Posted by: Verteggio
Factory Tuner ... weak FM - 28/07/2006 14:40
Ok, so apparently I've given myself a renewed interest in my Empeg... and I rediscovered that I have a factory tuner installed. Then I quickly discovered again why I'd forgotten about it... weak sound performance.
I remember having issues with it from the start, but apprently never got around to trying to resolve it <shrug>. Items of note:
- Vehicle is a Jeep Wrangler ('99)
- Not using extension cable (plugged directly into empeg)
- Antenna doesn't have an amplifier (validated with service manual)
- Conductivity is solid from the tip of the antenna connector to the the actual antenna itself
- Resistance is negligable from tip of the antenna to the actual antenna
- Region is set to US and timezone is also set to US
- weak performance on BOTH AM and FM (see notes below)
- Signal strength is a solid 4-5 bars depending on station
- Opened the tuner box, everything "looks" fine (from a non-engineering standpoint... nothing burnt, loose, etc.)
- There is a station here with RDS, TS, [accurate!] RDS clock... the works. However, can barely hear it
- No ground loop present for MP3 playback, so assuming same for radio
Basically, I'll pick up a solid 4-5 bars, all RDS info and everything else but the sound is VERY low - I have to adjust about 25db difference on the volume before I can hear it reasonably. The station *sounds* clear, except for high bass level and hum.. not static, but hum which together drown out the sound as well.
I tried an AM station, and the same thing is happening.
I tried searching for similar items, and found several... ironically, though almost all of them are left hanging. The most relevant one seams to be this post (for the PCATS tuner), but not sure if I could do the same for the factory tuner.
So at this point i'm at a loss... I can run multimeter checks and/or replace items as needed, but need to be told what to do or where to go
I remember having issues with it from the start, but apprently never got around to trying to resolve it <shrug>. Items of note:
- Vehicle is a Jeep Wrangler ('99)
- Not using extension cable (plugged directly into empeg)
- Antenna doesn't have an amplifier (validated with service manual)
- Conductivity is solid from the tip of the antenna connector to the the actual antenna itself
- Resistance is negligable from tip of the antenna to the actual antenna
- Region is set to US and timezone is also set to US
- weak performance on BOTH AM and FM (see notes below)
- Signal strength is a solid 4-5 bars depending on station
- Opened the tuner box, everything "looks" fine (from a non-engineering standpoint... nothing burnt, loose, etc.)
- There is a station here with RDS, TS, [accurate!] RDS clock... the works. However, can barely hear it
- No ground loop present for MP3 playback, so assuming same for radio
Basically, I'll pick up a solid 4-5 bars, all RDS info and everything else but the sound is VERY low - I have to adjust about 25db difference on the volume before I can hear it reasonably. The station *sounds* clear, except for high bass level and hum.. not static, but hum which together drown out the sound as well.
I tried an AM station, and the same thing is happening.
I tried searching for similar items, and found several... ironically, though almost all of them are left hanging. The most relevant one seams to be this post (for the PCATS tuner), but not sure if I could do the same for the factory tuner.
So at this point i'm at a loss... I can run multimeter checks and/or replace items as needed, but need to be told what to do or where to go
