ASL works on my TCH - Non Nav, bought in June. Number 6111 made in Japan.

I tried turning ASL off and on while driving at 60mph. Small but noticable increase in volume when turning it on. I had the volume up around 30 when I did the test. I'd guess about 6db or so change in volume when switched on or off. As quiet as the TCH is, I'm glad it is not a larger change. I often listen with the volume low - set between 10 and 20 depending on the type of music. Once in a while I pump up the volume to rock out to a song - but not too often. I want to keep my good hearing for a while longer.

 

I reported earlier that mine definitely IS working. Yes, it still is, but I have a theory.

In other vehicles I have owned the ASL was much more noticeable because the volume changes to overcome ambient sound changes had to be more stark. My thinking here is that this car is pretty quiet and the ASL adjustment over speed is not going to be that much.

Some folks who only listen to a mid-tone talk radio show or XM talk broadcast, may not even notice the change as the mids are not where ASL typically will raise the volume the most.

Anyway, it's just a theory.

 

My TCH is Japanese, #00486x, so it is a pretty low number, non-NAV. I don't believe ASL does anything in my car.

 

ASL and RDS does not work on my Japan TCH.

 

You are correct, the current brochures (copyrighted 2007) make no mention of RDS, for either the JBL or NAV systems. But I know the 2006 brochures mentioned it, because that is how I knew that it was "missing". I'll see if I kept a copy of the old brochure where I noticed this.
https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...&highlight=RDS

 

Well, this is interesting...I have a Japan built TCH (built June 2006) with NAV and the JBL system, and it seems that what I think is RDS is functioning on my car. Am I correct in that RDS is the function that allows the radio to show the radio station's call letters and name of artist and song title? If so, then I have RDS and it works.

I've never had any success with the Traffic button, but then i would imagine they aren't broadcasting the traffic info in Tucson.

 

Please enlighten me .. My TCH has NAV with the JBL system and it shows on the NAV display the station name and the name of the song being played. Isn't that the function of RDS ?? Not all stations show the data but most do. There is also a msg button on the display that allows u to see more info. if available But not while moving. unless the override is enabled

 

The NAV unit is not in question. That unit has RDS working. The question is about the non-NAV unit.

Here is a Autobytel car review from 2006. These type of car reviews always cut&paste the standard specs from the manufacturer documentation. Note the section under SOUND.
http://www.autobytel.com/content/res...adardEquipment

SOUND
JBL Premium AM/FM Radio With 440-Watts and 8 Speakers Total; 6-Disc CD Changer; MP3/WMA Player Radio Data System

 

flopshot — You are no doubt right about the early US printed brochure. I have both early (~May 2006) and 2007 printed Canadian brochures on all the 2007 Camry models, and neither mentions any RDS option. It would be nice to have RDS in my non-NAV! The NAV wasn't then available in Canada as a factory-installed option, but it can now be ordered factory-installed. (The vehicles sold here come from the same factories as those sold in the US!) There have been angry and frustrated complaints from a number of Canadian TCH purchasers who ordered the NAV option, only to find that there's no hybrid or trip information screen available. I don't know how these issues were ultimately resolved, if at all, since Toyota Canada was claiming some months ago that they wouldn't take the units back, nor would they upgrade them to provide full information. (Search other threads in this Newsgroup for more details.) Ridiculous!

To elaborate on this a bit, the non-NAV's LCD display doesn't appear to even have any icon that could indicate that RDS information is being displayed. What would such an icon look like? Or would it just be plain text that would be displayed without any annunciator to say that it's RDS information?

Stan

 

I at first assumed that the ASL function was a dynamic-range compressor, that raised the loudness of quiet passages (as a function of vehicle speed) so as to keep the quiet music audible over the car noise. A compressor reduces the music's dynamic range by raising the quiet passages without making the loud passages any louder. It now appears that this is not quite what the ASL does (or, at least, is supposed to do). It apparently raises the level of the bass frequencies only as the vehicle's speed increases. It's thus not a compressor in the normal sense of the term. Its effect apparently occurs (or is supposed to occur) at all signal levels, not just at low signal levels. This would make its effect rather more subtle to hear, but even listening for this, I still fail to hear any clear change at all.

Stan