Sirius sound quality
- Thread starter johnkent3
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CuzzinOlaf
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johnkent3 said:
I had my girlfriends for a few days and it was fine. I am getting XM for Opie and Anthony soon so it doesn't matter to me. You might need to hardwire it to your stereo. They have a connection which wires it right into your car antenna.
atomic punk
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Scrappy125
New member
I just set up my Sirius in the 4runner this weekend for howard's big debut. I hadn't switched it from the Acura, and had gone almost 6 weeks without it. To be honest, I don't listen to the music on it at all, my music is in my Ipod. I listen to the talk on Sirius... especially Maxim, NFL network, and now Howard.
I also always figured the crappy quality was the FM modulator, but, I plugged the Sportster directly into the Aux output in the center console so it plays directly through the headunit... and it still sounds not so hot.
And now, when I accelerate the sirius makes a whining noise! When I left off the gas, it goes away... Gotta figure out that mess next.
I also always figured the crappy quality was the FM modulator, but, I plugged the Sportster directly into the Aux output in the center console so it plays directly through the headunit... and it still sounds not so hot.
And now, when I accelerate the sirius makes a whining noise! When I left off the gas, it goes away... Gotta figure out that mess next.
I've had both XM and Sirius. Both compress their signals and neither is "CD Quality". The problem is there is only a limited amount of bandwidth on the satellites. The more channels they have, the less amount of bandwidth they can give to each channel. What they do now is highly compress the channels that don't need the quality like news & weather, talk, etc. That is why it sounds like AM radio. This gives them more bandwidth to use for the popular music channels which need it.
atomic punk
New member
You "have had" both? Do you not have either now Otto?
Good info there, thanks.
He Scrappy, tune in to "Breuer Unleashed", 4-6 daily, on channel 104 (Raw Dog).
Good info there, thanks.
He Scrappy, tune in to "Breuer Unleashed", 4-6 daily, on channel 104 (Raw Dog).
atomic punk said:
Yea, I had an XM Delphi unit, then I got a Sirius Starmate through a promotion. I liked the Sirius programming better so I cancelled XM. When I got rid of my old car and was shopping for my '06 T4R, I put the Starmate in my wife's car, and she won't give it back! Now that I have my 4R, I'm going to order the AVN5435 nav unit with Sirius tuner.
claydoctor
New member
Scrappy, I just had the same experience trying to run a new SKYFi2 XM radio through the I Pod jack in the console. Poor sound, not enough volume and that whine you hear is engine noise from lack of shielding somewhere. Makes me wonder what an I Pod would sound like through that jack. I used a Radio Shack cable which could have been the problem. Maybe someone makes a better cable with better shielding. Fortunately my XM has a good built in transmitter for FM modulation and that sounds fine. Music sounds just as good as the FM band.
Scrappy125
New member
claydoctor said:
I'm not sure, but my Ipod sounds awesome through the jack, so maybe it is just the sirius unit.
fastlif306
New member
I have the sportster replay in mine, with the FM modulator plugged into the antenna port, sounds awesome. I am totally happy with it, by far the best mod I have done. I also have it in our new Avalon, but I bought the stock Toyota kit and installed it, so its hardwired in, that is freekin killer. Sound is fantastic. I highly recommend it.
AlexJet
New member
My XM Commander gives me approximately the same quality as FM, but it hardwired to the radio. The only thing I mentioned is that I can listen regular FM radio with volume set to 20 and to get the same sound level from XM I have to set the volume at 35. Is this what you've been talking about?
atomic punk
New member
AlexJet said:
I get the same thing. My head unit doesn't allow me to independantly adjust the volume of each of its sources, so that part sucks big time.
In regards to the sound quality, it's the frequency response of the sat radio vs. FM vs. CD being discussed as far as I know.
Scrappy125
New member
UPDATE
I wanted to post to let you guys know who were also having the noise problems with the whining in sat radio when accelerating, that as somebody in another thread had suggested I picked up a Ground Loop Isolator from radio shack. That did it, the sound is much more clear and no more whining.
I wanted to post to let you guys know who were also having the noise problems with the whining in sat radio when accelerating, that as somebody in another thread had suggested I picked up a Ground Loop Isolator from radio shack. That did it, the sound is much more clear and no more whining.
I can't comment on the 4R but in my Z71 Tahoe I had XM and it was hard wired into the radio. The Tahoe had a 9 speaker Bose system and the XM was absolutly just killer sounding , but then again the whole system was killer sounding. It is much better than my premium system in the 4R.
atomic punk
New member
I wonder if having a good cable (1/8" to RCAs) would make a difference in the sound???? I bought a $3 one at Best Buy because it has a very small 1/8" right angle boot on the end. I needed it to be very small due to my mounting config.
I noticed that my wife's XM sounds way better - CD quality even - and it's integrated into the radio in her TL. She has a some sort of Bose 183 speaker system too.
I noticed that my wife's XM sounds way better - CD quality even - and it's integrated into the radio in her TL. She has a some sort of Bose 183 speaker system too.
