I'm glad you've finally discovered the joys of the 396/496! It's a
great box. A game changer. Better ones will follow but this is a great
one.

Now I've got to see if the 396 has that same setting. I had to install
a filter to get rid of the hum in my system.

Bill (I've got a 396 and love it) Watson

Jay Honeck wrote:

The stereo sound we *THOUGHT* was so excellent was suddenly ten times
better, and the "static" problem instantly went away. So, even though
"Line out" sounds like it makes sense (feeding into the intercom),
obviously the right choice is "Headphones" -- and that's where we left
it.

THAT, my friends, is the kind of problem that might take an avionics
shop a full day to "fix" -- so I consider myself lucky to have stumbled
across a fix. Something to file away in your brain-bank if you're ever
planning on doing this upgrade to the 396/496 in your plane...

Finally, I must admit I'm a bit disappointed with the ultimate "fix"
(jumpering into "Music 2"), since we have now lost the ability to feed
music to the back two seats only. My plan to get the kids a portable
DVD player for Xmas, which they would be able to plug in to the
back-seats-only jack (located in the right-rear headphone jack
housing), has obviously been shot to hell, since any movie will now be
heard by all FOUR stations.

So, the power connection I paid Tony to install under the panel last
week (so that I could safely and properly plug a cigar-lighter
extension cord into it) no longer has any purpose -- basically money
down the drain.

Of course, Tony says that the new PS Engineering audio panels will do
everything I'm trying to do (and more), without difficulty. Buying one
would get rid of my ugly old (but perfectly functional) Narco CP-136
(with the broken face plate), but then I'd be stuck with TWO intercoms
in the panel. And, of course, we're talking about spending another ~2
AMUs or so.

Oh, well. In the meantime (while I save my nickels for that eventual
installation) it's going to be SO cool having 5 jillion XM radio
choices of music/sports/talk to choose from whilst droning along on
those long cross-country trips...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"