I know this is sort of a double post, I hope y'all will forgive me - I just want to get as many opinions as I can by opening this up to folks not subscribed to the old thread. Here's the story: I had an audio install done recently and I am having some problems with the work that was done. I will only focus on one part of it for the purposes of this thread. The AM radio reception is nearly non-existant with the new head unit, a Pioneer FH-P5000. It can barely get one or two AM stations, and is mostly dead air. The old head unit that I had was a Pioneer KEH-P5400, and I bought it in 1996. With that model, my AM reception was excellent. When I mentioned the problem to my installer, he said that I shouldn't expect the signal to be as good as it was with the factory radio. When I reminded him that the radio that was replaced was in fact an aftermarket Pioneer head unit, he said that every head unit is different, and that my new model doesn't have a "super tuner" like the old one, so it wasn't as good. Something about this reply just didn't sit well with me. I checked the specs, and found out that this unit in fact has something called "Supertuner IIID" - an improvement over the regular Super Tuner III that the old unit had. What do you guys think? Is he just avoiding some extra work? He claimed that he just hooked up the new one the same way the old one was hooked up, but I am thinking there has to be a mistake somewhere. Another component they hooked up has died already and they left screws out and did an overall sloppy job - so it is not inconceivable to think that the AM antenna is somehow installed wrong. Though I don't really know anything about audio install and don't know how much room there really is for error. I am just really trying to figure out if he is just trying to avoid extra work by telling me that it isn't going to get any better. Any thoughts/opinions would be helpful.

 

Pioneer did not lower their tuner's spec. You provided a new clue "replaced aftermarket stereo", so the Installer is implying he spliced into your aftermarket harness, but I bet he wired it wrong! Here's how to check without taking your dash apart. Remove all the hatch foam/liner under the antenna rear left wheel well and check if the amp's pin-1 is powered when the HU is on. If your antenna amp is not powered, just run a fused 12v to it, if it is powered (doubt it) then either the amp is defective (replace), your antenna coax is not plugged into the HU or the used HU is defective.

Good luck!

 

It's AM who cares?lol

 

Take your dash apart, and slide your HU out. Look for a blue wire inside the dashboard. This is your power-turn-on for your antenna. The 350z has a powered antenna (not the same as a power antenna that goes up when u turn on the car, and down when off). Connect it to the blue wire coming out of the back of your Pioneer. If you have an amp, the pioneer's blue wire is already attached to your amp's remote power-on wire. This will fix your problem.

 

There are several AM shows that I listen to, and while everything is pointing to installer error here, I am not going to ask him to take apart my dash. If they were that careless when getting paid, I am hesitant to have him go back in there and botch something else or scratch up my head unit. It is a shame because I should get what I paid for. I will just wait until I have the subs done, hopefully by a shop that is much more careful. Thanks for all of the tips.

 

I brought it back to the installer today, and he said that he sanded down the antenna connection or something - not sure if something was just forgotten or what, but I don't care because it works perfectly now. I am still curious about one thing for all you audio experts on here...I have an Omnifi MP3 player hooked up to the Auxillary input on my deck. I also have Sirius, using one of those PIR-1 box thingies to control it directly through my head unit. If I am playing Sirius radio and the MP3 player is also playing, they both play simultaneously through the speakers. Is this indicative of any incorrect wiring, or do I just need to make sure the mp3 player is on pause before I switch sources?