I often hear noise from other cars' ignition, especially when the FM signal is marginal as it is.

 

Well, I don't know the extent of your static, but any interference with a radio system, especially analog, will have interference, as any cellphone user can attest to. As I said, FM should be immune to AM interference in theory, but some radios do a better job of such rejection than others. Unfortunately, the radio specs, such as AM rejection, near station rejection and harmonic rejection was not specified. Personally, I find the radio not as resistant to noise as I had experienced with other radios, but the stations I happen to listen to have marginal signal strength as it is. Also down here we often experience seasonal atmospheric interference. Skip is a big problem here. At times we may get a signal from 100+ miles away interfering with local stations.

 

I just picked up my package 6 Prius today. I have 52 miles on it now, and am very happy with my choice except for one thing - the radio sounds terrible - lots of static, and frankly, just totally unimpressive speakers. I just sold my Infinity with a Bose sound system and there is no comparison on the quality of the sound. I actually think the audio system in the package 3 even sounded better! But the worst part is that darn static... unacceptable!!! The radio just can't seem to lock onto a signal even when it's a local station. I am driving in the Santa Monica area. The Infinity never ever had any static, and I'm listening to the same stations. I'm definitely going to complain tomorrow. Any reccomendations or advice?

 

I just picked up my package 6 Prius today. I have 52 miles on it now, and am very happy with my choice except for one thing - the radio sounds terrible - lots of static, and frankly, just totally unimpressive speakers. I just sold my Infinity with a Bose sound system and there is no comparison on the quality of the sound. I actually think the audio system in the package 3 even sounded better! But the worst part is that darn static... unacceptable!!! The radio just can't seem to lock onto a signal even when it's a local station. I am driving in the Santa Monica area. The Infinity never ever had any static, and I'm listening to the same FM stations. This static happens even when there are no other cars around me. I'm definitely going to complain tomorrow. Any reccomendations or advice?

 

Static on FM is of course a natural result of not getting sufficient signal strength for good reception. A variety of things can cause this, but the most common is simply being too far from the station or having obstacles like hills, buildings, overpasses, etc in the way.

I find the radio reception in my JBL Prius to be better than any of the half dozen other car systems I've owned in the past. I certainly don't have any problem with excessive static.

 

I am at 48k miles on my 04 and my AM reception is now reduced to about 50% of the new car range. This is on 4 out of 6 local stations. It appears to be getting worse.
It creates static during regen or acceleration. Sitting stopped or coasting in "N" I get normal AM reception. It's literally all static or it sounds fine.
I'll be bringing this up at my next dealer visit when I get my tail lights replaced.

 

Thanks for your thoughts folks. I still think that if my Infinity never ever had the slightest bit of static on my regular FM stations, including when I drove 150 miles away into the desert, then I don't see why the Toyota engineers can't come up with a way to match that. When I am within 5 miles of said FM stations transmitters, there shouldn't even be the slightest fsst sound. And I do think that we should all complain to get the bug of the excessive static on the AM when the car is in "drive" remedied. I don't think this has to be a be a situation of lowering standards on audio quality to have a hybird. Afterall, we did pay for an upgraded audio system. Toyota may just have to figure out a better antenna for the roof.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that engineers designing radios have to make a tradeoff between noise and reception. There are two ways that this is so:

1. I can't explain the details, but tweaking the circuitry to pull in really weak stations can lower stereo separation and allow more noise. Versus a radio that's tweaked to not pull in really weak stations but get great stereo separation and low noise.

2. Most modern radios have circuits that mute the signal rather than letting you listen to a noisy signal. The threshold for muting is adjusted differently in different radio designs.

So there are tradeoffs to be made... allowing some static can improve reception of weak stations.

Of course if you are finding that weak stations that came in noise-free on another radio are sounding really noisy on the Prius, then I would agree that is a problem unrelated to the factors I mention above.

 

Count me as one of those that seems to hear a lot of static on FM stations. I thought it was just the station but my wifes car, an Acura, has none on the same stations at the same time of the day. Thank god I now have my new Infinity component speakers in so I can just listen to CDs. Those JBL's were so flat sounding.

 

Some radios are just better than others. Sounds like you had a really great radio.

I believe the problem is AM rejection. I tend to hear more noise when I am near powerlines.

As for AM reception, that's just the nature of the beast, which is why FM is now the choice method of modulation. There's lots of RF noise generated by the Prius' switching circuits and ECUs. Adding lead shields would have made the car too heavy and less environmentally friendly.

 

New Update: I brought my Prius in to see about the static which has been getting slowly worse on my AM radio. The dealer replaced the radio under warrantee and it is MUCH better. Night and day. Then again, it was OK a year ago when I first bought my car. I hope it remains good and doesn't slowly revert back to the old tricks. FYI I forgot to remove all 6 CD's from the player before bringing it in for repair and the technician removed them for me and actually placed them back in the same order in my new unit. Also all radio stations AM & FM came back to me pre-set as before. Nice!! Freeman Toyota in Santa Rosa, CA rocks!

 

I am also in the camp of those Prius owners who find their AM (and to a lesser extent their FM) reception getting worse over time. I hear AM static, occasionally even on local high powered AM stations (e.g. KYW AM in the Philly area). It's not always the same level of static -- some days are worse than others. I did not have any noticable problems when the car was new other than when near power lines and such.

BUT... I had the 2004 Package 9 Prius in for its 15K service (took delivery July 2004) and asked that the radio be checked out. At first the technician checked the antenna connection and reported the radio operating normally. I then escalated the problem to the service manager and he test drove the car, expressly tuning in a distant New York station and he heard increased static when breaking or accelerating. This condition was enough to have the dealer (Sloane Toyota, Devon PA) order a replacement radio.

It's supposed to arrive in 2 weeks (ordered last week). Based on a posting here, I am hoping that the problem is gone or at least seriously reduced.

Jim

 

I knew I remembered something about increasing static with the age of the car and found this during a search.

I am now having similar problems with my 04. At first the AM reception was fine but now over time any bridge or electic wire overhead any the static is so bad the radio is unlistenable. Twice during service visits I brought this up and twice I was told they "couldn't reproduce the problem" and this time was told that Toyota radios are known for their poor reception.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jjs357 @ Aug 15 2005, 10:22 PM) [snapback]117015[/snapback]</div>

Following my OLD post.

I did get a new radio installed -- early last fall -- and at the time AM reception was very much improved.

BUT

The problem has now returned and is as bad if not worse than before.

So next time I am in for maintenance, I will complain to the service manager and push for another radio replacement. Since they did the replacement before, I am hopeful they will allow it again.

I wish the problem had not come back, but what can you do.

If anyone else is on their third (or more) radio replacement, please post a reply.