For all you Sirius Pholks out there...

kt_tampa · Post by **kt_tampa** » July 27, 2007 2:03 pm

I am looking to make the switch over to Sirius Satellite Radio in the near future and am looking for advise from those who have blazed the trail ahead of me.

Basically looking for the pro's / con's of Sirius. Keeping in mind that I plan to use the radio in the car as well as the house some of the questions I have are:

1. What type / style of radio would be recommended?

2. what is the ease of moving the radio from the car to the house?

3. Sound quality and volume; as we all do, it when it sounds good and during a live show it must be loud. My laptop is just not cutting it so, will a sirius satellite radio be able to provide me with a nice loud sound in the house.

That's about it for now. Feel free to add any other details you think a Sirius virgin shoud know before making the plunge.

Thanks for any info and fins up!!!!!!!!!!

Skibo · Post by **Skibo** » July 27, 2007 2:26 pm

The portable units for the car are easy to move. To use in the home, you will need to purchase a antenna and power kit. The receiver broadcasts on a radio frequency or directly plugs into your sound system. Sound quality/sound is as good as the sound system you choose to use. I use my receiver in the house with a boom box. Antenna placement is important. You have to have it in a window so it can catch the satellite. It is easy to set up. I have never had to deal with customer service other than the setup. Billing is automatic. I renew my subscription annually.

Only con is that you will need to change the broadcast frequency on the receiver when traveling into an area that has a radio station broadcasting on the frequency you selected. I also had problems receiving in NYC.

Tropic_Al · Post by **Tropic_Al** » July 27, 2007 2:47 pm

Skibo wrote:The portable units for the car are easy to move. To use in the home, you will need to purchase a antenna and power kit. The receiver broadcasts on a radio frequency or directly plugs into your sound system. Sound quality/sound is as good as the sound system you choose to use. I use my receiver in the house with a boom box. Antenna placement is important. You have to have it in a window so it can catch the satellite. It is easy to set up. I have never had to deal with customer service other than the setup. Billing is automatic. I renew my subscription annually.

Only con is that you will need to change the broadcast frequency on the receiver when traveling into an area that has a radio station broadcasting on the frequency you selected. I also had problems receiving in NYC.

There is a plugin unit that goes into the antenna lead. This blocks any other outside signal & greatly improves the reception in the car. No need to change the broadcast frequency. I purchased mine at a local car stereo store. It works great !

parithedfred · Post by **parithedfred** » July 27, 2007 2:55 pm

I have the Sportster but that was 'the' model at the time I got into it, I wish I had the more recent slimmer version. Antenna placement is critical for both the car and the house, I've often thought about having the antenna professionally installed in my car because at the moment my antenna wire runs out the backdoor and onto the trunk lid.

When in the car, keep in mind that your antenna is trying to find a satellite, anything between the two and you have problems; overpasses, trees, buildings, even semi-trucks; it all depends on where the satellite is at that time. I spend alot of time on the highway so it may cut out for a second after I go under an overpass, when I get into my town, forget it, I shut it off; too many trees and the in and out drives me crazy.

For the home, I bought the boom box and the only issue is getting the antenna into a good place because I've got trees everywhere with a limited amount of sky. Sound quality is great though and it cranks.

I don't know how the new receivers are but the Sportster acts like a DVR, you can pause and it will keep storing up to an hour or so in memory, which is great because I can back up if I missed something. Some days I'll turn on Sirius, but listen to the radio or my iPod and then at any point I'll flip to Sirius and backup to see what I've missed. I've gotten so used to it that I get frustrated when listening to terresterial radio and I can 'rewind'.

One of the best purchases I ever made because it has made my commuting so much more easier to deal with.

redwinemaker · Post by **redwinemaker** » July 27, 2007 3:16 pm

Sirius satellite info:

Zuke · Post by **Zuke** » July 27, 2007 6:32 pm

If you buy a higher end model, spend a few extra $$ and get the protection plan, I had the S50, after a year and a half, it died, I went back to Best Buy and they gave me a Stilleto, it's portable, the antenna is in the headset.

kt_tampa · Post by **kt_tampa** » July 27, 2007 7:30 pm

THanks everyone who responded.

