First impression before install OEM XM

[Mookem]

As an RF engineer, I'm suprised to hear this. I got to see the XM hardware and antenna installation way back in May, and I was very suprised to see that Subaru mounted their satellite antenna inside of the car. Satellite radio has line-of-sight reception only, and typically if the antenna isn't on the highest point of the car there will be dropouts. Subaru's antenna location is rather odd, and seems like the A pillars and roof would block the signal from certain directions.

 

I went through A LOT of trouble to install my XM antenna. Maybe when this one wears out I'll try replacing it with the Subaru OEM antenna.

 

It's addictive. I already have 2 subscriptions, and I'm getting subscriptions for my parents as Christmas gifts.

 

Believe me when I tell you I was shocked that the antenna works so well. I found my MyFi's dash mount to be inferior to my wifes external roof mount so I fully expected to have poor reception with my Subies internal window mount antenna. I am very happy to have been wrong on that assumption. I am sure there is a technical reason why the Suby XM reception is better - but I don't know if it is the antenna or better sensitivity of the XM unit.

 

BTW - you did a great job externally mounting that antenna.

 

Never thought I'd pay a monthly fee for radio - but now I can't see not having it:lol: Need my O&A uncensored and my music streaming and commercial free.

[leggtnut]

Never thought I'd pay a monthly fee for radio - but now I can't see not having it:lol: Need my O&A uncensored and my music streaming and commercial free.

 

 

+10000000 on that.

 

I swore ewhen I heard about it that I would NEVER pay money to listen to the radio, but when I found myself in the car 9 hours a day, I had to get it and now could never imagine life with out it.

[ZMAN Z28]

My Sirius cut out at least 5-10 times every drive to works. The antenna was mounted on the roof of my Camaro.

 

My factory XM on my Legacy hasn't cut out once yet. It doesn't cut out under the same bridges I knew every day would cut out on Sirius. I can't explain why?

 

ZMAN

[snoman]

My Sirius cut out at least 5-10 times every drive to works. The antenna was mounted on the roof of my Camaro.

 

My factory XM on my Legacy hasn't cut out once yet. It doesn't cut out under the same bridges I knew every day would cut out on Sirius. I can't explain why?

 

ZMAN

All things being equal, XM tends to have a more robust and reliable signal than Sirius. XM's satellites are geostationary at an elevation of 22,000 miles over the equator while Sirius's satellites are always moving at an elevation of a few hundred miles (typically located over Minnesota). At most times, Sirius's constellation design doesn't provide the same spacial diversity as XM's.

 

XM also has a significantly larger repeater network than Sirius, which allows for perfect reception inside of buildings and tunnels within metropolitan areas.

[Audioi]

I might be wrong but I understood that the XM antenna on my 2007 OBW was integrated in the top of the rear glass?

[ZMAN Z28]

All things being equal, XM tends to have a more robust and reliable signal than Sirius. XM's satellites are geostationary at an elevation of 22,000 miles over the equator while Sirius's satellites are always moving at an elevation of a few hundred miles (typically located over Minnesota). At most times, Sirius's constellation design doesn't provide the same spacial diversity as XM's.

 

XM also has a significantly larger repeater network than Sirius, which allows for perfect reception inside of buildings and tunnels within metropolitan areas.

 

 

Not trying to argue. My Sirius reception was 100% in the states of South Dakota (no further west than Sioux Falls), and Minnesota. I've had Sirius from mid May 06 till July 06, and XM only 4 days. I like both of them, competition is nice. Sirius used to be cheaper than XM, now both equally priced. FM is lousy compared to either.

[rides20]

We need to see if the connectors on the XM unit are the same as the Forresters Sirius unit...I doubt it, but if there are at least the same number of pins, i'm sure we could make it work. I have a Sirius subscription and love it, but i'm not really keen on installing the "visor" in the legacy.

[pengrus]

I called an installer, and he told me that he would install the antenna outside the windshield under the rain wiper where there is a plastic piece. Will this work and be a good location?

 

Thank you!

[pengrus]

When I do some reading online, they say XM Radio is not CD quality, sometimes not even as good as FM. Is that true? For those who have installed, especially on 07 Model, what is your take on the sound quality?

