I just bought this deck last night
First off, is XM worth getting? It seems like a great idea, but I don't actually know anyone who has it. My other question, is that it is my understanding that you need a tuner box and antenna. What is my best option for both of these? I want a tuner that does the job, but for a reasonable price. My main concern with the antenna is stealthiness. I don't want a big bulky extra antenna. I heard they make a glass-mount one, but I've never seen one of these installed. Anyone have it and have any pics?

 

here ya go man....xm radio is awesome...10 bucks a month, and you don't have to sign a contract.....it will cost you 200 dollars for the antenna and reciever, and will be very hard to find cheaper in stores...i got mine at circuit city...that is what you HAVE to have in order to run xm....terk just made a new antenna which is very strong,durable, and stealthy...i don't have any pics, but I'm sure you can look online for pictures of the antennas..theres 101 channels with everything you could possibly want..service does not work in Alaska, Hawaii, and your garage. playboy radio is available for an extra fee too...very easy to hook up...you can save 100 bucks by doing it yourself...very easy... The xm will come with a thick blue or black wire that plugs into the back of the radio and then the power supply the yellow wire is for an all time power which is for memoryand the black wire is for a ground it will have a U shape connector...anymore qts...let me know..cya

 

do you loose total reception with XM under obstructions like bridges/garages etc...?

also...you gotta get a reciever for XM to work right? is it just like a box or is it like it's own little head unit? thanks

 

the answer to your first question is yes... you will lose total reception...mabye its my location, but you have a 99% chance to lose reception under garages, not really bridges though, because it holds the station for a good 10 seconds when you lose contact...so by the time you drive by, it will be much less than 10 seconds..no problem with bridges...it looks like a mini amplifier...i stuck it in the back under my box....its better in the back, because it is closer to the antenna, but you can install it in the front...there is like like 10000 feet of power wire

 

dont get XM it is badddddddddddd get serius instead, if you want real CD quality music

 

Helll, that CD Player is MP3, you can put over 150 songs on a single cd, w/ song titles...why get XM to?

 

My mother-in-law bought an XM system and then wanted to use it in her house. I installed it in her living room and it works perfect, never cuts out.

Unless you are in your car ALOT, I dont think it is worth paying $10 a month. And like Disturb said, why not just make 1 or 2 mp3 cds?

Brian

 

ive heard xm and sirius..and they are the same....xm has better channels, and is 3 bucks cheaper a month...and, there is no contract to sign up with...with sirius, you have to sign up with a contract....ive got mp3 too, but i am seriously into music, and need to hear new things..with my alpine..it lists the artist and track on xm..so its pretty cool...and a few stations don't come in that good, but thats because the songs played were recorded before the 50's!

 

The other nice thing about the MP3 disk, is you can take your current cd's and convert them to mps, than you can get 5-7 reg cd's onto one MP3 cd. I convertet my whole cd collecton (over 200 reg cd's) to only 25 MP3 cd's. So I can listen to one MP3 cd for a week without over changing it. You then dont have to carry a huge cd book with you in the car, and if anything happens to the MP3 cd's (like getting stolen ot tosted in the sun) no big deal just make some more. I would say skip the XM and use MP3, but you probabally dont care what I think.

 

I agree that having several mp3 disks would be about as good for a lot less money and hassle. The problem is that my computer kinda sucks, and I have AOL. I got into the mp3 thing long before others did (I bought a 2X burner for like $350 when they first came out) and was using Napster long before it's popularity blew up, so I have about 1200 mp3s I've collected over the years. But getting new music is such a pain. It takes a half hour sometimes more to download a song....sometimes it turns out to skip or not even be the right song or the quality just plain sucks. Often AOL just disconnects mid-download, especially if I set it up to download a bunch overnight. And I don't really have the cash for a new comp, and I live with my parents so it's not really my call to get DSL or Broadband. So it's really appealing to me to just have a constant stream of fresh new digital quality music right into my vehicle.

 

I see what you are saying about your computer, i went from 56k to broadband cable than back to 56k. A song with cable takes about 3min and with 56k about 15min. It's not you computer that is the problem its your internet. I read AOL will kick you off if you dont use it for a period of time, But I have ATT 56k and it wont kick me off, i can leave it on as long as possible. I havent heard anybody that is happy with AOL service. You might want to talk to your parents about a faster internet service, if you are paying $20 a month for AOL, switch to cable or DSL. Have them pay the $20 and you can pay the differance. Total cost of faster inter net about $40-$60 month.

Any ways, XM would be great if you didnt have to pay for the service (like cable TV) but I hate the crap they play on the radio anyway, I'll stick to my CD's/MP3's.

 

i have a dvd burner...are there any head units out there that can read dvd-r mp3 disks?

 

I did a search at www.crutchfield.com for dvd-r and nothing came up under car audio. But now that you mentioned it, I'm going to keep my eyes out for one of those.

 

Indeed there is. Rockford Fosgate makes some VERY nice mp3 head units. The lowest of their line, the RFX9000 is awesome. Mine has never given me any problems, has excellent sound, and I've never read a bad review about it.

 

Also, you can get it brand new for $200 at Best Buy or for around $150 brand new on Ebay.

 

Of course, now I look like an idiot because I just read the "DVD-R" part. The RF line does not play DVD disks...sorry.

 

You had me going fo a second.. I have a rockford mp3 deck, and was going to try it.

 

Huh, since you don't know how to spell it..............and BTW, both companies use the same technology for....you guessed it....cd quality sound.


I've had XM for seven months now and love it. If someone says you don't need it, or bashes it, they don't have it. I've never heard anyone who has it (either one) say they don't love it.

XM will also help you in your MP3 selection. You'll hear new stuff, or stuff you've forgoten about, and download it.

I ripped my six-disk out after i installed XM. I did'nt need it anymore. FM, don't need that either. I leave my antenna on for AM traffic and weather.

www.clubxm.com
www.xmradio.com

 

well said