SIRIUS Satellite Radio

[DeViLs 06STI]

So I had them add the Sirius satellite to my Eclipse AVN5435 navigation/DVD unit and I must say I am quite dissapointed with the sound quality. Its sounds like it's playin in mono and not stereo. Anyon else notice this?

Nick

[jm3784]

I can see what you are saying if you are referring to the Talk channels/streams. Other than Stern and Maxim, the talk channels get less bandwidth than the Music channels, so they are going to sound somewhere near AM quality.

The sound quality on the Music channels is very subjective. I have been a subscriber for over 2 years, and the sound quality has definitely improved. It takes a little while to get used to the compressed sound, but I do not think it has a mono sound. When I listen in my car on Polk components, the sound seems fine. I have an ancient Audiovox PNP1 receiver running through an AUX input on my Blaupunkt headunit.

What Sirius receiver are you using? Is is a hardwired to your headunit, or are you using the FM transmitter?

[DeViLs 06STI]

Its the top of the line Eclipse navigation unit, and all Eclipse is Sirius ready. Its not FM, its hardwired. All I know is I can tell a diffrence between a CD and music on Sirius.

Nick

[jm3784]

Yea, there is going to be a difference between CDs and Sirius. I think that the Sirius ads state "near-CD" quality. I wish that the music had the same quality as CDs, but then the amount of channels to choose from would be greatly decreased. I think that they have found a decent happy-medium between sound quality and number of channels.

[Brents]

My Sirius is not near the quality that a CD is. I have a replay add on unit into one of the FM channels, but my wife has a head unit as one of the options, and her quality is audibly better. I feel like I am always turning up the talk channels to hear what is going on.

[jm3784]

Brents,

Do you have the Sportster, or Starmate replay?

It is always better to directly connect your Sirius receiver to an Auxilary input on your headunit. Using the replay's FM transmitter will not yield anywhere near the quality of an auxilary connection. My wife and I both have Audiovox PNP's (she has a PNP2, me a PNP1) connected to our aftermarket headunits via an aux input, and we are plenty happy with the sound quality and volume between music and talk channels. You can also try to have your Sirius replay broadcast on a different FM channel.

[Brents]

I have the Replay. I had it installed at the place where I bought it, and I assumed they would do the best job.

[Chowderneck]

I installed my Replay reciever like this:



I like the placement, as it remains out of the way and doesn't block much of the view.
If you want a better quality signal, you should avoid using that FM transmitter and get the cassette tape adapter. You'll get less interference and noise in large cities. As for the quality of the signal fomr Sirius...??? your guess is as good as mine.