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!

This website has been totally re-coded to strip out all of the junk FrontPage put in it and now complies with the
XHTML 1.0 Transitional
standard.

Stupid slogan...

Frequently Asked Questions by Category

Top FAQs

Why is the xma3 so expensive?

It all comes down to economics. In a mass-produced electronic product like an MP3 player, the retail price is dominated by parts cost and marketing/packaging while labor (assembly) costs are minimized through automation. When the market for a product is too small to justify the cost of setting up an automated assembly line (as the market for people wanting to listen to multiple audio sources on their motorcycle is), then you must hand-build each product which, of course, results in labor being the dominant cost factor in the final retail price. The flipside to this, though, is that there is not so much pressure to use the cheapest components available, which is why we chose to use premium op-amps, an extruded aluminum enclosure, Wima capacitors, etc. in the xma3.

Can I use another method to pay for my order besides PayPal?

Sure. Just send us an e-mail listing what you want and where you want it sent to and we'll respond back with a total amount and payment address. The preferred form of payment in this case is a USPS money order but a personal check is acceptable with the understanding that there will be a 3-4 business day wait until it has fully cleared.

I can't seem to find a telephone number for Tesseract Mobile Electronics - is there one?

There is not a dedicated phone number for Tesseract Mobile Electronics, per se, as I try to conduct all business via the internet. That said, if a problem or request is too cumbersome to handle through e-mail I will call you from my personal number, I just try to keep that to a minimum for the obvious reasons.

Can I monitor a cellphone's ringer through the xma3?

Yes, but you'll need an interface cord that plugs into the phone's headset jack to separate the mic input and speaker output lines. Since it seems that no two cellphones use the same style jack for the headset, a custom cord will probably need to be made. We can take the cord from your existing headset to make a custom interface to the xma3, usually for around $20. Send us an e-mail for more information.

How much louder will the xma3 make my music?

The answer to this question on the old version of this page was a cute little chart correlating decibel (dB) levels with "common" noises. Prospective customers e-mailed us the same question anyway because, frankly, the common noises weren't so common. When was the last time you stood 50' away from a jet engine at full throttle?? So, this time around you can get the answer to this question by listening to the difference.

Is the xma3 waterproof or water-resistant?

Nope. It has holes in it, after all - six of them right on the front panel. That said, getting a little rain on it won't hurt it; letting it get soaked might. If it does get drenched, first turn it off immediately, remove the battery (if present) then, ideally, unscrew the front panel (5/64" hex) to pull the pc board out so it can dry off more quickly. Once everything is all dry, shoot a quick blast of WD-40 into each jack to protect against corrosion and displace any remaining water.

What brand of helmet speakers can I use with the xma3?

Keeping in mind that we don't recommend using helmet speakers at all, you can use them with the xma3 as long as they have an impedance rating of 16-64Ω and the cord has a 3.5mm stereo plug. We do understand that not everyone finds earbuds, earphones, and/or IEMs comfortable, so helmet speakers are their best choice (we feel for you, brother, we feel for you!). Still, you really should try hard to find a pair that fit well, especially the in-ear kind because they suppress road noise by 24-33dB. To hear what a difference IEMs can make, play this WAV where the second burst of white noise is 27dB quieter than the first. Another advantage of IEMs stems from the fact that the closer a "speaker" is to the eardrum, the smaller it can be and still reproduce sound waves accurately at a given volume.

Why isn't there a volume control on the xma3?

Mainly because we haven't yet figured how to make a handlebar-mounted remote volume control that can actually be operated safely and effectively while wearing gloves. And putting a volume control on the xma3 itself we feel would be worse than useless in practice because most xma3's get tossed in a tank bag or under a seat. In neither case would the volume knob be accessible while riding and just imagine how exciting things could get if something else in the tank bag collided with the volume knob, kicking it up to maximum. Sounds like a recipe for a lawsuit to me, hence no volume knob on the xma3. Still, there is an aftermarket solution to this problem that sort of renders the whole argument moot... read the next FAQ for the details.

So how can I control the volume (besides fiddling with the knobs on all of the source devices)?

We think the best solution is to use an inline volume control such as the Koss VC-20 at Amazon.com. Similar products are available from Radio Shack (part number 42-2559) and pretty much every major electronics retailer.

Support FAQs

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Answer

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