007

I had Sirius Satellite Radio installed in my car Friday. This is in my 1st Gen GS300 i have an aftermarket HU (Kenwood Excelon MP3) which was Sirius ready. Kenwood was running a promotion whereby i could get the tuner for free. But i had to pay for the Antenna($50) and installation($75). I could have done it myself but they wouldn't give the tuner to me for free unless they (Tweeter) installed it.

I love it .. Over 100 channels total with ALL music channels commercial free from 3 orbiting satellites. Variety is good, they have some celebrity DJs like MC Lyte and Lil' Kim. The choices are very good even a comedy channel to hear live standup. XM advertises, way more than Sirius and is actually cheaper, but after talking to the reps at tweeter they feel Sirius has better programming, way more commercial free channels and a clearer digital signal which is more of a direct satellite feed rather than via land-based repeaters.

Sirus is exclusive to these vehicles: Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Mercedes, Infiniti, Jaguar, Dodge, Ford, Jeep, Hertz Rentals, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mini, & Mazda, Mercury, Volvo, Nissan, Daimler-Chrysler, Monaco Coach

And these hardware manufacturers:.. Kenwood, Clarion, Eclipse, Delphi, Audiovox, Panasonic & Visteon

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

Yes, the Sirius system is rigged so that you can get a direct feed from at least one of their three geosynchronous satellites under most conditions. The satellite orbits are such that two of them are more directly over North America all of the time. XM has two geostationary satellites, Rock and Roll, and WAY more land-based repeaters. The XM birds are in a more southern orbit, and thus hit North American locations more at an angle.

007

Have you personally compared both and in your opinion which is best.

I have been pleasantly surprised at how strong my signal is. I have never lost reception unless i was in a parking garage. But anywhere that i can see the sky from the sunroof i can hear music. and sometimes when i can't just depends how deep i am into a building.

retrodrive

XM has better dance channels, Sirius is more into rock, 80's etc.

007

Sirius has a good R & B and Hip Hop and Jazz section. These are my favorites and the comedy channel.. with the standup comedians.

retrodrive

Good to know, I have just recieved my Sirius unit, gonna activate next month.

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

Yes, I have compared both as far as programming and raw baseband signal quality. I haven't compared both in my own car as far as reception, because I don't have two systems in my car, it wouldn't make sense.
Sirius' signal strength and reception are excellent. It will gracefully mute if you go under too many consecutive overpasses, or if you pull into your garage. Otherwise, it's there all of the time, even in rainstorms. Both XM and Sirius are normally sourced from an MP3 database, so neither are CD quality.

Retro, I'm not sure where you're coming from when you say XM has better dance channels. XM has 4, Sirius has 6. As a house/trance DJ myself, the dance channels are what I listen to about 90% of the time, so I know everything being played. Chrome vs. Strobe is a wash (Disco - you're guaranteed to hear the same stuff on both channels, eh!). BPM vs The Beat is a wash (Dance Hits). The System vs. Vortex is a wash (Electronica). These channels are playing most of the same music relative to each other, give or take just a wee bit. That leaves The Move on XM, arguably a great channel, vs. Planet Dance and The Rave on Sirius, which are both great channels, plus the other Sirius channel House Party, not found on XM. The Move on XM is bringing in some great DJ's like Little Louie Vega and Kenny Dope, David Morales, and DJ Irene. Planet Dance has Swedish Egil on Sirius. If you look at the music being played on these channels, many of the tracks are the same. It's just not that different. I give the slight edge to Sirius, with just a little more selection. And watch out for Sirius, because they're right in NYC, having access to all of New York's top DJ's. XM just maintains a satellite studio in NYC, while being based in DC.

There are a lot of channels that basically match up, like the comedy channel. How many different artists can they find that aren't going to be common to both channels. Carlin, Pryor, Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Kinison, etc. Your just going to hear similar stuff. The difference is more significant in reception, sound quality, commercials, the channels that are *completely* different, and what you pay each month.

007

well stated engin_eer....... I have noticed that Sirius has MC Lyte and Lil KIm as DJ's on their Hip Hop Channels. Both of which are respected as musical artists.

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

Speaking of respected artists in the hip-hop category, Grandmaster Flash is on the staff at Sirius. He is a 'Stream Jockey', as they're calling it, and has done quite a bit of advertising for them. He is also the co-developer of the new Rane Empath mixer.

Pronghorn

Hi
I guess I'm in the minority here. I picked Sirius over XM because of the classical music channels. The Sirius Vista channel plays mostly chamber works, which is my kind of music. Also like being able to get news when I want it.

I live in the remote West where there is one AM station (country and religion) and one NPR station. Sirius has made driving much more pleasurable

Larry