 

I wanted to make sure this $500 investment is worth it.

 

Thanks!

[leggtnut]

From my MyFi through the JazzyMT aux in, it sounds CD quality to me. But I have an 06. I had it in my 04 Baja thourgh my Pioneer Premier DEH-7800MP HU and the Pioneer XM unit and it sounded cd quality to me there as well. It is far superior to FM in my opinion in quality. I live in the woods so I get a lot of drop outs because of all the trees, but once I am out of the woods, It sounds great.

[pengrus]

Thanks Ben. So your take is it is worth the $500 investment? :-)

[leggtnut]

I think that $500 is a bit steep. I paid about $450 for the HU and XM unit for my Old Baja so $500 seems alot. Expecially when you can get a MyFi2 for about $100 or so (if memory serves me right). And just use the aux-in port in your 07 and mount the MyFi2 (or what ever else you would get, lots of options) where you want.

[leggtnut]

I just had anohter thought. I wonder if the radio is SAT ready and not just OEM and/or XM ready (clairon maby). If it is SAT ready then you can get a XM or Sirus install unit for a lot less than $500 and have either. I wonder if someone would try either a SAT ready XM reciever on the 07 HU or a clarion XM reciever.

[pengrus]

They say 07 is XM ready. But you still need to install the Tuner and Anneta - the XM Radio Kit (costs $390), plus $150 installation. So it is actually $550 total...

[Mookem]

When I do some reading online, they say XM Radio is not CD quality, sometimes not even as good as FM. Is that true? For those who have installed, especially on 07 Model, what is your take on the sound quality?

 

I wanted to make sure this $500 investment is worth it.

 

Thanks!

 

From my personal experience it is not CD quality. I used my MyFi on my home stereo and it did not as good as a quality CD. With that said - if I boost the bass +2 from the 0 setting I use on the CD - it still sounds good. With the SRS WoW sound processing turned on in my 07 along with the factory subwoofer I will even go as far as to say it sounds great. That coming from a former audiophile junky as my home KEF speakers and Conrad Johnson tubed amp will testify to. The XM and Subwoofer installed ran me about $600 negotiated when I was purchasing my car. Compared to other car audio investments I've made - it was money well spent. I live in southwestern CT so if you are nearby pm me and we can get together so you can hear it for yourself. Some XM channels do sound better then others - so I'm guessing there must be some kind of compression being utilized by XM.

 

I bought my MyFi for $135 and used it on my Audi for over a year. It was great to bring it inside and use in the house but I am happy to have paid the extra for the factory XM unit. The MyFi's antenna wires on the dash, the cassette tape wires (XM said using the cassette adapter sounds superior to the fm transmitter), and the power cord were a bit cumbersome. Plus I don't get dropouts with the factory unit. I also like the fact that the XM unit is covered under my Suby warranty - and I hope that includes my extended 7 year Gold warranty as well? Anyone know if the extended gold covers it?

 

Thing of it is - as leggtnut said - once you start listening and find a couple of channels you like - you will never go without it. I have 3 or 4 channels that just hit my music spot perfect and that makes my miserable commute almost enjoyable. I have never regretted spending the $$ on XM - and I admit to being a cheapskate:lol: I even use the XM Online stream (included free with an XM subscription) on my computer at work and it makes my work day better too

 

Pengrus - try out the free XM Online trial to get a feel for the programming - that may help you decide.

[leggtnut]

I two have about 3 or 4 channels that just hit the right spot. and my wife is loving that they are covering most of the NCAA football games and she can listen to all of her schools games now that we moved away. I also love that they are covering all fo the MLB games. Now they just need to steel away the NFL from sirius.

[leggtnut]

I wanted to ask, does anyone with XM listen to channel 22? what's up with all the friging comercials? I though I was paying for comercial FREE radio. I have been meaning to lodge a complaint with XM about this, but though I would get a thought of who else listens to it. It would be my favorite station with out the dam comercials. Sorry for the thread jacking.

[doogdog]

I wanted to ask, does anyone with XM listen to channel 22? what's up with all the friging comercials? I though I was paying for comercial FREE radio. I have been meaning to lodge a complaint with XM about this, but though I would get a thought of who else listens to it. It would be my favorite station with out the dam comercials. Sorry for the thread jacking.

