Hey, all you XM Satellite Radio owners...

[Clintmax]

The indash in my car says it is XM ready. Does this mean I have to go buy the receiver, hook it to my indash and put the antenna on my car? Or does this mean I can just subscribe and start listening?

I'm a bit confused on how this works. Thanks in advance.

[QuettaKid]

1. just subscribe and enjoy. nt

.

[Clintmax]

2. Ok...my Kenwood in-dash says "Sirius Ready"...

does that mean it will NOT work with XM? I think I'd prefer XM. Any ideas?

[ET Awful]

3. Actually, you do need an XM receiver (which is wired to your in-dash)

I believe that what XM (or Sirius for that matter)-Read means is that it will act as a tuner if you add the little receiver module:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-6LcWTGlbvH9/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=247350&I=209XMD1000

The module costs about $50 most placed. You still need an XM antenna, etc.

The only thing XM (or Sirius) read means is that it can act as a tuner for an XM receiver.

And to answer your second question, no, a Sirius-ready unit won't work with XM unfortunately.

[Clintmax]

4. OK...thanks for the info, ET.

I was considering subscribing to XM (I'm not interested in Sirius) but if my in-dash won't work with XM period, then there is no use investigating further! Thanks for your help. :hi:

[ET Awful]

5. Well, for that same $50, you can get an XM Roady 2 receiver

which WILL work with your in-Dash (you just need to use the Roady as the tuner instead of your in-dash).

Check here:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-6LcWTGlbvH9/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?search=roady&i=040SA10085

Actually looks like it's only $30 now.

This little unit actually has an FM modulator built-in which means it will send out an FM signal that your in-dash receiver will then receive and play back. That's how I have mine set-up in the car.

So yes, you can have XM with your current in-dash unit, just not as stream-lined.

[ucmike]

7. my roady 2 is failing

we bought it because it was so portable. now, after about 6 months we have problems with the power supply cable and the antenna cable. the tip of the car power supply broke off in the roady so it is now unusable with the home kit we bought. the antenna cable is weak at the unit and at the antenna so we have to wiggle it and hold it a certain way or else it won't work. a portable unit that destroys itself because it gets plugged/unplugged to transport isn't very practical.

one other complaint is that the screen is very small and hard to read while driving and because of the way the buttons are configured its hard to scroll through channels until you stop at a light or something.

at $30 its not a bad unit, but for us it turned out to be somewhat disposable and we are looking at other units.


that said, we love the xm service. i haven't listened to regular radio in months.

[ET Awful]

8. Well, the new Roady XT is a bit better.

I had my Roady 2 for about a year and switched to the XT about a month ago (forgot to mention that in my prior post). The XT can be had for about $50 after rebate. It has a bit better design than the 2 (for instnace, the power and antenna cables plug into the dock rather than into the radio itself, so you don't have to unplug them every time you move the radio.

[GOPisEvil]

9. Agh! That's a much better design.

I've had my Roady 2 for a month and a half, and I can already see why it's destined to fail me.

But, I do like XM a lot. Although, sometimes when I'm listening to the comedy channel, people look at me funny when I'm laughing like a freak. :D

[VaYallaDawg]

6. Subscribe! You'll never go back to regular radio. n/t

[AntiCoup2K4]

10. And let's not forget the best reason of all for XM.... Air America!!

As of January, XM 167 will be airing the full AAR schedule in its proper time slots, and if you have a local affiliate that's fucking up the schedule or diluting the content with crap like Big Eddie From-bot (Yes AM-1090 in Seattle, I'm looking right at you) that's a great option to have. Not to mention avoiding all the other pitfalls of AM radio reception (power lines, night time signals, static, etc.)