wagohn

Hello all,

The FM and AM radio on our Symphony Bose radio has suddenly fallen silent - no reception . If we turn the volume up to max, we can hear faint hissing through the speakers. When playing a CD or satellite radio, the sound is fine.

To troubleshoot, I first pulled the head and looked for a loose cable or fuse, all seem fine. I then accessed the radio amplifier in the rear-drivers side of the car and "wiggled' the connections - no change.

Could somebody please suggest testing procedure to attempt to discover what is wrong with the system? I tried disconnecting the antenna cable and placing a small screwdriver on the center pin as an ad-hoc antennae, but still only a faint hiss the

Back of radio.

Antennae booster seems fine.
over speakers.

Thank you so much.

lyleswk

You didn't say what year, but the antenna amp on the earlier B6's fail resulting in what you are talking about. "Bing" Antenna Amp (my son works for Microsoft ) and you will find info on it.

Edit: just noticed you mentioned the antenna amp at the bottom of your post. Are you referring to the one above the rear window as being "okay"? Is that what is in the picture?

wagohn

It's a 2005. Thanks but I reviewed a bunch of posts on the antennae amp cracking/failing already. However, the amp circuit board seems in good shape. Therefore, I'm in guessing mode as to whether its the head unit or the antennae amp and a fault that cant be seen. I'm after a test process that would point to one or the other.

Thanks again.

wagohn

Edit: It's a wagon, and on the wagon, the antennae amp is located under the rear drivers side window. AFAIK, this is the only antennae module.

lyleswk

Well, that explains some things. By 2005, I think they fixed the issue plus don't think it would see the heat where it is mounted. All the ones I've seen pictures of did have some obvious issues.

So, I've no idea other than with you on the guess that somehow the head unit has failed.

wagohn

Thanks for your attention.

wagohn

Update: I picked up a "used but as new" head unit on eBay for $30 with code. 10 minute switcheroo and I have my AM/FM radio back. So pleased to get my tunes back, it was costing me a small fortune for Sirius for the last 12 months .

Im shocked by the great condition of the replacement radio for $30.

Thanks guys,

turbo510

Good to hear that you got that fixed, and so cheaply too. My 2005's CD changer bit the dust a few months back, and I intended to look for a used unit like you did, But instead bought a new aftermarket replacement off Ebay, with color touchscreen, GPS navigation, Bluetooth, CD/DVD, USB, SD reader, and rear-view video input, all for $230. Looks absolutely like a factory installation, same red key backlight, etc. The only thing missing is the satellite input, but unlike you, I didn't subscribe for that.

wagohn

Thanks! I really only needed FM as I use one of those dongles that uses bluetooth to connect to the iPhone - accessed from an FM channel. From the iPhone I can then stream pretty much anything for free. Without my AM/FM I tried a cassette adapter that provided an AUX to do the same, but those are problematic - a repetitive audible 'click' every 3 seconds.

Yes, that was my next move, after-market unit. But then I started reading about Symphony amps and wiring and got paranoid, plus, I didnt know for sure it was the head unit.

Glad youre back in action too.

turbo510

Nav screen after inserting the correct map SD card.

I had some apprehension about the aftermarket approach and doing the installation, but it worked out fine. I was concerned whether the new system would operate the speakers properly, including the sub-woofer, but it did. And I wanted to see that the steering wheel controls still worked, and they did too. The hiccups were (1) GPS Nav couldn't find any streets I was on; that turned out to be the wrong SD memory card installed- for Europe instead of the U.S. They mailed me the correct one, and that was then OK. (2) was radio reception; basically none. The antenna adapter include in the kit didn't fit my B6 antenna, evidently was for a B7. So I did some adapting with my soldering iron, to make my car's antenna coax cable adapt to that new antenna plug. What I eventually learned was the coax cable's braided shield is +5V power to the amplifier, not ground as I assumed. And there in the kit's harness was a loose wire labeled "antenna". When I connected that to the shield instead of ground, the radio worked great.

The navigation graphics are basic, although the vendor says that more "realistic" maps can be downloaded onto the SD card.