Our property is literally in the middle of nowhere. Hell, you have to drive 25 miles out of there to get to the sticks, we're so far out. At any rate, listening to CDs is fine, but after a few days of hearing them over and over, it would be nice to have something different.

So I am considering adding satellite radio to my truck. My hearing isn't that good (too many years working on/around jets), so I don't demand the best fidelity (the Bose in the truck sounds good to me). I would appreciate any comments folks have about either service and associated equipment. I am completely ignorant about these services, so try to talk down to my level. Also, a plus would be being able to listen to MRN or equivalent for races.

I put the factory XM in mine. The most important reason was the NASCAR races, since around here it is hit or miss when you can receive traditional AM/FM broadcast of the races. XM was supposed to keep the NASCAR broadcast through 2006, but the last I heard it will be Sirius in 2006. So if you want NASCAR do Sirius. The factory radio/CD works with XM. So the Sirius radio would not integrate as nice as far as I know.

Hope this helps a little, good luck.

Sirius... NFL is the big reason. The signal is better with Sirius as they don't use a defined bandwith for each chanel. IE if its talk radio they can dial down the amount bandwidth it uses and give that extra bandwidth to a music station.

sirius has much better rock and country stations than xm. hairnation, buzzsaw and primecountry are the best. I have had both, I would never go back to xm for anything.

If your truck is equiped with XM all you have to do is subscribe on line or call. Sirius will enterchange with your factory head unit. As for with one to get is personal prefrence. I like Sirius over XM, better music and NFL. I am a NASCAR fan as well and liked XM for that. Just my two pennies. I will never be without my Sirius raido.

XM has Heidi Selexa on the 80's chanel... she is awsome... well i think so any way, and she is hot too.

Having had both I will say Sirius hands down. Way better selection of music, NFL, Howard Stern (if you like him) and NASCAR coming. I find that it is easier to find the type of music that I want to listen to on Sirius. XM reminds me of something that I might have listened to as a teen, with all the top 40/rap/pop. If I want the 70's, I put it on the 70 channel on Sirius, easy as that.

I recommend you go online to their individual sites and take a look at the offered programming. I know Sirius you can listen for free online for a few days. See if you like it.

Our property is literally in the middle of nowhere. Hell, you have to drive 25 miles out of there to get to the sticks, we're so far out. At any rate, listening to CDs is fine, but after a few days of hearing them over and over, it would be nice to have something different.

So I am considering adding satellite radio to my truck. My hearing isn't that good (too many years working on/around jets), so I don't demand the best fidelity (the Bose in the truck sounds good to me). I would appreciate any comments folks have about either service and associated equipment. I am completely ignorant about these services, so try to talk down to my level. Also, a plus would be being able to listen to MRN or equivalent for races.

XM is the way to go if you want Baseball, NASCAR now, great sports talk radio (Fox sports radio, Sporting News radio, ESPN Radio, ESPN News Radio), Big 10, PAC 10 and ACC Football and Basketball, MLB Home Plate 24/7 baseball talk. There is plenty of music IMO. Lots of talk and news (CNN, Fox, CNBC, Weather Channel) stations and even a truckers channel. Also Playboy Radio:pimp:. With my factory Bose speakers XM sounds great. Git da XM:beerchug:

I just bought a Kenwood Sirius and think it's great, besides my son just bought a lot of Sirius stocks, I guess I had no choice.

I have both in my truck and prefer Sirius. THey play more of what I like.

ghost69;I have xm in my truck and called serius and they said they cannot use the xm head unit,and I would need to drill new holes in my roof and such,so if you know something I dont please elaborate-thanks .......btw xm does kinda suck!

I have XM in my truck and Sirius at my house on dish network and I can honestly say Sirius kicks XMs ass. Sirius has a WAAAAAY better selection of music in my opinion. I hardly even listen to XM in the truck and I am about to cancel it because I can never find anything I like to listen to. Sirius 20 OCTANE is the station I stay on.

If your truck is equiped with XM all you have to do is subscribe on line or call. Sirius will enterchange with your factory head unit. As for with one to get is personal prefrence. I like Sirius over XM, better music and NFL. I am a NASCAR fan as well and liked XM for that. Just my two pennies. I will never be without my Sirius raido.

