[pafc]

i was wondering if anyone here is a subscriber and has the xm receiver installed in their car. im curious about all costs, including installation, price of the HU, and subscription. right now im debating if its worth it or not, and im leaning towards not.
TIA

 

[hooper]

Depends how you want to go. Fm modulation or RCA.

The FM modulator is pretty simple, works like the cd changers that use fm.

 

[achow]

i work at best buy and the average cost for a fm modulated xm unit will run about 150 parts and labor....if you bring in your unit

 

[hooper]

Well it turns out that unless you buy a headunit with an integrated XM tuner in it, you can't actually get digital XM service. All of these radios you see out there that say XM ready won't work because the folks who make the xmdirect adaptors for the headunits ran into some kind of production snafu.

You can still go the fm modulation way with your current headunit, but you will lose sound quality in the digital to analog conversion that takes place.... which in my opinion basically defeats the whole idea behind xm.

The other option would be to go to ebay and see if you can get the old oem of your headunit's original xm receiver module. For Alpine this would be the TUA-T020XM. But it is and was very pricey @ $250.

The company who is/was going to make the adaptor is Terk. Seems like a pretty big goof on their part and even a bigger problem for the satellite radio companies.

 

[Mr_Mike]

If you have your original headunit, at least two companies make adapters that replace the CD Changer. They work just fine. Then, you can plug in the XM commander, or the Pioneer add-on tuners. The tuners are about $200 or so and the adapters are about $70.

I have a Pioneer XM tuner attached to my OEM headunit. I'll never go back to terrestrial radio.

 

[e_andree]

Well it turns out that unless you buy a headunit with an integrated XM tuner in it, you can't actually get digital XM service. All of these radios you see out there that say XM ready won't work because the folks who make the xmdirect adaptors for the headunits ran into some kind of production snafu.

You can still go the fm modulation way with your current headunit, but you will lose sound quality in the digital to analog conversion that takes place.... which in my opinion basically defeats the whole idea behind xm.

The other option would be to go to ebay and see if you can get the old oem of your headunit's original xm receiver module. For Alpine this would be the TUA-T020XM. But it is and was very pricey @ $250.

The company who is/was going to make the adaptor is Terk. Seems like a pretty big goof on their part and even a bigger problem for the satellite radio companies.

What are you talking about?
Are you saying that if you buy a Pioneer XM ready receiver, and a Pioneer XM tuner, it wont work??

 

[hooper]

Well it looks like Pioneer will be making their own XM tuner. But it is not out yet or at least isn't available from crutchfield.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-24TdGmEZTRo/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?s=0&cc=01&i=130P910XM&o=&a=0

I know at least Sony and Alpine has stopped making their own XM tuners and if you buy one of those radios there is no solution that is currently available.

 

[Johnny]

Well it looks like Pioneer will be making their own XM tuner. But it is not out yet or at least isn't available from crutchfield.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-24TdGmEZTRo/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?s=0&cc=01&i=130P910XM&o=&a=0

I know at least Sony and Alpine has stopped making their own XM tuners and if you buy one of those radios there is no solution that is currently available.

I bought that one [Pioneer GEX-P910XM] from Crutchfield a month or so ago to go with my Pioneer AVIC-N1. Works great, just needed to plug it into the "brains" and contact XM to start my programing...

I saw that XMDirect XMD1000 was making the units to go with select Pioneer, Sony, Alpine, and Kenwood receivers (with optional adapter). Don't know much about them except you should be able to purchase one at the end of August.

 

[e_andree]

Well it looks like Pioneer will be making their own XM tuner. But it is not out yet or at least isn't available from crutchfield.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-24TdGmEZTRo/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?s=0&cc=01&i=130P910XM&o=&a=0

I know at least Sony and Alpine has stopped making their own XM tuners and if you buy one of those radios there is no solution that is currently available.

Sorry, but Pioneer has had xm tuners out for over year.....its on backorder currently through crutchfield, thats why its not available. Kenwood has their own tuner as well. Seems like youre getting your information confused.
I had a Pioneer XM FM Modulated tuner installed over a year ago in my car....

 

[hooper]

I was told by Crutchfileld that all OEM XM tuners are being discontinued and they are switching to the xmdirect product from Terk. I know this is the case for Sony and Alpine at least. Sure Alpine used to make an XM tuner. but production has stopped and it can only be had over ebay. My whole point was that these xmdirect adaptors from Terk are way behind schedule for release. They were supposed to be out in February. What is nice about them is they are cheap. $50 for the tuner including the antenna and $50 bucks for the xmdirect adaptor for your particular headunit. That is a lot cheaper than the $150-$250 that OEM's were charging.

I wasn't at all referring to the FM modulation pieces out there. They have always been available and in my opinion defeat the whole purpose of the higher quality found with XM.

 

[e_andree]

I wasn't at all referring to the FM modulation pieces out there. They have always been available and in my opinion defeat the whole purpose of the higher quality found with XM.

I agree, which is why I switched to a pioneer xm ready headunit and pioneer tuner.

I misunderstood what you were saying.
Sanyo and Kenwood just released tuners, and they run for less than 60 bucks, but they are for sirius.

 

[jaycevs]

To bring this thead back to life, crutchfield has the adapter now for the major brands that have xm head units for $49.00, and the brain for the xm is another $49.00, so its cheaper than even. My question for those that have them, is where you mounted your antenna, I found an alpine I like, but lately have been looking at locations. i want to upgrade to a better component set up front, and coax in the rear with an aimable tweeter for a good rear fill cause the stockers are busted and i wont pay for a component set back there, and a good 4 channel amp running one sub and the components.

 

[SABigDawg]

I have my antenna, for SIRIUS (had XM before), mounted on passenger side near the winshield. Look at my profile. It is really small and I don't believe detracts at all. I have heard of people mounting inside rear deck with no problems :suspicio: but I would think that ground plane issues would come up. In fact in my position I am surprised that I don't have issues. Reception is good. Definately go with an XM ready head unit as the FM modulation is just not as good. I have had both and will not go back to FM mod. :thumbup:

 

[PassatDoTd]

My antenna is directly behind the FM whip antenna and then it runs under the window seal to the trunk. The rear deck couldnt get steady reception due to either my tint or other interference.

 

[Paradigm]

My antenna is directly behind the FM whip antenna and then it runs under the window seal to the trunk. The rear deck couldnt get steady reception due to either my tint or other interference.

How did you run the wire down??

I couldn't get mine under the rubber that goes around the window...
I had to just lay the wire inside, on top of the rubber seal, and put dabs of crazy glue to hold it in place. You really can't tell it's there, but it's not the right way to do it.

 

[PassatDoTd]

After trying and trying and trying to get it under the seal I was about ready to do what you did. And then it hit me...tweezers.

I got out a set of my wife's tweezers with the flat but pointy ends. Obviously they were small enough so that I can get it in the small space with ease. I lifted up the seal with the tweezers and used a small flathead screw driver to push the antenna wire to the bottom of the frame. When I let the seal back down you couldn't tell there was a wire under there...except of course for where it comes out at the top.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[geordie]

I just had a Hertz Ford Exploder and they ran the wire up under the front screen seal to the center and then back 4" to the antenna. That seems like a good solution.

I have an Alpine 9815 and the Terk receiver and XMdirect seem to be available now som I'm probably going to give that a try. I couldn't see it at Crutchfield, other places are cheaper anyway.