26 replies to this topic

[aleicgrant]

Hey there

ok I am very new to the z110 and pioneer plus I am coming from a factory nav.

My install is now complete but I am finding some issues.

I have the following

MSN Direct
HD radio tuner
Sirius Tuner

When listening to HD Radio, tuning in a station I know is HD and should be clear as a bell has static or no reception at all.

The few HD stations that come in, some sound great, others not so much.

I cannot tune in any FM stations or select FM

Any ideas on this. Might be the user for some of it

[fe342185]

You cannot use the splitter at all. Once you have the HD tuner plugged in and the anternna cable plugged into it, you no longer have access to the AM/FM options. Everything is through the HD radio. The antenna jack behind the head unit is no longer used. So from the antenna cable it goes into the MSN tuner then to the HD tuner. HD tuner sends the broadcast to HU via IPBUS. Since the AM/FM option gets eliminated I removed it from the shortcut screen. I hope this helps.

[aleicgrant]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002E ... oh_product

I bought this thinking that would do the trick?

And this is a review from one of the buyers

"Well actually there is... Reading the installation guide for my HD radio component I saw they recommended disconnecting the antenna from my conventional AM/FM radio and connecting it to the new HD Digital Radio component. When I read the reviews of the HD Radio component I saw that everyone was complaining that they couldn't use their old AM/FM radio anymore because it was not connected to an antenna.

Hmmmm... The instructions were a little bogus - all the writer cared about was getting the new device connected and I guess figured that with the new fangled HD Digital Radio component attached, the "old" AM/FM would no longer be used. Think again.

I realized there must be a splitter out there somewhere so I went on a pilgrimage of audio stores (Radio Shack "we don't do car audio"; Best Buy: "There's no such thing."; Jim-Bob's DUBS AND TUNES: "Huh?". What was I thinking? I had already found it here, knew it would be at my house in less than a few days; why in the world did I spend all that gas money trying to find it?

If you're adding an HD Digital Radio component to an expandable system, do yourself a favor and get this. That way you have the use of your legacy AM/FM tuner and your new HD Digital Radio - and you won't need to add another whip antenna to your WHIP...

[aleicgrant]

and another

This adapter provided a clean solution for my DIY project to install an HD radio kit in my car. Most car audio head units (mine included) do not have the capability to deactivate the internal AM/FM tuner after installing a compatible HD radio kit. Installing a HD radio kit requires use of the vehicle antenna--the problem is there is one antenna connection and two tuners. This kit readily enables you to have both tuners working. There are several reasons why: (1) avoids the "dead" source on your head unit (static noise), (2) enables one to compare station and tuner quality (internal AM/FM vs. the HD unit), (3) avoids "...there's something wrong with your radio" when someone else drives your vehicle, and (4) allow you to go back to regular AM/FM on your favorite station because sometimes the regular (non HD) audio may sound better than the HD version depending on the CODEC being used by the radio station. Depending on your area radio stations, HD radio can sound anywhere from near CD quality to very bad MP3 sound. The Metra 40-UV44 adapter let's you enjoy the best of both worlds and is one I consider a must have adapter if your car audio system does not allow you to deactivate the internal tuner.

[kxrm]

My understanding of this unit is that it detects the presence of the HD Tuner and actively disables the FM option, so using such a thing is a waste of money on this unit.

[aleicgrant]

Not here to argue then but how did those people get theirs to work or are you telling me its an issue with the Z110?

[fe342185]

I tested your your scenario on my bench a few weeks back. The AM/FM automatically become disables or grayed out once the Z110BT detects the presence of the HD tuner. If you pull the fuse out of the HD tuner while the head unit is on, the AM/FM becomes an option again. Therefore to make your scenario work you will need a switch for the HD tuner power source. Trust me I was thinking the same thing you were and read some amazon reviews. I think it was for a different model and not the z110bt.

[aleicgrant]

I am really surprised because given the still limited number of HD channels in any given market. I certainly trust your study and appreciate the confirmation but wow I am just surprised it was designed this way..............

well out goes the HD tuner

[sarcastic6]

I'm confused... I don't have the HD radio, but looking at the manual it reads as though the HD radio tuner should receive your standard analog AM/FM stations as well. Is that not the case?

[aleicgrant]

what pages are you referring to.

[aleicgrant]

well the plot thickens

I just spoke to someone at Pioneer in the car audio division and this is what they told me

the HD tuner takes priority in when set up in the system and that if a station is HD, that is given priority.
if the channel is fm/am only it reverts to that automatically.

I called crutchfield (yes I know not always the best) and they concluded the same thing as the person from Pioneer.

Now............while it sounds good in theory, it doesn't work that way though that I can see.

[sarcastic6]

Right, that's what I'm seeing in the manual, too. pp 108-110. It looks like there's an option to turn that off, though, so that it just sticks with the analog version (blending --> analog).

[aleicgrant]

agreed, page 110 seems to indicate it should flip over to analog (am/fm) in the absence of a digital channel.

However, in my unit it is not doing that. Going to fiddle with settings and try again

[MiguelT678]

I have an X, but read that you need the splitter for MSN Direct.

[VBLUE42]

Negative! MSN direct is built into the unit. It uses the existing FM antenna. No splitter is required.