Are you saying the Sirius service will work on an XM radio? I dont think so.....not unless you have the sirius antenna and unit.

Well it sounds to me like you better find a way to listen to both and make up your own mind. I have sirrius at home and it makes me want to puke. Reminds me of being in an elevator in the 80's. I wound up buying an XM for the house and for work. I guess I'm a bit of a purist and if you're gonna listen to a radio it ought to sound like a radio. XM is more like radio with no commercials. Sirrius just sounds too much like Muzak to suit me.

Good Luck :rant:

Xm has much better equipment. Sirius will have to put in a big rate increase come January to pay the half a billion dollar contract the have with Howard Stern. I have 2 xm units and never have any problem with signal. I like XM programming.

i have had both and they each have their pros and cons. if you listen to country get sirius for the country channels on xm suck.

Wow! Thanks for all of the responses. My musical preferences are classical rock and country. It sounds like Sirius might be more to my liking, but I will check both out if they have some type of on-line sampling deal. I hate to pay another subscription, but I might have to.

Now another question, are there untis that I can use in the truck and in our cabin? I have so much stuff in the truck for our road trips (GPS, CB, radar detector) I'd hate to add more clutter, but something I could pull out of the truck and listen to at night in the cabin would be a major selling point. Thanks again to all for their comments.

I have had both,and sorry Xm people,but XM sucks. For rock,and roll in all its crazy formats sirius is where its at. Yes you can get a sirius unit that mounts in a cradle that you can in turn put a cradle in your house,or boat, or whatever. I will never give up my Sirius.:ro)

I liked Sirius better, but my Kenwood is a POS. I have had a good bit of trouble with it and I now live with it not working right until I get a new truck.

Wow! Thanks for all of the responses. My musical preferences are classical rock and country. It sounds like Sirius might be more to my liking, but I will check both out if they have some type of on-line sampling deal. I hate to pay another subscription, but I might have to.

Now another question, are there untis that I can use in the truck and in our cabin? I have so much stuff in the truck for our road trips (GPS, CB, radar detector) I'd hate to add more clutter, but something I could pull out of the truck and listen to at night in the cabin would be a major selling point. Thanks again to all for their comments.

I vote for Sirius too, they had a promotion and gave me $300 in free stuff. I have never tried XM so I can't tell you exactly which one is better, but by looking though this thread, it's obvious. I used a sound gate to convert the signal from the receiver to the factory radio head. The receiver is mounted under the cup holders in the center console (if you have buckets) My antenna is right behind the roof marker lights and follows down the passenger side a pillar to the receiver. The only thing you can see is the antenna if you are looking. You might get a smaller one than mine and it would be hidden better. I'm a NASCAR fan too and I can't wait until it comes to Sirius. Have you tried to pick up 105.3 to listen to the races around here? I have picked that station up by Atoka, OK. The sound quality is great, CD quality to be exact. I have found going straight from Sirius to fm makes fm sound like crap. If you are interested in seeing my install and sampling Sirius off of a Bose system, let me know. We could probably meet up in Dallas sometime if you are interested.

Reineke:

Do you have the brand/model of the equipment you used or a link? This used the Bose head unit and an FM channel? I don't have much room left under my cup holder...

I bought sirius at a recent $2.90. from hearing this, sounds like it is time to sell XM.

Since I bought a year of XM, I guess I'll have to wait for the non-monetary pleasure

Reineke:

Do you have the brand/model of the equipment you used or a link? This used the Bose head unit and an FM channel? I don't have much room left under my cup holder...

Kart,
I found the reciever at bestbuy.com and it's part number is SIRKEN1. It has the reciever and antenna along with the needed wires. It is a KENWOOD reciever and antenna, so the SoundGate required is part number KNGM1 which converts the signal from the reciever to the back of the factory radio. I have the 6 disc changer. The Bose system I referred to was the factory Bose speakers, nothing new or fancy. Once the signal is routed to the back of the radio and powered on, it comes up as an auxillary on the radio. Change the source on the steering wheel controls, and you now have Sirius 1 and Sirius 2. When you say you don't have much room left under the cup holders, I am guessing that you have other stuff there? The dimensions of the reciever is on the bestbuy website if that will help you out.

