Audio Diagnostics

[MajesticBlueNTO]

in addition to the Speaker Test posted by MazdaTree (http://torontomazda3.com/forum/read.php?TID=1235), there are others:

NOTE: Ignition must be in the ACC or ON position (if the car isn\'t running). In all cases, turn the audio power off or turn the ignition to LOCK to stop the diagnostic assist modes.

LCD Inspection

1. With the audio power on, press the POWER button and the upper SEEK button at the same time for 1 second.

2. The LCD display will go full contrast and you can see that all the characters are working.

Button Inspection

1. With the audio power on, press the POWER button and the CLOCK button at the same time for 1 second.

2. Pressing each button will cause a beep if good. (the buttons are \"inactive\" at this point but they will cause a beep when pressed).

Radio Reception

In addition to hearing or not hearing static, you can visually determine how good your radio reception is for a particular channel.

To determine if there\'s a problem, the following test must be done with a radio station that has good reception. (For $hits and giggles, you can drive around in this mode to see how good/bad your reception is for a particular station.)

1. With the audio power on, press the POWER button and the PRESET 2 at the same time for 1 second.

2. You\'ll see a LEV-X beside your radio station frequency.

if X = 5 to 9 > antenna system is good (good reception :p)
if X = 3 to 4 > change frequency and check again (looks like 93.7 isn\'t that strong ;) )
if X = 0 to 2 > check antenna and base unit (101.1 just isn\'t getting through :( )

[Melenium]

Cool. We should get some benchmarks with the various antennas (ie the H2, S2000 etc) to see how well they compare :)

[Xenon]

This is great! now we can run tests and stuff...

But I got one question: How do you people figure this stuff out? do you just hold down random buttons? haha... It\'s great that you share this info with us! I\'m just curious on how you came across it.

[majic]

so i got my aerio stubby (thx flipspeed and majesticbluen).. i\'ve had it for a few days now and it didn\'t even phase me.. as in, i can\'t tell the difference in sound quality.. i ran a little comparison on the system.. stock antenna, aerio and then no antenna :p results are below:

Station | Stock | Aerio | None
93.5 ---- 5.0 --- 4.0 --- 0.0
93.7 ---- 4.5 --- 4.5 --- 0.0
94.7 ---- 7.0 --- 7.0 --- 3.0
97.3 ---- 7.0 --- 6.0 --- 2.0
98.1 ---- 7.0 --- 7.0 --- 3.0
98.5 ---- 5.0 --- 4.0 --- 1.0
99.9 ---- 8.0 --- 7.0 --- 3.0
102.1 --- 7.0 --- 6.0 --- 3.0
102.9 --- 8.0 --- 7.5 --- 3.5
103.5 --- 5.0 --- 5.0 --- 1.0
104.5 --- 7.0 --- 7.0 --- 3.0
Avg: ---- 6.4 --- 5.9 --- 2.0

590.0 --- 2.5 --- 1.5 --- 0.0
680.0 --- 2.0 --- 1.5 --- 0.5

even though the AM stations got loooow results, they are completely satisfactory (as they were with the stock antenna)

this test was done in oakville and the BEST stations were
Stock (8): 95.3, 99.9, 102.9, 107.9
Aerio (8): 95.3, 102.9
None (4): 95.3, 107.9

in other words, aerio stubby is as good as stock :)

[elmokiddo]

I just did a test with the Aerio antenna as well, here were my results, the places i have decimals was where it was fluctuating between two numbers, all tests done from my driveway in Ottawa.

Conclusion: Aerio Antenna is equivalent or slightly worse then the stock antenna, when it is slightly worse, audibly there is no difference. When I am near a truck or large vehicle, quality drops quite a bit with the Aerio antenna, this may be because the antenna is much shorter so the large vehicle is reflecting the radio waves preventing it from reaching the antenna.

6-8 = Good Quality
4-5 = OK Quality
0-3 = Poor Quality, some static

Station - Stock - Aerio - No Antenna
87.7 ----- 8 ----- 7 ----- 3
89.1 ----- 7 ----- 6 ----- 2
89.9 ----- 6 ---- 5.3 ---- 1
90.7 ---- 6.2 --- 5.8 ---- 2
91.5 ----- 8 ----- 8 ----- 3
93.1 ----- 6 ----- 6 ----- 2
93.9 ---- 7.6 --- 7.8 ---- 3
94.9 ----- 8 ----- 8 ----- 4
97.1 ----- 8 ----- 7 ----- 2
97.9 ----- 8 ---- 6.6 ---- 1
99.1 ----- 7 ----- 7 ----- 2.3
100.3 ---- 8 ----- 8 ----- 4
101.1 --- 6.1 ---- 6 ----- 4
101.5 ---- 3 ----- 3 ----- 0
102.5 ---- 8 ---- 7.2 ---- 3
103.3 ---- 8 ----- 7 ---- 4.6
104.1 ---- 7 ----- 7 ----- 4
105.3 ---- 7 ---- 7.2 ---- 4
106.1 ---- 8 ----- 8 ----- 5
106.9 ---- 8 ----- 8 ----- 5

[TheProfessor]

Thanks for the info guys, very helpful!

[majic]

just re-did the test with the CX-7 stubby

Station | Stock | CX-7| None
93.5 ---- 5.0 --- 3.0 --- 0.0
93.7 ---- 4.5 --- 4.0 --- 0.0
94.7 ---- 7.0 --- 6.0 --- 3.0
97.3 ---- 7.0 --- 7.0 --- 2.0
98.1 ---- 7.0 --- 7.0 --- 3.0
98.5 ---- 5.0 --- 5.0 --- 1.0
99.9 ---- 8.0 --- 7.0 --- 3.0
102.1 --- 7.0 --- 6.5 --- 3.0
102.9 --- 8.0 --- 8.0 --- 3.5
103.5 --- 5.0 --- 4.0 --- 1.0
104.5 --- 7.0 --- 7.0 --- 3.0
Avg: ---- 6.4 --- 5.9 --- 2.0

590.0 --- 2.5 --- 1.5 --- 0.0
680.0 --- 2.0 --- 1.5 --- 0.5

not tested before and tested now with cx-7:
92.5 - 4.0
95.3 - 8.0
107.1 - 6.0

so pretty much the CX-7 is like the Aerio stubby but looks better (fits flush) and is more flexible