I have decided from these comments that I am going to take a chance with sirius.

Most of my listening will occur in my home and i dont have many trees to interfere with the satilitte.

My biggest issue is getting a good, high quality sound during live concerts while I am outside enjoying some beers in my pool. I must confess my laptop is falling short in this aspect.

Thanks again Parrotheads. Enjoy your weekend and hope to see some of you on the boards during the Alpine show tomorrow nite

AlbatrossFlyer · Post by **AlbatrossFlyer** » July 27, 2007 9:35 pm

if you want quality sound at higher volume settings. then you need to invest in good quality speakers. it doesn't matter how good the audio source is, if you have crappy speakers, it will sound crappy.

bravedave · Post by **bravedave** » July 27, 2007 10:32 pm

I like mine a lot. I use both in the car and with a boombox.
My biggest problem is loss of signal from overhead obstructions (like trees). And that is not insurmountable, just temporarily annoying, like the old days of AM radio getting static from the vacuum cleaner. (Did I just date myself?)

Bob Roberts · Post by **Bob Roberts** » July 30, 2007 7:50 am

parithedfred wrote:I've often thought about having the antenna professionally installed in my car because at the moment my antenna wire runs out the backdoor and onto the trunk lid.

How do they install it? I've been wanting to put one on my wife's car, but I hate to have a wire running onto the truck lid. On most cars, you can run the antenna wire into the back of the trunk lid and through the hole where the truck lid is connected to the car. It will run behind the back seat. What do the pros do?

PJ · Post by PJ » July 30, 2007 8:55 am

Bob Roberts wrote:
parithedfred wrote:I've often thought about having the antenna professionally installed in my car because at the moment my antenna wire runs out the backdoor and onto the trunk lid.
How do they install it? I've been wanting to put one on my wife's car, but I hate to have a wire running onto the truck lid. On most cars, you can run the antenna wire into the back of the trunk lid and through the hole where the truck lid is connected to the car. It will run behind the back seat. What do the pros do?

I've seen the older XM magnet antennas stuck to the roof of the car and then the wire brought down the side of either the windshield or back glass and then brought into the cabin around the door, sometimes by having an extremely small hole drilled to feed it through.

At one time, my "redneck" solution was to come off the roof, down the left side of the rear glass, into the trunk by going beneath the trunk gasket, then into the cabin by dropping the back seat to get trunk access, bringing the wire into the cabin and then close the seat up again. The only problem was after about 6-8 months the antenna wire frayed where it passed through the trunk/body seam. Now I just have the antenna on the dashboard where it meets the windshield, held to the defrost vent by a bread tie. It may not be the best solution, but it works well enough.

freaky4tiki · Post by **freaky4tiki** » July 30, 2007 9:04 am

In love with Sirius. Just got my husband the boom box and I don't know why I didn't do this earlier. It's super portable and has excellent sound. Took it on vaca and to the beach every day. Love it! Just pop the Sportster in the dock and plug her in. It's excruciatingly simple!

parithedfred · Post by **parithedfred** » July 30, 2007 9:23 am

Bob Roberts wrote:
parithedfred wrote:I've often thought about having the antenna professionally installed in my car because at the moment my antenna wire runs out the backdoor and onto the trunk lid.
How do they install it? I've been wanting to put one on my wife's car, but I hate to have a wire running onto the truck lid. On most cars, you can run the antenna wire into the back of the trunk lid and through the hole where the truck lid is connected to the car. It will run behind the back seat. What do the pros do?

My understanding is that they'd put the antenna on the roof, about 6 inches away from the rear window and run the wire over the window trim and then back up under the trim to prevent leakage and somehow they get it past the windshield; then its just a matter of hiding the wire in the interior trim work.

narnianelf · Post by **narnianelf** » July 30, 2007 9:53 am

Tropic_Al wrote: There is a plugin unit that goes into the antenna lead. This blocks any other outside signal & greatly improves the reception in the car. No need to change the broadcast frequency. I purchased mine at a local car stereo store. It works great !