It is not a perfect system though. If a song or band comes up and they have a real long name, it doesn't always get cleared when the next song comes up. So, after the long named song is over and the second one is playing, the screen reads the remaining characters of the last song. It gets cleared up after a couple songs, or a simple press of the info button gets things cleared up, but radio play is not interrupted. If you go this route, another thing you can do that I would like to do, but never will probably get it done is, find a wire that stays hot once they key is turned off during the 10 minutes or so (it also shuts off when a door is opened) to power you hardware. That way the Sirius will still play even after the truck is shut off just like the radio and CD player would do. When you upgrade to satellite radio, you will wonder how you ever got around without it. I hope this answers what you were looking for. If you have any questions, let me know!

Reineke:

Yeah, I have something else under there. Thanks for the more detailed info; that's what I was looking hoping for. I will do some research on this. I may be asking you more questions. If you have any plans on being in the FW, Keller, Watauga, or HEB (Hurst Euless, Bedford) areas let me know. I'd like to see your set-up

XM is IMHO way better.........Howard Stern is either a guy you like or don't.....I personally don't like him that much.........XM has Comedy 150 and Laugh 151 which are great........I would rather listen to Baseball then Footbal...........so again XM for me........

As far as Rock or Country, I think XM has a good selection of channels.......they also have OPIE and ANTHONY........:cool:

The XM Roady I have in two vehicles has the ability to be brought inside or moved from car to truck, etc..........plus I can listen to XM streaming on the PC so there is no need to bring it in the house..........

Family Plan get's me one for $12.95/month and the other three are only $6.95/month.

My son has a MyFy personal XM unit like a Walkman or I-pod in size and he can get a signal outside anywhere with the small clip on antenna.

I have seen the SIRIUS and I kept thinking it was another SONY Betamax.........and XM is the VCR.........

Oh Well,

To each their own............:cool:

Reineke:

Yeah, I have something else under there. Thanks for the more detailed info; that's what I was looking hoping for. I will do some research on this. I may be asking you more questions. If you have any plans on being in the FW, Keller, Watauga, or HEB (Hurst Euless, Bedford) areas let me know. I'd like to see your set-up

I don't make it over there too often, but if you are interested in seein the setup sometime, give me a hollar. I'd be happy to help. Likewise, if you are in the Plano, Dallas, McKinney area and are interested, give me a hollar. I have a more flexible schedule toward the back end of the week.

So if after my 3 months XM is up and I wanted to try Sirius, I can buy a unit that will play through the factory headunit, just like XM? Cool! I like options...

Reineke, can you possibly post any more info about this Sirius setup?

So if after my 3 months XM is up and I wanted to try Sirius, I can buy a unit that will play through the factory headunit, just like XM? Cool! I like options...

Reineke, can you possibly post any more info about this Sirius setup?

You can buy units and get them to work through the factory system. You need the antenna, reciever box, and the SoundGate. My antenna is mounted on my roof right behind the center amber light. If you don't have the ambers, you can use the third brake light to run the antenna wires through the cab to the reciever. The antenna wires ARE long enough to run with a CrewCab. The reciever has color coded hook ups for the antenna to go into. I think one is a puke color and the other is white...it's been a while. You will also need power to the reciever. I used switched power from the fuse panel. As mentioned before, if I knew where to get the timed on power that supplies the radio for the 10 minutes after shut down, I would have went that route. The Kenwood reciever comes with a 15ish foot dark blue cable that goes to the SoundGate. IIRC, the SoundGate requires a power source too, but I don't remember where I got it from. The SoundGate converts the signal from the dark blue cable to a GM compatible plug which "Y's" is with another plug. I wrapped the soundgate up with a clean dishrag and some electrical tape and placed it inside the dash between the radio and the instrument panel. The hardest part about the install was tearing the dash apart on a 1 month old truck. But it survived and it was easy. Just short of pictures, this is the best way to describe this.

Thanks Reineke. :ro)



Did your wife wonder where her new dishrag went?

Thanks Reineke. :ro)



Did your wife wonder where her new dishrag went?

Not yet, but then again, I haven't found the wifey yet either. If you find her before I do, tell her I am looking for her! ;) :D

I had XM on my GMC and now Sirius on my Dodge and like others have said I think Sirius has better programming, MUCH better for rock and country. I still get Foxnews, CNBC and Atlanta traffic.