TXLX460

This is my first post... Just picked up a new LS460...

I really love the car but there is one problem with it.

The XM Sat tuner sounds extremely compressed and sometimes distorted.

I have Sirius in my other cars and it's much clearer.

When I play a cd it sounds perfect so I know it's not the AMP or speakers.

I just added the best of Sirius to my trial subscription and I can hear the difference between the two like night and day.

Anyone else have this problem?

Whipple1

I dont have this problem,my Xm sounds just as good as anything else,the only difference is Fm is slightly louder at high volume but everything sounds just as clear.

DrComputer

Unfortunately on a high end system, like in the LS, the horribly compressed signal of XM (and Sirius for that matter) will sound like crap when compared to other high quality sources like a DVD or CD. XM quickly dropped their ad campaign when they first rolled out their service when they used to say "CD" quality sound when it wasn't. Now that they are compressing more and more service on the same satellites the sound is getting even worse.

I only tolerate XM when I want to listen to something other than what is recorded on my hard drive...and then usually with the windows open so I won't notice how bad XM sounds.

Nospinzone

I just added the best of Sirius to my trial subscription and I can hear the difference between the two like night and day.

Then your ears are playing tricks on you! Sirius and XM use incompatible technologies. So when you hear Sirius programming on your XM radio, it is using the XM satellite and XM technology. Both technologies compress the hell out of the signal.

This topic has been discussed ad nauseum on the AVS forum. The consensus seems to be that quality can vary by geographical location and by personal preferences.

TXLX460

Well my ears are certainly not playing tricks.. The XM sounds highly distorted, much worse than the Sirius. I think I am going to ask the dealer to replace the tuner.

jasonburt

check your EQ and surround sound settings. the store in memory for each input source.

LexLadyLs

I have Sirius, and love it. I am an audio aficianodo, and have never liked the compressed XM radio's sound quality. I argued with XM for a few weeks back in 2006 about the sound quality, and finally gave up. I purposely made sure the dealer would install Sirius in my Lexus, and they reluctantly obliged.

jmcraney

THANK YOU jasonburt

This was an important revelation to me. I went out to my car and checked it out. It is indeed true, but there is more to it.

The "ASL" setting is source dependent too.

I checked the "L/R" and "Front/Rear" faders, but they are not source dependent.

Severe maladjustment of the equalization may well account for apparent poor performance on the SAT source.

As for the ASL feature, if you have a wind noise problem it is not very useful because it quickly looses the battle. That was one of the first things I noticed when my car had the major wind noise problem, even before I figured out it had a wind noise problem. But, if you have the normal background noise increase associated with speed increase, sans wind noise defect, it seems to work very nicely, but you have to be sure it is enabled for each input source.

As jasonburt has pointed out:

You need to adjust the following controls to the settings that you desire for each source. The settings are remembered by the source.

Treb +/- (equalization)
Mid +/- (equalization)
Bass +/- (equalization)
Surround on/off (Surround Sound)
ASL on/off (automatic sound leveling)

You also need to make sure that the fader is set for the center of the car, unless you have a requirement for it to be set otherwise. One setting of the fader applies to all sources.

mbennan

The XM radio in a non levinson system is defective. I had the dealer in Scottsdale replace the XM receiver and it is still defective. Only channel 77 is satisfactory. I do not know if XM or lexus is to blame but it is ridiculous that Lexus has not figured this out. When I had my LS460 in the shop, another owner was complaining about the same thing. It has nothing to do with the settings.

I will likely cancel XM.