sattelite

[irondiezl3]

anyone have xm or sirrius? is it any good? hows sound quality and how do you install it. ryan if ur around do you know how its done?

[cherrington17]

sirius. xm blows.

but to clarify, i'm in the same boat as ryan. i refuse to pay for radio. i have a direct connect ipod, and download everything i want to listen to. HD radio is nice, if you have plenty of stations in the area....

my bro has sirius and swears by it. i've never heard anyone say the same about xm. (they are still 2 separate entities, but are functionally one company)

[Ryan from Ohio]

Both are the same company anymore. I dunno about you, but Im not paying $20-40 a month for radio.

Get HD.

[bizarre179]

12.95 per month for sirius. Listen to it all day at work and it rocks.

[misslindseysue]

Depends what you like to listen to. My MINI has Sirius, my company cars have XM. They have different sports channels. Sound quality is ok.

You can get a tape adapter (that's how I did it in my Alero) or FM transmitter. I ran the antennae under the trim all around the car to the rear window and around the center stack to one of the vents where I zip tied the SkyFi thingy. Or you can get a headunit that has it. Go to a decent stereo shop and see what your options are.

But yeah.. my commute is long enough that I like to have something good to listen to. Especially when I'm driving across the state it's nice to not lose a station or have to mess around with CDs. And in the MINI it's lifetime, so the pain was all upfront, but it's only $13/mo and you can pay yearly.

[Vtolds]

I have sirius 13.41 a month with all taxes and fees it is half that for my GF's radio which I got free during one of there add another radio for half off promotions and get a free kit. All radios now have a built in FM transmitter my 2 year old Sirius ONE has it built in and so doesnt my GF's. I do suggest buying the very simple fm interceptor which you run in line with the antenna and plugs into the radio so when you are listening to satellite it doesn't cut out when there is a stronger station. http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=unknown&sbrftog=1&dfsp=32&catref=C6&from=R40&satitle=Sirius+FM+adapter&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=05677&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=32%26fsoo%3D2&fgtp= So you basically set your unit and your radio to a station you dont listen too and when you turn it all you get pretty flawless sound. As long as you dont drive under a lot of tunnels and really heavely wooded areas you should be alright with reception. My gets blocked for a few second everyday at the same spot by some very talls trees. There are several radios that will the job done ranging from 29.99 to 50 bucks or much much more. All of them come with the basic install kit with unit, antenna, controller, and power plug.

[lonnie]

I had Xm at one time and all I had was the first roady, and I absolutely loved it. I had it set up to come out of my account every three months, and its only like 30 bucks a quarter, maybe a little more now. Sound quality was great never had a problem even on stormy days, I mounted my antenna on the trunk and added a grounding strap to the trunk lid to increase my ground plane for the antenna. Its worth it if you spend alot of time in your car, or just listening to the radio in general. Then you could get the one that is portable between car and home.


..almost for got, if you decide to get it if your headunit doesn't come xm or sirus ready, I would get the fm modulator and a y adaptor that way you get the best sound quality, and still be able to use your radio. Some come with internal fm modulators but I haven't had any expirence with those.

[cherrington17]

its safe to say, if you go the fm modulator route... your taking the BEST possible sound (satellite quality) and reducing it to a horrible, squelchy mess (fm quality)

[irondiezl3]

so if a buy a radio that lets say siriur ready whats that do for me then what do i need to buy and conect where

[meadus101]

Mine Plugs into the front of the Headunit.

[cherrington17]

so if a buy a radio that lets say siriur ready whats that do for me then what do i need to buy and conect where

more aesthetic, basically. plus some functionality.

a sirius ready radio has the option to have a reciever module (that you can hide under a seat, or somewhere) that you can connect directly into your radio, and use your single headunit to control the stations exactly like you would with normal radio. the problem with that being that the reciever module is usually a little pricey, and they practically GIVE car kits away now. (usually sell for 29-119)

its all up to you. personally, i'd pay extra to not have the big ugly car kit sitting on my dash.... but thats me.

you'd need to get something like this..
http://shop.sirius.com/edealinv/servlet/ExecMacro?nurl=control/StoreDirectory.vm&ctl_nbr=2640&catLevel=1&catParentID=24750&scId=24750&oldParentID=7870
along with the headunit.

[irondiezl3]

ok so what i want i think is sirius and i know im buying a head unit but its not sirius ready so when i buy the kit,


http://shop.sirius.com/edealinv/servlet/ExecMacro?nurl=control/StoreItem.vm&ctl_nbr=2640&siId=2908561&catParentID=42826&scId=42826&oldParentID=42826

or if i get this xm how do i know what i need?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=330236904939&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=014




so how do i know how this is getting hooked up does anyone know what kit is inside do i need to buy any aditional equiptment?

