Tesseract Mobile Electronics

The Specialist in Motorcycle Audio Integration Systems

Isolating Patch Cords
for most mono Garmin GPSes and Escort Radar Detectors now available.

The xma3 is proudly made in the USA!

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The xma3 - What the heck is it?

The xma3 is a portable audio mixer/amplifier specifically engineered for use on motorcycles. Most motorcycles don't come with any sort of audio system whatsoever, and on the few that do those systems often seem like an afterthought. The xma3 fills this niche, providing an audiophile quality boost in volume while also intelligently mixing in two other mono audio devices, such as a GPS and radar detector.

Tesseract Mobile Electronics was the first to incorporate two signal processing functions into its mixer/amplifier product that significantly improve usability. One mono input is configured to automatically and smoothly mute the stereo input by about 30dB whenever a valid signal appears at it. This auto-muting input is perfect for voice-output devices like an FRS radio or a GPS. The second mono input was designed to tame the noisy misbehavior of radar detectors and features a noise gate that automatically mutes itself until a loud enough signal appears, at which point it lets the signal through before smoothly muting itself once again. Even the top-shelf Valentine One radar detector benefits from this circuit! The final signal processing function that no other competitor has yet to copy (for now, anyway...) is called crossfeed - this is the x in xma3, by the way. The crossfeed circuit progressively blends together the frequencies below 1.6kHz which simulates listening to speakers about 10' away when you are actually listening to headphones. This helps to significantly reduce the feeling that the sound is coming from inside of your head, especially for studio-recorded music, when listening to headphones. And for you audio-purists out there, our crossfeed circuit does not boost or cut any frequency - it only progressively reduces stereo separation below the cutoff frequency, in much the same way the ears respond to bass frequencies in "real life".

How about some specifics?

The xma3 boosts the volume of the stereo and auto-muting inputs by about 15dB and the noise-gated input by about 6dB (most radar detectors are very loud on their own). It can deliver 100mW continuously into headphones of typical impedance (32 to 64 ohms). This is about 10x more power than pretty much every MP3 player out on the market and absolutely makes the difference between just barely hearing your music while riding to actually enjoying it. The xma3 can even drive small helmet mounted speakers, but because these speakers still have to compete with road noise we highly recommend the use of "in-ear" headphones such as Etymotic Research's model ER-6 instead.

The xma3 is not an intercom by itself, but it can function as one in conjunction with an FRS radio** Patch the audio output of the FRS radio to the auto-muting input of the xma3 and connect a boom or throat mic to the mic input on the FRS radio.

* Some audio devices (Escort radar detectors, most mono Garmin GPSes and some other devices) have audio outputs that are meant to drive a speaker only (called BTL or floating outputs). There is no "ground" wire in these outputs, as there is in a stereo headphones jack, so connecting them to any ground-referred amplifier such as the xma3 without using an isolation cord may damage them and will cause them to make lots of noise. Warnings in your owner's manual about connecting the device to anything but a speaker are a dead giveaway, but a power output of over 0.5W for a device that runs on batteries is a more subtle clue that it has a BTL output. We make special isolating patch cords for such devices that will solve this problem for most such devices. Specifically, some, but not all, Escort 8500 radar detectors need to use Escort's ground loop isolator cord to interface with any external amplifier. We recommend that you take a look at our FAQ before purchasing the xma3 to help ensure there are no surprises!

** FRS Radios which have a "dual-prong" headset jack are the easiest to use with the xma3 in an ad-hoc intercom system because the mic and headphones jacks are already separated. If your FRS radios have a single jack for both the earphone and microphone then you will need a "breakout" cord that splits up the mic from the 'phones. Some manufacturers make such cords - check with them first.

How do I get one?

You can purchase an xma3 and other accessories directly from us using any major credit card or your bank account through PayPal, an online payment processor (even if you don't have a PayPal account!). Alternately, you can purchase just the xma3, as well as other cool stuff for your bike, from our partner Aerostich/Rider Wearhouse:

Jump to the Products section of our Products page to buy direct.

Visit Aerostich/Rider Wearhouse to purchase an xma3 from our partner.

iPod, Autocom, Powerlet, Escort (8500 and Solo 2), Valentine V1, XM Satellite Radio, Mini Disc, and StreetPilot III are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc., Autocom Products Ltd., JASTEK Engineering LLC., Escort Inc., Valentine Research Inc., XM Satellite Radio Inc., Sony Corporation, and Garmin Ltd. respectively