satellite radio cutting in and out at high volume

[smokeyand thebandit]

So I have had my new truck system basically since I started posting on this site. Now that I am getting to know it a bit I'm noticing it DOESN'T cut out at high volume with radio,i pod or Cd's but with the satellite radio it does. I thought this was the stereo clipping at high volume but it only seems to happen with sat radio. I know that this is not a loss of signal cuz it goes with the beat and I am pushing the system pretty hard when it happens, the lights are dimming when this happens. On the other hand I cranked metallica's justice album on ipod with the light's dimming to the beat for an hour with no cutting in or out. last night metallica on sat radio cut in and out... any idea's on this? sorry for the book.

[smokeyand thebandit]

I have the Sirius sat radio integrated into my head unit JVC kw-nt3hd.

[ttocs]

I have a jvc sirius unit in my truck and honestly I have had alot of problems with it. Sometimes it doesn't recognize the unit, sometimes it just locks up. IT seems to do it more in the heat of the summer but not sure if it is heat related or not.

[gridracer]

Honestly I have heard about tons of problems with sirius equipment doing stuff like that, I have had XM from the us launch date and have never had equipment problems so I am kinda XM biased. I did try sirius for a year before the merger and had both and the sirius did not work or sound as good as the xm I had. The sirius unit I had would get super hot and would cut out at any volume not just high. Plus the thing was 3 times the size and weight of my XM myfi

[smokeyand thebandit]

the plot thickens .... mine only cut's in and out with the beat when it's light dimming loud.

[mrblack]

My experience with satellite radio is that they tend to over EQ their music in the (failed) attempt to make up for the poor quality signal they're sending to your system. My XM radio unit is at least +3db more bass heavy than the other sources in my system, and it has nothing to do with how my system is tuned, it's purely how my XM tuner interprets the signal they're sending.

If your sat. radio tuner has similar tendencies then that right there could be the difference between why you don't have problems using other sources at high volumes vs. using your sat. radio when turned way up. Your high volumes + over EQ'd material might just be the tipping point for your system saying, "hey, I'm not meant to play this loud, turn the input down a bit please!"

[smokeyand thebandit]

I will agree that the sat pre-out signal is higher than than the other sources from the head unit. I have sub control and can tell by the sound if the system is being over driven or not. from the other sources I can get it way louder without the cutting in and out for long periods of time. It seems to that if I get any voltage drop my Sirius stop sending the signal to the amps. I lose both amps when this happens and if I was over driving the subs I would only lose that amp not both. I could have the system at low volume and do up my windows, when they got to the top and there is a voltage drop I would lose the sound then when i let go of the switches. That being said if I got a high output alternator it might solve this issue for me.