Hey everyone,

After all of these years I have finally realized that I listen to the radio more than I listen to CD's. Since I listen to the Radio more than I do Cd's I am seriously considering sattellite radio. Anyways, does anyone here have any insight or would like to share their experience with sattellite radio?

Pros and Cons I have come up with in my head about sattellite radio:

Pros:

-over 100 stations of digital music
-xm is going commercial free in feburary
-wont have to complain of repeating songs so common on local radio stations.

Cons:

-Antenna? Fugly? where do you place it on your car?
-Initial Cost for equipment? $100-200?
-Monthly Fee? $10 month?

Thanks In advance for your insight, lets make this thread worth something to read about.

 

I want to hear from people with sirius. how do you like it. My one friend loves his XM but thats not whats integrated into my kenwood HU

 

We sell both, I like both. Its really a matter of preference. The new antenna's for both systems are real small, about 3/4 inch high, 1 1/2 wide, 2 inches long. Both systems are cool in the fact that you get the same stations coast to coast. You get to hear alot of unsigned stuff, far out there stuff, explicit stuff. The XM roadie is my fav system out of them all even though I like Sirius' programming is better.

 

My friend has the Delphi XM system. I like the fact that he can listen in both his car AND his home with the extra cradle accessory. As for the antenna, it's recommended that you mount it outside, but he has had no problems mounting inside on the dash. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they also sell antennas that mount to your window. I plan on getting one soon.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ALF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My friend has the Delphi XM system. I like the fact that he can listen in both his car AND his home with the extra cradle accessory. As for the antenna, it's recommended that you mount it outside, but he has had no problems mounting inside on the dash. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they also sell antennas that mount to your window. I plan on getting one soon. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Cool, I didnt know that the antennas would work on the inside. It would be nice not to have an extra eye sore on the outside of my car, does anyone know if they make antennas that replace your OEM one?

 

I just got XM and I enjoy it, plus starting in February, they're going commercial free. At first, I kinda had second thoughts about paying $10 a month just to listen to the radio, but if you think about it, you go out for lunch everyday and spend about $5-6 everytime, so you just have to look at it that way. The newer antennas are getting really small, so they don't look like a big lump on your trunk/roof.

Check out websites like http://www.xmfan.com or http://www.xmxp.com I found them very helpful in making my decision.

Good luck either way you go.

 

We sell both XM and Siruis at work, we also sell Kenwood. The nice thing about selling Kenwood is that they can go both ways, I forget who makes it but there is an adaptor that allows a Kenwood to use a pioneer XM tuner

we sell alot more XM than we do Siruis, however that may change for sports fans, since Siruis just signed deal with the NFL, NHL, and MLB they will have exclusive sports coverage kinda like directtv has NFL gameday ticket<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by InfamousDC2FI &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Cons:

-Antenna? Fugly? where do you place it on your car?
-Initial Cost for equipment? $100-200?
-Monthly Fee? $10 month?

</TD></TR></TABLE>
I mount most antennas inside the car, some newer units have smaller antennas than before, I know that the antennas fire through fiberglass....First inside antenna install was behind the glovebox of a NSX firing up throu the dash and windshield, you couldn't see it and it worked flawlessly, at keast as good as the one stuck to the roof of my wife's truck, however tinted windows do affect the reception if mounted inside the car, if the windows aren't tinted I typically mount them on the rear deck (for cars--for oversized SUVS they go on the dash)

monthly fee, how much do you pay to watch TV (cable etc)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by foz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">We sell both XM and Siruis at work, we also sell Kenwood. The nice thing about selling Kenwood is that they can go both ways, I forget who makes it but there is an adaptor that allows a Kenwood to use a pioneer XM tuner

we sell alot more XM than we do Siruis, however that may change for sports fans, since Siruis just signed deal with the NFL, NHL, and MLB they will have exclusive sports coverage kinda like directtv has NFL gameday ticket
I mount most antennas inside the car, some newer units have smaller antennas than before, I know that the antennas fire through fiberglass....First inside antenna install was behind the glovebox of a NSX firing up throu the dash and windshield, you couldn't see it and it worked flawlessly, at keast as good as the one stuck to the roof of my wife's truck, however tinted windows do affect the reception if mounted inside the car, if the windows aren't tinted I typically mount them on the rear deck (for cars--for oversized SUVS they go on the dash)

monthly fee, how much do you pay to watch TV (cable etc)
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hey thanks for the info, I really like the idea of mounting the antenna in the glovebox.

 

I put one in a 99 acura 3.5RL yesterday and was able to get the antenna behind the instrument cluster under the dash, it not only worked but it worked inside the garage ( a garage that most cell phones dont get coverage in)

 

if you decide to go with sirius, i have a kenwood tuner that is new and i dont want, decided satellite isnt what i need right now - retails for $130, im selling for $50. its brand new. all you need is an antenna and you're set

 

Would anyone like to comment on how they like the programming? I have some friends that say that they will find a channel with a good song on it and then the channel will play something of a totally different genre which in turn causes them to have to channel surf again. I thought this only happens with TV

 

I really like the programming, it's got a lot of different channels, and it's a matter of defining what your looking to hear, not to mention it's now commercial free-music. If I'm in the mood for any kinda rap, I'm normally happy with 66 raw which has a harder rap, 67 city which seems like a mix of urban and hip-hop, and there's even an old sckool one (65 maybe) there are three different alternatives, fred-44 ethel 45 and squizel- 47 which have different genres of alternative, and deeptracks which has older rock
basically I've never had a hard time finding music I was in the mood to listen to, although I haven't been to happy with the punk selection-- and there is even a dance/techno group of stations

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by foz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I really like the programming, it's got a lot of different channels, and it's a matter of defining what your looking to hear, not to mention it's now commercial free-music. If I'm in the mood for any kinda rap, I'm normally happy with 66 raw which has a harder rap, 67 city which seems like a mix of urban and hip-hop, and there's even an old sckool one (65 maybe) there are three different alternatives, fred-44 ethel 45 and squizel- 47 which have different genres of alternative, and deeptracks which has older rock
basically I've never had a hard time finding music I was in the mood to listen to, although I haven't been to happy with the punk selection-- and there is even a dance/techno group of stations</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks Foz for all of your input, I am excited to look forward to sattellite radio.

 

Can anyone comment on where they put the XM box? Under the dash stuffed behind the CD player? Under the passenger seat? I'm pretty sure I'm getting the pioneer unit, for an idea on sizing. This is going in a '96 GS-R

Also, I'm getting the adapter cable that allows RCA's to be used through the IP-Bus thing. Is that difficult to get working in conjunction with the XM unit, which also runs through the IP-Bus? Thanks in advanced for your help!

Nick