satellite radio

by **speedgraphix** » Wed May 21, 2003 5:55 am

Does anyone have xm or sirius satellite radio? Im thinking about getting it, and wondering if its worth it.. if you like it, and which head unit to get. I prefer xm radio, and Id rather stick with pioneer.. but if anyone has an xm ready pioneer,and dont have a subscription, can you please let me know if you like your radio? thanks

by **Gunman** » Wed May 21, 2003 6:56 pm

Ha ha I can explain a few things about both since I have xm and sirrius. XM uses geo stationary satellites, which means they "fall" at the same rate the earth does, so essentially they dont move and are always located in the south east and respectably same on the west coast. To reach areas that cant be seen by the recievers, they use many many repeaters. So for the most part, they are set up as a terrestial music source. Every time your listening to xm its more than likely your listening to the fm repeater signal. It will use the fm band first and if you leave that coverage, then switch to satellite feed. XM has a lower bit rate than sirrius, but the company that developed them is the original creators of mp3, and have the mp3 pro incorporated into the tuners to help boost the weaker frequencies. On the 60 music station that xm has, about 20 are only commercial free, the others have up to 6-12 mins of commercials per hour.
Sirrius on the other hand uses 3 geo syncrozied satellites that constantly do figure 8's over the U.S. They operate at a higher altitude and face straight down. Sirrius is a satellite music feed, meaning your listening to a direct feed rather than a repeater(they do use repeaters, but not as many as xm, so placement of the antenna on your roof is very important, since it depends on the satellite feed first). So you have less drop outs as opposed to xm. They have a higher bit rate than xm, and get a better digital signal, sounding better in your car. All of their music stations have........zero, nil, zilch, none, no commercials ever! Thats why their fee is an extra 2 dollars per month, cause they dont have the sponsorship of commercials. Most important sirrius plays better music, xm plays lots of "b" side songs no one really heard of. Right now if you get any sirrius ready radio, you get the tuner for free! You just have to buy which ever antenna you want to go with. I really perfer my sirrius over my xm.

by **speedgraphix** » Thu May 22, 2003 4:39 am

the thing that was keeping me from sirius radio was their partners they have, Im not really all that huge of a fan of kenwood, and panasonic. What type of radios do you have? which models?

by **Yanks0114** » Thu May 22, 2003 11:05 am

I have XM and I absolutely love it. Gunman is right about the content on XM, its not as great as i'd love but I still listen to 5-10 stations on a regular basis. It is not the substitute for CDs but it is the substitute for radio. For $10 a month I absolutely love it. My antenna is in the interior of my car because I didn't want that stupid thing on my roofline. It works fine and I rarely drop the signal (only when I go under bridges). Both are great alternatives if you are in the car alot. I've very very happy with the quality and availablility of the signal and happy with the content

by **Jackass-Jeff** » Thu May 22, 2003 11:48 am

Now you make me want to get sirrius... =x

by **indiglosolara** » Thu May 22, 2003 7:38 pm

i have a kenwood dpx 6020. if my unit sirrus ready. meaning all i need to buy is the ant and call for the service.??

Kenny

by **Gunman** » Thu May 22, 2003 7:43 pm

iazuncupidi wrote:i have a kenwood dpx 6020. if my unit sirrus ready. meaning all i need to buy is the ant and call for the service.??

Kenny

No, in your case you need to purchase the sirrius tuner and then the antenna. :wink:

by **Gunman** » Thu May 22, 2003 8:06 pm

speedgraphix wrote:the thing that was keeping me from sirius radio was their partners they have, Im not really all that huge of a fan of kenwood, and panasonic. What type of radios do you have? which models?

I personally have the kenwood KDCX817 in the camry. I can't say enough good things about it. Of course everyone has their own taste and I cant speak for everyone. On the choice of XM for you, should you decide, I would stay away from the pioneer tuners, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, since I haven't done a xm pioneer in quite some time, is that those unit only gave 8 characters of text with no scroll feature. Meaning that if the song or artist name was more than 8 letters, you have to guess what or who your are listening to. Alpine on the other hand, does offer the scroll feature so the entire name comes across.
The only other thing worth mentioning is the state of ''rock'' and ''roll'', which are the names of the xm satellites, have been deteriorating badly, and very well could likely just fall out of the sky, much like their original commercials, isnt that ironic. Boeing is working around the clock to see what can be to fix the problem. :wink:

by **speedgraphix** » Thu May 22, 2003 8:18 pm

yah.. i was thinking of the alpine 9815 actually..

by **Yanks0114** » Fri May 23, 2003 7:46 am

Gunman you are right about the 8 character limit. I wouldn't have gotten pioneer either, but it was free

Long story but, thats the only reason I got XM, I didn't have to pay for the initial hardware

by **aleath** » Fri May 23, 2003 11:33 am

speedgraphix wrote:yah.. i was thinking of the alpine 9815 actually..

Thats what I am planning on getting in the next week or two. I went and looked at it yesterday in an audio shop and was pretty happy with it. I looked at Kenwood units while I was there and noticed the new ones have a lot of movement.. with all those motors I could see any of them breaking easily.

Personally I like Alpines styling on head units right now. To me many of the others look like they're throwing out random ideas that just don't look that great. Just my opinion though.

by **c2g** » Fri May 23, 2003 5:48 pm

I'm with gunman on the sirius I have the Panasonic and I love it I just got rid of my old kenwood I used to be a huge kenwood fan but not so much anymore I think the new Panasonics are better

by **ZXLNT** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 2:09 pm

speedgraphix wrote:the thing that was keeping me from sirius radio was their partners they have, Im not really all that huge of a fan of kenwood, and panasonic. What type of radios do you have? which models?

Clarion radios use Sirius tuners. My DXZ835MP is Sirius compatible.

by **speedgraphix** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 6:33 pm

well.. i went with the alpine 9815. its a good radio, i just havent bought the tuner for xm yet, ill let you know how it turns out

by **aleath** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 2:42 pm

I have the 9815 too and got the XM tuner that comes with the RF modulator (cheaper than the tuner box only). I mounted the tuner box behind the rear seat (about same place as Yank's Pioneer box) and put my antenna in the middle of the rear deck. It sounds good and I rarely lose the signal, only complaint I have is that it doesn't play more recognizable music.

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