After using my recently installed PAL I've found that when playing music from the iPod I have to significantly increase the volume setting on the system to be able to use it compared to the other audio sources like the FM or CD settings. Has anyone else experienced this? It's kind of annoying if you switch from the iPod to FM and forget to reduce the volume setting before you do so.

Thanks to Ray K. for his ingenious solution for the install. I didn't even buy my PAL until I saw his cable as I was reluctant to dismantle the car to install it per GM's instructions. Nice piece of engineering!!!

 

I don't have the PAL yet so I can't answer your question. I can tell you that the XM volume is much lower than the CD or radio in my 05.

 

I just now listened to my PAL (simple install with Ray's mod harness) and my iPod volume is comparable with my XM1 and FM volume. I would say it is 90% of the XM1 and FM volume. It is pretty close. I had not noticed any difference until I read your post.

best, Ken .... 2008 Coupe

 

I would agree with this - slightly lower than FM but not much. I've heard of others complaining about the volume being a lot lower but I haven't experienced it.

 

Many people have noticed this, including me. In my case the PAL and the XM levels are about the same, however, it takes about 3 clicks clockwise on the volume control to get the level equal to FM.

I made a five minute long recording of a 1KHz tone recorded at 0 VU. When I play this back through the PAL and scoped the audio level going to the NAV. The audio level seems to be correct. NOTE - the XM and PAL audio are connected together and present a single input to the NAV.

I believe the real problem is with the NAV not properly balancing the external audio input (XM & PAL) with the internal audio inputs (CD & FM).

An additional note about iPod output sound level. I noticed that there was a big difference in the output level from different albums. It appears that no attempt is being made by the CD producers to record at a standard level.

iTunes and the iPod have a neat feature to overcome this problem with something called "Sound Check". If you turn on Sound Check (Edit->Preferences->Playback - see attached jpg from iTunes 8), iTunes will search all of the songs on your iPod to measure the maximum output level WITHOUT MODIFYING THE MP3 FILE.

This runs in the background and takes a while. When complete, it calculates what adjustment is need for each song to make it the same maximum output level as all the other songs and saves this in the song info database.

Once the above is complete, you must resynch the iPod with iTunes and also turn on "Sound Check" on your iPod. On my iPod Classics this is found at "Main Menu->Settings->Sound Check". You toggle it ON/OFF with the Enter button (center of click wheel). When the iPod "Sound Check" is set to ON, the volume of all songs is normalized. When the iPod "Sound Check" is set to OFF, songs playback at the original recorded level.

Save The Wave,
John

 

I found the easiest way to compensate for the lack of playback volume using my Ipod interface is to reset the play back volume using the Itunes program.

Open your Itunes program, click on "MUSIC" (this is where all your songs show), click "EDIT" then click "SELECT ALL". Now ALL songs in your Itunes will be highlighted (mine are highlighted in blue but different programs highlight differently).... Anyway....

Now move your cursor to the highlighted Itunes and "RIGHT" click.
That will open up another window. Click "GET INFO"......

That opens another window. You will be asked "Do you want to edit information for multiple items" (you do) so just click on "YES"! This is the way to increase you playback volume for ALL your songs at one time!

Now another window opens that says (MULTIPLE ITEMS) Click on "options". There you will see one of the tabs that says... "OPTIONS" Click that and you will see the volume adjustment from -100% to +100%!

I adjusted mine up 50% which really helped get a lot more volume via the Ipod interface. You can play around and find how much louder you want your playback volume.

The sound increase DID NOT distort the music as far as I can tell. I like to ride with the top off a lot and the volume simply wasn't loud enough until I cranked it up using the Itunes program. You can follow the same procedure to increase or decrease the volume playback as you desire....

If you get stuck let me know but it's very simple to do... I can now enjoy some LOUD playback when I'm cruising with the top off....

 

 

I have found that the volume for the ipod is just about the same which is lower then FM and alot lower then the CD

 

Interesting, I'll have to try that

 

It depends what you are trying to do! One procedure equalizes the sound from tune to tune.. (not necessarily louder) while the other actually increases the volume. I wanted it louder period. BTW.. my Ipod is now on level with my CD's which always had a lot more volume than FM, XM or Ipod............

 

It's not 100%, but it does a good job to average em' out.