Sirius or XM?

[ctp]

Looking into each. Does anybody have a prefernce and why?

[VehiX]

GO XM!!!

XM is cheaper and is now comercial free

Check my gallery for pics if you'd like.

Don't forget you can buy an after market head unit and hook the signal up through that OR you can do what Sirius cannot do and take the Delphi unit that I have to anyones house that has audio left and right jacks on thier stereo receiver and have XM no matter where you hang out

[Joe_Black]

I'm a SIRIUS user and originally signed up because they had a great 80's alternative line-up, NPR and are commercial free. XM has now reduced their commercials enough to claim commercial free. Really though, they're both comparable and have similar equipment. Contrary to what VehiX says (Delphi makes consumer XM tuners but also manufactures OEM SIRIUS units for the trucking industry) you can haul SIRIUS tuners around as they have small portable models by JVC, Clarion, Audiovox and others which can be moved from vehicle to vehicle, home or a boom-box. Plus you can listen to SIRIUS through your PC courtesy of their website, and I'm sure XM probably has something similar. SIRIUS also offers reverse-compatible tuners which allow you to tune in with OEM supplied XM equipment, another cool thing if you want SIRIUS but your new car has an XM radio.

Basically it boils down to what you like. Thanks to the FCC, there can only be two broadcasters which means a duopoly. Best thing to do is go to both websites and compare the channel lineups. Think about what YOU like to listen to, not what people tell you about either carrier. Again, they're basically the same with just a few exceptions: If you've got kids and maybe an in-car video system or are thinking about one, then SIRIUS is the way to go as they will be soon offering 5 channels of in-car satellite video. XM, unfortunately, never planned for that kind of expansion and their satellites are pretty much stuck doing audio. SIRIUS was first in the industry but last to market because they were getting all this stuff lined up, plus wanted to have an additional satellite in orbit to offer more coverage area than XM. No big deal though if you're in the continental US, but for Alaska and Canada you can only get SIRIUS.

Careful where you read reviews though, as some folk start to sound like a gang of 12-year olds bragging on their favorite wrestler or somesuch. Think of the choices as "chocolate" or "strawberry" rather than who's better, it's really about the flavor.

Again, look at the lineup, maybe listen online or if you know folk with the setups, compare equipment and make your choice based on what you find you like. Once you get it, you'll never listen to FM again! I rarely pop in a CD anymore, the selections are just that good!

Either way you go, you'll enjoy!

[azskyrider]

go SIRI and help out a fellow member

[Green Dragon]

After researching all I went with this.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...EBWA%3AIT&rd=1


Bob

[Dallas4u]

Now that you have gone with XM, be sure and check out XMFan.com. It's a forum dealing with XM but they really deal more with the Roady, the SkyFI unit, and the XMPCR.

I went with XM because I had a Pioneer head unit that supported it. If I had a head unit that worked with Sirius, I probably would have gone that way. I like XM and listen to it constantly when in the car, but I have found some channels replay certain songs more than others, and it can get a little annoying. Other than that it is a blast!

[jeffkics]

XM is the way to go. No commercials on any of the music stations. Real live DJ's. Cheaper than the competitor and 10x as many subscribers.
I love it, it's pretty much all I listen to now.

[Joe_Black]

No commercials on any of the music stations.

Yeah, SIRIUS was beating them alive with this one.

Real live DJ's.

The dead ones really don't seem very engaging, do they?

10x as many subscribers.

Always better to march lock-step with the majority too, which is why we all have a VehiCROSS right?

;Dp; ;pp; ;Dr; ;pr;

[powered by isuzu]

Good luck finding a place to mount your new skyfi unit. Check my gallery pics. it's the only place i could find to mount it. As far as quality of sound it's great, especially if you go with the FM modulator and hard wire it to a constant power source and plug into the antenna. The only downfall is signal. If you are in a rural area great. City with a lot of buildings......forget it. Good luck with it

[Heraclid]

XM had 100 channels going into this year, but they added 16 channels in February, plus several news/weather/traffic stations for many metropolitan areas. XM had some truly commercial-free channels and some with just a few commercials, but as of February they also went entirely commercial free on all stations.

I got the Delphi unit as a gift, and will hold onto it for home use. For the VX I would recommend getting a tuner that is XM-ready and just replace the factory unit for the cleanest look and you can upgrade the head unit in the process. Sony (and maybe others but Sony for sure) makes ones that receive XM programming.... I think Kenwood or Alpine (or both) make them for Sirius. Audiovox too. In my own experience locally, XM equipment and accessories were much more prevalent but Sirius has been more of a presence lately. I didn't used to ever see anyone around here that sold it, but now there may be more Sirius stuff than XM stuff out there.

I don't think one is necessarily better than another, but check out their programming lists and judge for yourself, or maybe it just comes down to the head unit or portable receiver unit you prefer. Both offer several options.

Regarding signal for XM, I have no problems anywhere I've been. I have to be under an overpass and then it just goes out and comes back real fast. That or in my garage. Otherwise, no problems, and that's with having the antenna mounted under the rear wing rather than a place with more of a "view".

[ctp]

So, will I need to change out the entire stock system, or can I just replace the cassette/radio, or is the XM/Sirius receiver completetly seperate?

[Joe_Black]

I'll second Heraclid's asessment of signal clarity. I drive regulary in downtown Tampa and Orlando plus my local downtown areas and rarely have any issues. The antenna on the Dragon is mounted on the hood insert and the antenna on the Iron Man is on the rear portion of the roof. Both pull in quite well, unless I'm stuck in traffic under a building-to-building bridge or similar. In metro Atlanta I've had no problems either, but you've got to realize that both SIRIUS and XM have ground-based digital repeaters for areas that may have a lot of "sky clutter". These two companies didn't just throw this service on to the market without developing infrastructures to support them. That's why there's more channels than the original 100: Technology has improved in the few short years since satellite radios advent which allows for greater compression, thus more channels for such things as regional/metro weather and traffic. In the case of SIRIUS they'll be offering video as well for in-car systems.

Now for mounting options, there's plenty. My original system in the Dragon is the Kenwood FM modulating unit that can control both a SIRIUS tuner and the MusicKeg digital changer. I cut out the cover for the ECU and mounted it there just below the CD changer. Works fine but the non-adjustable display is a tad bright.

The Audiovox portable tuner I got for the Iron Man was originally mounted (via its docking cradle) in the fuzzy hole with a simple aluminum bracket I fabbed. Well, at night the display reflected directly in line with the driver-side mirror so re-location was in order. I ended up mounting the docking cradle to the ECU cover again, offset to the left. It sits just below the CD changer and ahead of the gear selector. Perfect position! I can see the display clearly, reach all the buttons and my leg doesn't rest against it. As soon as another ECU cover arrives from St. Charles I'm installing another cradle in the Dragon so I can retire the Kenwood unit. I love the portability of the Audiovox! I wish I had waited a bit though as Clarion has a new smaller SIRIUS portable that's the same size as the Delphi Roady. Who knows, those things are so cheap I may switch the next sale at Best Buy! You can always unload the old ones on eBay too!

[driver3]

I think XM got MLB, and Sirius got NFL.. there's a big difference if you listen to sports.

[tomdietrying]

When the witch hunt is over, I'm buying where ever Howard Stern goes.

[Dallas4u]

Originally posted by tomdietrying
When the witch hunt is over, I'm buying where ever Howard Stern goes.

Fingers crossed that it's XM!! He stated that Clear Channel does NOT own stock in XM any longer, and that he wouldn't consider XM if they did, so it is still a possibility!