08 XLS front speaker rattle

[fastfrankie]

We have a new 08 Avalon XLS and there is a very annoying rattle (or buzz) from the either the speaker in the center of the dash or from the speaker in the pillar between the windshield and the passenger door - can't tell which. The noise is much more prevalent with a news broadcast than music is there in both. The car is new (3,300 miles), purchased Sept '08. We had the dealer add Sirius when we bought it and they installed the SIGMA antennae and I think they routed the wiring inside that pillar. Anyway, this is driving me crazy but I'm afraid to start pulling stuff apart. I'm taking it back to a dealer but can't do that right away cuz the original dealer went bankrupt and I need to find one. Anyone have experience with this or any suggestions on where this noise is coming from?

Many thanks in advance,

FastFrankie

[Tom in Tacoma]

Honestly? It's darn-near impossible for us to tell you with any certainty what a rattle in your car might be. Noises are really tough to diagnose via the internet.

See if another Toyota dealer will honor the installer's warranty. If not - contact a regional office of Toyota and as them to help.

...or, you could just pull the A-piller cover off and see what's making the racket. Just be gentle with it and you'll be okay.

[inov8]

I suggest you try to isolate the source, but not attempt a repair. It's easy to damage fragile trim pieces when you don't have the tools or know the "tricks", and a Dealer could use that damage to deny your warrranty claim. And suppose, after taking everything apart, it turns out to be a detached or preforated speaker cone, and it's a special size and shape not available in audio shops. Now what do you do?

I would lay a pillow over the center speaker, fire up the news, and see if the buzz is substantially diminished. If yes, you have found the source. If no, use the fader and balance controls to isolate the sound to a particular corner of the car.

[fastfrankie]

Tom,
Thanks, I figured that it wouldn't be possible to diagnose over the internet but I thought that there might be a chance that there was a generic issue with the speakers used, or that someone might have experienced a similar problem after having a SIGMA antennae installed.

inov8,
Thanks for the suggestion of using the pillow - I'll try that. I've already tried the adjusting the fader/balance but I haven't had a whole lot of time to play with it - it is my wife's car and I don't have a lot of "play" time with it. I agree with you about voiding the warranty, not to mention how pissed my wife (and I) would be if I scratched it up.

Anyway, I found a dealer to look at it on the 30th and hopefully they will be able to find and fix the problem. We're using it for a long trip this weekend and I'm looking forward to some good uninterrupted blues... I'll post again after the trip in case anyone is interested.

Thanks again,

[fastfrankie]

OK, I tried the pillow over the dash speaker and it helped to isolate the problem. Thanks, inov8! I believe the noise is in the tweeters (?) in front pillars. The dealer could not figure out why so they've decided to replace those speakers which will happen on Friday. While travelling over the weekend I found that if I dialed down the treble to -3 it almost completely eliminated the noise. Of course, I had to adjust the bass down as well and the lower settings make the music channels sound a little dull. So, hopefully the new speakers will be the fix and I won't have to play with the bass and treble everytime I switch from music and talk.

Does anyone have experience with the Sirius receiver used with the Avalon? Might there be switches that need to be reset?

[inov8]

The satellite receiver should use the same factory sound processor and amplifier as the AM, FM and CD player, so I doubt if it is the cause of the buzz. But I suppose it is remotely possible for there to be some digital carrier noise on one channel. Do both left and right A-pillar speakers buzz, or just one? It may be that one is simply not securely mounted.

In any case, the speaker replacement should help clarify the source. If it is still there, you can search for other causes.

[fastfrankie]

Well, the dealer replaced the tweeters in the front pillars today and the noise is still there. It's as if the speakers are just cheap and can't handle the kind of frequency that comes with a sound such as a newscast; at the end of a word (sound) it almost sounds like the speakers are torn . Anyway, the service rep said they are going to get in touch with the factory rep and see if there are any bulletins about this... I think I may be stuck with adjusting the bass and treble whenever I change between music and talk.

[inov8]

Here is what I recommend to do next:

Record a radio talk show and write it to an audio CD. If you have Roxio or Nero, they include programs that will convert MP3 files to CD (wav) format while burning a CD. If you don't have a away to record a talk show, some sell downloads of program audio online for less than $1 (example: cartalk.com).

Now, play the talk show on your CD player and see if the same buzz in the speakers can be heard. If no, you will know the cause lies in the satellite receiver rather than the speakers.

I listen to talk radio regularly in our Avalon, but my (old) ears may be less sensitive to this buzz than yours.

[fastfrankie]

Thanks, another good idea. I'll let you know how it works out.

[fastfrankie]

OK, I'm not a fan of emoticons but this is about how I feel about this at this point ... I stole the car fom my wife for a while this morning to do some troubleshooting and it appears that the problem only occurs when using the satellite receiver. A CD of a audio tape recording of a lecture (fidelity was pretty good), AM radio and FM radio all sound OK, even with the treble turned up to the max. So I can only assume that I either have a bad receiver, the wrong receiver or a botched installation by the original dealer. According to the service ticket they used part numbers PTS31-53060 (receiver) and PTS31-07050 (fit kit). ANYONE, IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS, PLEASE OFFER THEM!

Many thanks for your patience...

[inov8]

I suggest you read the comments at this site; all of your answers may be there:
http://www.hear2.com/2005/03/satellite_radio.html

This article/thread suggests the diigital bit rate for talk radio programming is only 32k. If true, this will definitely degrade high frequency audio. I have also read reports that XM and Sirius intentionally introduce artifacts to discourage recording of their content.

Another idea is to pay a visit to one of the Satellite Radio user forums (such as XMFAN.com), and ask if others have similar experience with Sirius.

It is possible the quality of the receiver is the issue. One way to determine this is to visit a store that sells/installs the systems and ask to listen to some live programming in the showroom or another vehicle.

[michaelgrudy]

I had a noise coming from what I thought was the dash speaker and it ended up being the rear view mirror. There was a small rubber piece that was rattling and the sound traveled down the windshield to sound like the front speaker. Hold parts of the mirror to see if it helps the problem.