 

Earlier this year Clear Channel won a legal battle between them and XM allowing them to run commercials on 4 existing channels plus another new channel (CC has a small investment in XM). XM battled this by launching channels with equal content so no commercial free channels were lost. The XM music channels with commercials are:

11 Nashville

21 Kiss

22 Mix

24 Sunny

161 WSIX

 

Rick

[leggtnut]

[rant=on]we dam sue happy americans love to ruine everything. if you getting hot coffie, you are going to get hot coffie and you don't have to go and sue the company over it. And why the hell does Clear channel insist on haveing comercercials on comercial free radio where you are already getting money form their comsumers. So put your dam comercials on the non comercial channels. Like the sports stations and the news channels. Lots of people listen to those and would then listen to those channels. I just change the channel when the comercial comes on and don't change back till I feel like a change.[rant=off]

 

Ok now that, that is out of the way. Who wants to put a patition together to get rid of thes comercials?

[pengrus]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Is the Suby XM Kit much better than the myfi? I have a Creative Zen and we used FM transmiter once, and it sounds terrible.

 

 

 

From my personal experience it is not CD quality. I used my MyFi on my home stereo and it did not as good as a quality CD. With that said - if I boost the bass +2 from the 0 setting I use on the CD - it still sounds good. With the SRS WoW sound processing turned on in my 07 along with the factory subwoofer I will even go as far as to say it sounds great. That coming from a former audiophile junky as my home KEF speakers and Conrad Johnson tubed amp will testify to. The XM and Subwoofer installed ran me about $600 negotiated when I was purchasing my car. Compared to other car audio investments I've made - it was money well spent. I live in southwestern CT so if you are nearby pm me and we can get together so you can hear it for yourself. Some XM channels do sound better then others - so I'm guessing there must be some kind of compression being utilized by XM.

 

I bought my MyFi for $135 and used it on my Audi for over a year. It was great to bring it inside and use in the house but I am happy to have paid the extra for the factory XM unit. The MyFi's antenna wires on the dash, the cassette tape wires (XM said using the cassette adapter sounds superior to the fm transmitter), and the power cord were a bit cumbersome. Plus I don't get dropouts with the factory unit. I also like the fact that the XM unit is covered under my Suby warranty - and I hope that includes my extended 7 year Gold warranty as well? Anyone know if the extended gold covers it?

 

Thing of it is - as leggtnut said - once you start listening and find a couple of channels you like - you will never go without it. I have 3 or 4 channels that just hit my music spot perfect and that makes my miserable commute almost enjoyable. I have never regretted spending the $$ on XM - and I admit to being a cheapskate:lol: I even use the XM Online stream (included free with an XM subscription) on my computer at work and it makes my work day better too

 

Pengrus - try out the free XM Online trial to get a feel for the programming - that may help you decide.

[Pugsly]

[rant=on]we dam sue happy americans love to ruine everything. if you getting hot coffie, you are going to get hot coffie and you don't have to go and sue the company over it. And why the hell does Clear channel insist on haveing comercercials on comercial free radio where you are already getting money form their comsumers. So put your dam comercials on the non comercial channels. Like the sports stations and the news channels. Lots of people listen to those and would then listen to those channels. I just change the channel when the comercial comes on and don't change back till I feel like a change.[rant=off]

 

Ok now that, that is out of the way. Who wants to put a patition together to get rid of thes comercials?

 

XM Radio is not CD Quality. It was NEAR CD quality when it was launched, but no more.

 

XM Radio promised Clear Channel that they could play commericals after a specified amount of the (4 years I think it was) for a 'nominal investment'. This was made before XM went live, and they would have been sunk with out their investment. XM Sued Clear Channel trying to extend the specified time. With that in mind, Clear Channel has a right to play the commericals which is fine with me, I don't listen to those channels anyway.

 

XM added additional stations so they would have the same number of commercial free stations as Sirius. When they did this, XM had to compress the signal on all the channels. This is why XM has that 'digially inaccurate' sound to it.

