Has anyone noticed erratic radio sound in their PiP radio? When I drive around Orange County (CA) and listen to the powerful a.m. station KNX, sound seems to switch back and forth between "tinny" and "muffled" (or whatever terms you want to use). It's like I'm going into/out of a tunnel, but it happens frequently, usually once every 1-5 miles. Not sure if I notice it as much on FM, I listen for traffic reports on a.m. a lot and this bugs me. Love the car, anybody else seen this and what did you do about it?
I agree with Diddlywop. Its most likely the HD radio "feature" fading in and out depending on your reception. When I listen to KNX, for the most part during my commute, it sounds good with HD radio turned on and working. However, when I drive under a bridge or near electric lines (the big ones along Barranca if you know that area), the HD radio fades out and the sound becomes "muffled" (like what you would normally expect AM radio to sound like). You have the option of turning the HD radio off, in which case it wont fade in and out of HD, but it will just sound muffled 100% of the time.
That is what I was told by my OCPrius Club friends also- but yesterday my screen FROZE. Could not push any buttons. Finally hit Audio for the 3rd time and it worked... I have the same problem with KNX station...
Thanks for the info--I've had the same problem, and was wondering what was going on. As they say in the computer world, "It's a feature, not a bug!"
i have it with an hd station here in boston. ireally don't get the hd stuff, it sounds different, not better.
Sorry to revive a really old thread but we noticed this with our new PiP as well - toggling between muffled and quality. Ideally, we'd want to lock onto only HD, but I'm not sure if that's possible. I'm pretty sure we don't want it to always sound muffled (though it may be a little less annoying than toggling between good and bad quality). A shame because my wife prefers listening to radio (vs. Pandora, etc.) and she's the primary driver. Have people found any workaround for the radio?
Press the HD icon on the audio screen to make the yellow indicator disappear indicating that you temporarily turned off HD for that station. I think there is a setting to turn HD radio off more permanently. From Nav manual page 210; press setup botton, touch "audio", touch "HD Radio Settings", and select "all", "HD only", "analog" to set your radio preference. enjoy
I'm most familiar with HD in the FM band, where it offers greater fidelity as well as range. In Northern California one AM station I listen to KCBS 740 which is HD, however the quality HD seems suspect. When HD is off 740AM sounds like a typical AM station, muffled or limited in frequency range. But when 740AM is in HD mode the sound is very shrill, almost unlistenably so.
KCBS is also FM 106.9. According to the HDRadio web site, KCBS has HD on both their 740 AM and their 106.9 FM frequencies.
Thanks, that has been my solution, but I'm curious is something is technically amiss with their AM HD.
As a quick test I tuned KCBS HD 740 AM on my Sony XDR-F1HD tuner at home. The sound was excellent with none of the shrillness present in the cars tuner. So the incompatibility is between the tuner in the Toyota/JBL E7048 and what the station is broadcasting over AM HD.
Yes i am in OC and it sounds like the old radios. Fading in and out. With HD off under bridges gets the sound lower
