Sirius Satellite Radio? Is it worth it?

[Caffeine]

I know that on our MsPs the deck comes "Satellite Ready" Does this mean that to get satellite we just have to call up pay the monthly fee and theres nothing additional to buy?

Also if anyone has the Sirius radio service post about if its cool and worth it or not. I dont have any experience with Satellite radio but it seems appealing.

[gujustud]

As far as I know you need to buy another unit to connect to the deck.

KTC-SR901 - Sirius Satellite Tuner

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/content/product/image/large/KTC-SR901.jpg

[Limited Edition]

I always wondered what this was for?
is it like a talking voice navigation?

[gujustud]

Nope, its satellite radio. ie: no more crap reception. You can get cd quality music (no commericals) anywhere pretty much.

It is via paid subscription however.

[gujustud]

more info:

SIRIUS® Satellite

SIRIUS® is all about the music. Their 60 commercial-free original music streams have been crafted by SIRIUS' Stream Designers to deliver a huge variety of the music you want with depth and insight, but without advertising, corporate agendas, or censorship. And when you want the latest scores or stock reports, SIRIUS also has 40 world-class news, sports, and entertainment streams that will keep you on top of your game, 24/7.

SIRIUS has 3 satellites flying in figure-8 orbits, so you can drive from coast-to-coast and the signals will follow you all the way. And SIRIUS' exclusive S>PLEX technology puts the bandwidth right were it's needed, giving you superior sound resolution no matter what stream you're listening to.

[gujustud]

Antenna

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/content/product/image/large/CX-SR10.jpg

[BlackMSP]

just burn mp3 cd's mang!

[03MzdSpdSTP]

I have Satellite Radio in my Saturn and love it! When i get my MS i will def get Satellite!(mspb)

[Limited Edition]

Man, that's COOL!
i assume you use the antenna that comes with the Satellite Radio? So what happens to to rear glass antenna? no use?
How much is this system and monthly payment?
where do you install tuner?
does one tune in the same stations? e.g if i want 92.5 it's the same music w/o all the other crap?

[Strider1222]

I've been looking at satellite radio for a while and Surius def looks a lot better than XM... XM has like only 40 commercial free channels and only has 2 satellites for the entire US-

What 's the subscription rate again?

[redmption]

I just got it hooked up tonight and its pretty sweet. I havent listend to it much but the quality is A++
You have to buy an antenna and the modulator*
Right now there is a promo through bestbuy and circuit city, if you buy the antenna you get the modulator for free, or vise versa I cant rememeber which. Either way you save like $70.00. It was like $220 including install.
*The MSP owners dont need the modulator with the stereo we have in the car just the antenna. But its still cheaped to do the promo deal, dont tell them you dont need the modulator.

Its 12.99 a month but if you sign up for a year you get one month free. My total was like $140.00 for the subscription. You can then sell the modulator on ebay for like $40 to people who dont have the Sirius ready radio. Sweet deal I think...

[MikeyG_U2]

I've had mine for over a month and love it. You have to purchase two hardware pieces, the antenna and the decoder, about $250 total. Then you pay for the subscription, you can sign up at sirius.com, it's $12.95 a month. No commercials is a beautiful, beautiful thing. The sound is great, although it will pause for second if I go under an overpass or through a tunnel, but it's great otherwise.

I had mine installed at my local Tweeter center, they mounted my antenna on the rear deck instead of the roof, it gets great reception there, and doesn't mar the appearance of my pumpkin :-) The decoder is in the trunk, behind the side-liner on the drivers side, there is a ton of room back there, and it's well ventilated. I drive around all the time for my job, going from client to client, so I love my Sirius radio. I suggest you go sirius.com and check out the streams they've got, see if they sound interesting to you. I think you can even preview them off the website, if you like it, go for it, it's great.

PS: this does not disable your normal FM/AM tuner, Sirius just becomes a third option when you press SRC button on our head-units.

[I-Am-Chris]

Dude XM owns Sirius!!!
plus isnt sirrius going bankrupt???

[Silk]

I-am-chris: The combined satellite radio market has lost $500 million while (last I checked) having invested $1 billion each. So to be fair, neither company is in great shape. Additionally, WorldSpace has multiple satellite coverage over Africa, Europe and Asia with soon to be launched Central and South American sats. You can see where Worldspace is eyeing next.

Strider1222: XM does indeed have ONLY 2 satellites but they are geosychronous whereas Sirius has 3 sats forming an inclined elliptical satellite constellation. This guarantees a minimum of at least 1 over US. The two companies employed different approaches to the same problem so lets try to at least compare apples to apples here. For example if only one Sirius's satellites is over US at a given time while XM has two. Would that automatically make XM better using your mindset? The only thing anyone of us cares about is at least 1 clear line of sight to 1 sat for clear reception?


In my opinion, the only criteria for purchasing in the satellite market is; 1. equipment preference and 2. programming preference. Others have touched on the programming side already so I'll add to the equipment side. XM made deals with Honda and GM while Sirius made one with Daimler Chrysler. On the audio manufacturer side, XM has Alpine, Pioneer, and Sony while Sirius has Clarion, Jenson, Kenwood and Panasonic. So depending on what hardware you like, you may be limited one service or the other especially if you want a fully integrated product like a kenwood receiver with a kenwood tuner.

Let's clear up the misconceptions here and help others make a better purchase. Here are some relevant articles:

http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=5049

http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0%2C1285%2C55706%2C00.html

[Logan]

Originally posted by gujustud
Nope, its satellite radio. ie: no more crap reception. You can get cd quality music (no commericals) anywhere pretty much.
anywhere pretty much in the continental USA.
We Canadians get nothing....

[Caffeine]

Good stuff silk, thanks for the information! I got some time to think it over before my gray msp arrives anyways

[1sty]

Actualy XM is doing much better then Sirus as XM will have over 1 million subscribers by year end.
Sirus is getting desperate and they are investing more it seem, they just picked up the rights to broadcast NBA games.

[MikeyG_U2]

I had read that the Sirius satellite design allows for two of the three satellites to be over the US at any given time. Also, their figure 8 pattern is supposed to provide a larger angle to the US, which supposedly allows their signal to be less susceptible to obstructions. Every review I've read has said that the two sound identical, so the choice depends on your preference, and the equipment you've got.

[I-Am-Chris]

well I have had both and my personal prefrence is XM. I like the shows and music selection on there better like DJ Raps friday night broadcasts

[theirishmexican]

or...
go here:
http://www.siriusradio.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/CachedPage&c=ProductAsset&cid=1109871896285

and install it yourself for $99 total. just plug and play.

[oliver2000]

anywhere pretty much in the continental USA.
We Canadians get nothing....


It works fine in Canada.....all you need is a US address and the kit.