Having Sirius Satellite Radio Installed Friday!

[SW03ES]

Just thought I'd share.

I made an appointment to have Sirius satellite radio installed on Friday. I labored long between Sirius and XM and originally was going to go XM, but extended listening to the online samples made Sirius seem a lot more appealing. XM seems to play a lot of the stuff that you've never heard of, "deep tracks" whereas Sirius adopts the general radio programming motto, if people have never heard of it there's probably a reason.

The downside is Sirius is a lot more expensive. The unit I was going to buy for XM was $160, everything included, head unit, tuner, and antenna. Well, the comparable unit for Sirius is $230 and you still have to buy a $50-$70 antenna. Still though I think the more mainstream proramming is worth the extra cost. They're going to charge me $140 for the custom install, they're going to install the little controller in the upper console box right at the edge and hide everything so you wouldn't even know it was there. We're having a little difference of opinion about the antenna. He seems to think that he can put it on the rear parcel shelf, but I think he's going to have to put it on the roof. XM's satellites are much lower on the horizon than Sirius' and thats why inside car mounts for the antennas work well for XM, but I've heard real horror stories about them having a lot of dropouts for Sirius. So I'm going to insist he install the antenna right at the top of the rear window in the center. I may have it painted body color at some point, we'll have to see how it looks.

So it should be $415 installed for the Sirius vs about $300 for the XM.

This is the unit if anyone's interested:

[Senna4ever]

Wow, are you *SIRIUS*? Sorry, just had to. :whistles:

I'm interested....tell me how it works out!

[SW03ES]

LOL

Actually I'm going to do a different unit, an Audiovox one. Its free with the install which brings the cost WAY down.

[jens99lex]

If you get the satellite radio do you have to get a certain compatable radio? Also do you have to pay a monthly fee? What is the average fee? I'm anxious to see how you like it.

Have fun with your new toy :)

[SW03ES]

No you can attatch one of these kits like I'm going to use to your existing radio with an FM modulator. You just tune the radio to a preset station and the Sirius plays through that station.

Sirius is $12.99 a month, XM is $9.99.

[nancyd]

Steve:

I saw the XM radio at the dealer today. Great sound. Though it has way too many stations - many are too obscure.

Good luck.

[Matthew_McNally]

excuse the english guys ignorance ( :P ) - but what is 'satelliete' radio?

is this a digital radio receiver?

[squarehat]

We're having a little difference of opinion about the antenna. He seems to think that he can put it on the rear parcel shelf, but I think he's going to have to put it on the roof. XM's satellites are much lower on the horizon than Sirius' and thats why inside car mounts for the antennas work well for XM, but I've heard real horror stories about them having a lot of dropouts for Sirius. So I'm going to insist he install the antenna right at the top of the rear window in the center. I may have it painted body color at some point, we'll have to see how it looks.

So it should be $415 installed for the Sirius vs about $300 for the XM.

This is the unit if anyone's interested:

I'm very interested to hear how this turns out. I've been interested in Sirius for a while now. I've heard similar things about antenna placement, too. A friend of mine keeps telling me I'd have to set the antenna a foot back from the top of the rear window, because he claims the antenna supposedly needs a foot of metal on all sides to work. However, like yourself, I want the antenna in the OEM "shark fin" location, like you'd see on a BMW, Audi, or LS 430. Painting wouldn't be an issue for me (my car is black onyx). Not sure if painting would interfere with reception (plenty of cars have their GPS antennae color-keyed to body color, but not sure how that signal compares to a Sirius signal in strength/attenuation)

There's a G35 sedan that I park nearby at work every day. It has a Sirius antenna (not sure if it's factory installed, port/dealer installed, or aftermarket), and it's got the 1 foot offset from the window I mentioned. It's also matte black on a silver car, and it's got one of those plastic wiremolds hiding the foot or so of wire (like the wiremold for the wire on the inside autodimming mirror). If it were factory, I would hope Infiniti would have run the wire straight up into the antenna instead of across the roof.

[SW03ES]

Nancy- Yeah thats the thing about XM, they pride themselves in the obscurity. Sirius is more mainstream, check it out and listen at www.sirius.com

Matt- Its the latest thing over here, its similar to cable or satellite TV, only the equivelent in radio. Check it out at www.xmradio.com and www.sirius.com

Square- It may be dealer installed but its not factory. The factory antennas have the wire hidden so you just see the antenna itself. Dealers though don't do that as they're afraid to drill into the metal. They stopped doing that for cellular antennas a long time ago too because it was causing corrosion, thats why they started using glass mount antennas. The dealer installed XM on my dad's 04 LS430 (04 Lexus have a complete XM kit that runs it right through the nav system, but its $750) and they installed the antenna on the drivers side of the trunk lid, it has that black cover over the wires too. I had heard 6 inches was ideal for the Sirius which wouldn't be too big a deal. Its not gonna work inside the car though.

[SW03ES]

This is the unit they're going to install now