[irondiezl3]

why is crutchfiled saying my factory radio is xm ready i dont see anything on my radio about xm ready? what does that mean anyway something connects in the back of the radio?

[surreal_awakening]

Sirius all the way. XM is garbage. The merger is approved but for now they are still separate. I have an early JVC Sirius receiver w/ FM transmitter in the alero right now, and my Cherokee has a Sirius-ready Alpine head unit with an AI-net Sirius receiver module tucked away under the seat. I have sworn by Sirius since day 1 and still do. Best $12.95 I spend every month. I spend a lot of time in the car, and I love music, so it just makes sense.

[Cliff8928]

why is crutchfiled saying my factory radio is xm ready i dont see anything on my radio about xm ready? what does that mean anyway something connects in the back of the radio?

They don't say anything about XM ready on the factory radios. If you have a "Band" button, your factory radio is XM ready. (on '02-'04 radios)

[diablo]

Even tho they're the same company go XM, everyone I know and myself have had problems with sirius and they're channels suck, xm's got the best :)

[irondiezl3]

i have a band button and mines a 04 so what does that mean what do i need to buy anything different?

[Nate's Alero]

Go with XM get the 30 dollar little reciver thing and call em and set it all up! it takes like 1 HR to install(if you care about wires and crap)and like 10 min to set up! easy and cheap!(Use the cassette adapter)

[irondiezl3]

i dont have casette i found a reciever i can get locally its only forty dolars and has built in fm transmitter im nervous its gunna sound like shit. i bought a fm transmitter for my ipod and it sounded so bad i cant explaine it. i dont wanna pay monthly for shitty sound.

[Nate's Alero]

i dont have casette i found a reciever i can get locally its only forty dolars and has built in fm transmitter im nervous its gunna sound like shit. i bought a fm transmitter for my ipod and it sounded so bad i cant explaine it. i dont wanna pay monthly for shitty sound.


ok then....get a deck with an aux in...and run one of those connectors to it from the little dock to the aux..ill post pics of how i sis it in my moms car later

[Vtolds]

i dont have casette i found a reciever i can get locally its only forty dolars and has built in fm transmitter im nervous its gunna sound like shit. i bought a fm transmitter for my ipod and it sounded so bad i cant explaine it. i dont wanna pay monthly for shitty sound.

I have sirius 13.41 a month with all taxes and fees it is half that for my GF's radio which I got free during one of there add another radio for half off promotions and get a free kit. All radios now have a built in FM transmitter my 2 year old Sirius ONE has it built in and so doesnt my GF's. I do suggest buying the very simple fm interceptor which you run in line with the antenna and plugs into the radio so when you are listening to satellite it doesn't cut out when there is a stronger station. http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=unknown&sbrftog=1&dfsp=32&catref=C6&from=R40&satitle=Sirius+FM+adapter&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=05677&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=32%26fsoo%3D2&fgtp= So you basically set your unit and your radio to a station you dont listen too and when you turn it all you get pretty flawless sound. As long as you dont drive under a lot of tunnels and really heavely wooded areas you should be alright with reception. My gets blocked for a few second everyday at the same spot by some very talls trees. There are several radios that will the job done ranging from 29.99 to 50 bucks or much much more. All of them come with the basic install kit with unit, antenna, controller, and power plug.

Dont you read...

[irondiezl3]

thanks

[Cliff8928]

i have a band button and mines a 04 so what does that mean what do i need to buy anything different?

You can use something like a XM Direct tuner and control it through the factory radio just like AM, FM, etc...

[lonnie]

ok then....get a deck with an aux in...and run one of those connectors to it from the little dock to the aux..ill post pics of how i sis it in my moms car laterI think this is a very good Idea, and in fact is the way that I get audio from my MP3 player and my DVD player to my head unit. The only thing that I've found with this is that when you are hooking a device that is powered through the cars battery, you seem to develop a bit of noise. I've never had a problem with the mp3 player but that runs off of a battery, but the DVD has a bit of noise which I can remove with the proper audio settings through the head unit. Just seems to be a bit bothersome some times.

Depending on what size receiver you get you cold possible mount it in the cubby hole under the Heat and air controls. One idea I had being that I don't smoke was to make a mount out of the cig cup.

[irondiezl3]

got serious reception is great but i hate the stations is xm any different.

[Vtolds]

What do you listen too? I keep mine firmly planted on Octane 20.

[irondiezl3]

i like rock and techno mainly the only lucky ive has is with the techno stations everything else has yet to impress me hopefully it grows on me i dont care much for talk radio or sports stuff.

[irondiezl3]

i need a longer power cable so i can place my reciever somewhere else i cant find any anwhere???


i bought a direct fm audio connection for improved clarity. will it be even better when i get my aftermarket and its connect through the aux?