My stereo is the base alpine which is acting strangely so I thought I would throw it out here.

The difference in sound quality between a CD and the radio is huge. Way better with CD, even a homemade burned disk. I asked the local dealer about it and he was not much help. Settings are not changed between the two sources so what gives?? Anyone else experience this? Or is it just my 44 yr old ears the problem? 😄

 

That's pretty much my experience. I regard it as "normal" but what do I know?

 

I'd always expect sound quality to be better from CD than radio, even DAB or satellite. However, the thread title is about volume, which suggests you're having issues with sound levels from different sources. Which of these is actually the problem?

 

If I go from FM/AM to a CD without changing any settings, including the volume, a CD sounds louder. I expect a cleaner, crisper sound from a CD but have never had a car where the radio volume sounded sub-par to a CD. Hope that helps explain it better.

 

OK, got it. If the CD unit was separate, you might be able to 'tweak' the gain (amplification) for different sources in the audio head unit. But the XK's system is all one box. I've had a look in the workshop manual, and there's nothing in there on setting levels for different sources.