Poor AM reception
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Poor AM reception
My '02 A4 with Bose has the absolute suckiest AM reception known to mankind! Does anyone else have poor reception? A friend says that the window tint(metallic tint) I have in the back is the cause for my poor reception. I have to file this sugggestion until I hear from other 4 owners.
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A growing trend in all AM radios (cars, hi-fi).
Few designers realise AM is still popular in some markets. To save a few dollars they just design the cheapest possible AM stage for the tuner circuits, on the basis that AM is now just a "convenience" feature, much like a cassette player.
AM is still important and popular in many countries, including Australia. Until *very* recently, FM licences were limited to as few as 3 per state, so many radio stations had no choice but to stay on AM.
In fact, some Australian motoring journalists use AM reception as their primary way of rating a car's audio system. This is often referred to as the "Sydney Harbour Bridge Test" as this is a notoriously bad spot for AM reception.
As an avid hi-fi buff this is a commonly heard complaint about home-theatre receivers, where the same logic applies.
AM is still important and popular in many countries, including Australia. Until *very* recently, FM licences were limited to as few as 3 per state, so many radio stations had no choice but to stay on AM.
In fact, some Australian motoring journalists use AM reception as their primary way of rating a car's audio system. This is often referred to as the "Sydney Harbour Bridge Test" as this is a notoriously bad spot for AM reception.
As an avid hi-fi buff this is a commonly heard complaint about home-theatre receivers, where the same logic applies.
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Completely relevant to AM reception
It is well known that many European cars have stereos with poor AM reception in North America. It's either becasue their AM stations are closer or they are smart enough not to use AM...I am not sure.
My old Audi had the stock stereo stolen out of it. I had a choice of paying $800 for the replacement from Audi (stereo tape deck), or, putting in a crappy $300 Sony stereo with single disc CD. I chose the Sony with two surprising results. The stock speakers sounded great with CD's. I now had usable AM reception for the first time. It obviously wasn't the small pop out of the trunk antenna as I had suspected.
'98 Jetta loaner -- useless AM reception.
'03 Jetta loaner -- useless AM reception
'02 A4 (mine) -- useless AM reception
I may be completely off base, but I assumed it was a design issue like all the other things in the car that work beautifully in Europe but are not best suited for North American conditions (weak A/C, weak heated seats, small displacement turbo engine that is affected severely by high temps, etc.)
But then maybe all Toronto AM stations have bad reception, too?
My old Audi had the stock stereo stolen out of it. I had a choice of paying $800 for the replacement from Audi (stereo tape deck), or, putting in a crappy $300 Sony stereo with single disc CD. I chose the Sony with two surprising results. The stock speakers sounded great with CD's. I now had usable AM reception for the first time. It obviously wasn't the small pop out of the trunk antenna as I had suspected.
'98 Jetta loaner -- useless AM reception.
'03 Jetta loaner -- useless AM reception
'02 A4 (mine) -- useless AM reception
I may be completely off base, but I assumed it was a design issue like all the other things in the car that work beautifully in Europe but are not best suited for North American conditions (weak A/C, weak heated seats, small displacement turbo engine that is affected severely by high temps, etc.)
But then maybe all Toronto AM stations have bad reception, too?
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You are so off-base
Your question <i>may</i> relevant to the question of determining the quality of AM Reception but is <b>completely irrelevant</b> to the message you were sending in your original response when you said <i>"never heard of <b>one</b> Audi or VW w/ Decent AM reception"</i>.
You don't hear complaints about AM reception here on Audiworld. I have been reading the forums for 4+ years and such problems are usually isolated to those with tint interference.
BMW's have a known problem with some of their alternators interfering with AM reception. That is a known fact that owners have complaned about going back 20+ years. There is no basis for what you said about recent VAG products.
And what is this about "weak heated seats"? Audis kick *** here. 6 levels, and usually anything more than 4 can sear your bottom on anything but the coldest of days.
Bottom line, you assumed wrong about these "design issues". Dont spread disinformation.
You don't hear complaints about AM reception here on Audiworld. I have been reading the forums for 4+ years and such problems are usually isolated to those with tint interference.
BMW's have a known problem with some of their alternators interfering with AM reception. That is a known fact that owners have complaned about going back 20+ years. There is no basis for what you said about recent VAG products.
And what is this about "weak heated seats"? Audis kick *** here. 6 levels, and usually anything more than 4 can sear your bottom on anything but the coldest of days.
Bottom line, you assumed wrong about these "design issues". Dont spread disinformation.
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