symphony 2+ in my car, radio reception is shit, what can i do?

[Gberg888]

My car came with the Symphony 2+ already installed, the radio reception is crap, what can i do about it?

[old guy]

My car came with the Symphony 2+ already installed, the radio reception is crap, what can i do about it?

Try this. Fixed mine. Clicky click®

[Gberg888]

Thanks, I will have to look into this!

[Fast4esT]

I have an avant and radio reception was crap before and after symphony 2+ install. Rear antennae wires are good, rear windows are tinted, may be the cause of bad reception.
Anyway I installed an Ensig USB harness into the back of the radio for my iPhone. This is e only thing I installed or touched and my reception has been stellar ever since.
Not sure how that has an effect but is was massive

[Gberg888]

I was told that the symphony 2+ does not mesh well with the antenna designed for the B6 since the Symphony 2+ is out of a B7 with a different kind of antenna.

[Pswish]

Check your antenna connection is still good and the ground is applied to the radio. FM antennas are just like any other antenna and have to be matched to the center frequency of the radio wave. 1/8 or 1/16 wavelength antennas are common but offer less gain and shorter or incorrect center freq tune (low gain on FM band) or bad ground plane (noise reduction, signal reference) can cause poor reception. I would assume the internal coupler circuit in the symphony II is different than the radio that came with the car and you would need to figure out how much external cable you need for the radio you have compared to the one you took out.

[Gberg888]

Check your antenna connection is still good and the ground is applied to the radio. FM antennas are just like any other antenna and have to be matched to the center frequency of the radio wave. 1/8 or 1/16 wavelength antennas are common but offer less gain and shorter or incorrect center freq tune (low gain on FM band) or bad ground plane (noise reduction, signal reference) can cause poor reception. I would assume the internal coupler circuit in the symphony II is different than the radio that came with the car and you would need to figure out how much external cable you need for the radio you have compared to the one you took out.

1) I appreciate the help but that might as well be spanish.
2) I didnt do it, the previous owner did.
3) Translation?

[Pswish]

Hmm, I can only order a beer in Spanish. Google translate?


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[Kevin C]

Check your antenna connection is still good and the ground is applied to the radio. FM antennas are just like any other antenna and have to be matched to the center frequency of the radio wave. 1/8 or 1/16 wavelength antennas are common but offer less gain and shorter or incorrect center freq tune (low gain on FM band) or bad ground plane (noise reduction, signal reference) can cause poor reception. I would assume the internal coupler circuit in the symphony II is different than the radio that came with the car and you would need to figure out how much external cable you need for the radio you have compared to the one you took out.

My understanding is that the cables are impedance matched and are not part of the equation of ratio of antenna length to frequency length calculation so that changing the length of the cable wont help fix a wave length to antenna ratio issue. In the case of a poorly matched cable impedance to termination impedance, a length change can help by moving the attenuated node to a spot other than the receiver.


Short story, you shouldn't need to juggle cable lengths to get good reception. You only need to make sure cables are long enough to be able to plug in.

My understanding is that the signal amplifier is different and may need to be swapped, see quote and link.

The only solution for this (broadcast FM, ) is to retrofit the antenna amplifiers that go with the Sym II+. The Sym II uses "Diversity Switching" and swaps the active antenna HF to the HU according to signal strength. The Sym II+ uses "Phase Diversity" and switches between one or the other of the pair of digital tuners in the HU according to received signal quality.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...hony-2-Upgrade

[Pswish]

My understanding is that the cables are impedance matched and are not part of the equation of ratio of antenna length to frequency length calculation so that changing the length of the cable wont help fix a wave length to antenna ratio issue. In the case of a poorly matched cable impedance to termination impedance, a length change can help by moving the attenuated node to a spot other than the receiver.

Agreed. I wasn't sure of the actual setup in the B6 and B7 so thanks for that link. Retrofitting the B7 phase amplifiers does seem a bit involved but may be worth it in the long run.

The gold colored Fakra connector fits the gold colored input on the Sym II, it is used to send the received signal strength "Z1", back to the antenna switching amp on the B6. The Sym II+ does not have that functional output, so there is no mating jack on the HU. It is left unplugged. You would need to get two antenna amps as used on the B7, and connect each amp to the in window antennas. Then run each amplified RF signal wire to the HU. I am using the original B6 antenna feeding just one of the two RF signal inputs on the Sym II+, FM is not perfect, but it is good enough for me, since I hardly never listen to FM.