 

I've had XM in my wife's car since Feb of 05. I got a Roady XT for the Subie, but to be honest, I listen to FM more than I listen to XM. For me, it's a nice to have, and I listen to it online more than we listen to it in the car. I could go either way with sirius/xm. I picked XM because it was convenient.

[leggtnut]

I was just ranting. But I just love my XM and only listen to FM while i am walking around work on my phone or in a loaner. I listen to XM at my desk and in the car all the time. I checked between the 2 and I went XM because they had more music channels at the time (2003) and they had just signed to broadcast MLB. So I went that route then. I didn't know about the clear channel thing, but oh well. I still think that it sounds near cd quality to me and I am a slightly a audofile. I am only compairing it from what I remember from my pioneer HU in the baja to what I have now in the LGT. When I play a CD, it sounds just about as good. The only thing I hear is a slight humming white noise that gets drouned out with the music. I only hear it when there isn't anything playing and inbetween drop outs. But it isn't annoying to me anymore. Both the Pioneer and the myfi2 do this. I have gotten so accustom to it I forget about it and then remember it when I get a drop out.

[tenbaseg]

I just had the XM install this past week on my '07. Overall, it sounds great. I think the sound quality is close to CD sound, but much better than FM.

 

I'm a little disappointed with losing some of the display features from my Audiovox Xpress. I really liked being able to see the band and song title on the same display. The OEM only lets you choose one (artist, title, OR channel). Even when you do land on a display, what you see is limited. You'll have to get used to names being cut off. Having the display option for the radion to automaticlly rotate info would be a big plus.

 

Since the install, I haven't had a single drop out of service (Hartford, CT). The antenna is a little large, but if good reception is the payoff, I'll take it.

 

One thing I like is being able to flip through the channels by category. It's pretty easy to get used to by using the up/down and left/right buttons.

 

Price paid: $518 after tax and install w/ 3 free months of service.

[Mookem]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Is the Suby XM Kit much better than the myfi? I have a Creative Zen and we used FM transmiter once, and it sounds terrible.

 

They both have there pluses/minuses. The Suby Kit has better reception and of course looks much better and there are no wires on the dashboard to deal with. The MyFi sound is hard for me to compare as I never used the MyFi in my Suby but I was pleased with it in my Audi. Note that I didn't use the FM transmitter but instead used the cassette adapter. My Audi was old enough to still include the cassette adapter in the head unit. The MyFi is PORTABLE and that is a great feature. It was nice to be able to bring it in the house and hook it up to my stereo or the Altec Lansing speaker cradle I have for it. The MyFi also records up to 5 hours of XM - a nice feature if you want to record say Bob Dylan or Tom Petty's shows. Finally, the MyFi is portable - you can carry it around and listen to either your pre-recorded 5 hours or if you are in an area that has ground repeaters - like a major city- then listen live.

 

You know my choice was the Suby XM kit as I did opt to spend the $$ to buy the Suby XM kit and have no regrets. Wires all over my dash did bother me. My wife felt I should have save the $ and used my MyFi as I already had it.

 

I'm pretty sure you could put the MyFi in the Suby armrest and use the Aux-in and power located there. Then just hide the antenna wire which you could run hidden to the rear deck and mount the antenna there so that wires will not be visible. Changing the stations with the MyFi would be difficult from the center armrest console but the MyFi includes a nice remote control that would easily fit in the small cubby above the clock.

 

BTW...My wife told me I can't sell the MyFi. Her Accord lease is up this April and if she gets a car without XM built-in then the MyFi gets hooked back up. She will not consider a car without XM

[snoman]

I called an installer, and he told me that he would install the antenna outside the windshield under the rain wiper where there is a plastic piece. Will this work and be a good location?

 

Thank you!

This is not a good location.

 

Satellite radio antennas work best when they are mounted on the HIGHEST point of a vehicle... with a clear view of the sky in all directions. If the antenna is not located in the highest location, a part of the car will block the signal when facing certain direcitons.

 

Also, you cannot install a "magnetic mount" antenna where there isn't a metal surface. Mag mount antennas typically require a 12" x 12" flat grounding plane in order to receive signals efficiently. If you mount this type of antenna on a plastic surface, it will not work properly.