I'd highly recommend buying that plugin. I got one online for around $10. My Sirius reception was crap until I got the direct FM connector. Now I have great sound and don't have to deal with trying to find a new dead station every time I go to another city.

SISTER PARROT HEAD · Post by **SISTER PARROT HEAD** » July 30, 2007 1:16 pm

narnianelf wrote:
Tropic_Al wrote: There is a plugin unit that goes into the antenna lead. This blocks any other outside signal & greatly improves the reception in the car. No need to change the broadcast frequency. I purchased mine at a local car stereo store. It works great !
I'd highly recommend buying that plugin. I got one online for around $10. My Sirius reception was crap until I got the direct FM connector. Now I have great sound and don't have to deal with trying to find a new dead station every time I go to another city.

My Husband & I love our Sirius radios...but we have had the same problems. Please, please tell me where I can buy this plug in ... I have tried every place on line that I can think of, but I am finding nothing.
I tried Radio shack and they were no help ( & they sell the radios.)..they
just looked at me like I didn't know what I was talking about...they don't treat women very well at radio shack in our little town

Tropic_Al · Post by **Tropic_Al** » July 30, 2007 1:49 pm

SISTER PARROT HEAD wrote:
narnianelf wrote:
Tropic_Al wrote: There is a plugin unit that goes into the antenna lead. This blocks any other outside signal & greatly improves the reception in the car. No need to change the broadcast frequency. I purchased mine at a local car stereo store. It works great !
I'd highly recommend buying that plugin. I got one online for around $10. My Sirius reception was crap until I got the direct FM connector. Now I have great sound and don't have to deal with trying to find a new dead station every time I go to another city.
My Husband & I love our Sirius radios...but we have had the same problems. Please, please tell me where I can buy this plug in ... I have tried every place on line that I can think of, but I am finding nothing.
I tried Radio shack and they were no help ( & they sell the radios.)..they
just looked at me like I didn't know what I was talking about...they don't treat women very well at radio shack in our little town

I bought mine @ a local car stereo store that installs Sirius radios.
Google "sirius FM direct adapter" and/or "car radio installers" for a location near you

narnianelf · Post by **narnianelf** » July 30, 2007 2:11 pm

SISTER PARROT HEAD wrote:
narnianelf wrote:
Tropic_Al wrote: There is a plugin unit that goes into the antenna lead. This blocks any other outside signal & greatly improves the reception in the car. No need to change the broadcast frequency. I purchased mine at a local car stereo store. It works great !
I'd highly recommend buying that plugin. I got one online for around $10. My Sirius reception was crap until I got the direct FM connector. Now I have great sound and don't have to deal with trying to find a new dead station every time I go to another city.
My Husband & I love our Sirius radios...but we have had the same problems. Please, please tell me where I can buy this plug in ... I have tried every place on line that I can think of, but I am finding nothing.
I tried Radio shack and they were no help ( & they sell the radios.)..they
just looked at me like I didn't know what I was talking about...they don't treat women very well at radio shack in our little town

Crutchfield.com has them. I found mine on pricegrabber.com, which searches several sites and finds good prices. I just searched "sirius fm direct adapter".

I have had one problem with it. It seems to be blocking my signals for the local radio stations. But since I no longer listen to them, that doesn't really matter to me.

Tropic_Al · Post by **Tropic_Al** » July 30, 2007 2:52 pm

narnianelf wrote: I have had one problem with it. It seems to be blocking my signals for the local radio stations. But since I no longer listen to them, that doesn't really matter to me.

This may help..
When trying to listen to a local station, be sure to shut off the Sirius unit.

SISTER PARROT HEAD · Post by **SISTER PARROT HEAD** » July 30, 2007 5:54 pm

Thank You! Thank You!

I have 2 ordered and they just emailed
that they have been shipped

BN'rs are the most amazingly helpful
people in the World