Sirius Radio

[Rollin']

The sportster...I know you can use it in either your home or vehicle but can I just take it with me and plug headphones into it?

I realize there are other smaller personal players but wasn't sure if the sportster could as well.

[TurboMedic]

No, there at the moment is no portable units. Sirius is planning to launch one this summer I believe.....

[rage2]

S50 is a portable unit for Sirius, but it's not live when portable (only live when docked). The replacement for that is gonna be availabl probably around christmas where you can get live radio (in Calgary or Edmonton where there are repeaters) when it's not docked.

[seer_claw]

What about this one? Its due out on June 21.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10074150&catid=23638&logon=&langid=EN#

[GoChris]

Originally posted by seer_claw
What about this one? Its due out on June 21.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10074150&catid=23638&logon=&langid=EN#

thats XM not Sirius

[TurboMedic]

and you don't want XM

[GoChris]

Originally posted by TurboMedic
and you don't want XM

exactly

[adam c]

whats wrong with XM?

[Rollin']

well fuck a duck, thanks fellas

[Lexxan]

lol and let me guess you sirius fanboys.. OHOOOHOW oWOWOwOWOWOw

OH MY GOD SIRIUS HAS HOWARD STERN. WHO GIVE A SHIT LOL

[DaRockwilder]

I'm happy with my Sirius radio. Other guys I know have XM and they seem to complain about it a bit.

I bought Sirius because I love Octane 20. Plus its getting the playboy channel :D

[rage2]

Sirius already has the playboy channel.

XM has better audio quality for music, seems bitrate is a tad lower for Sirius. And yes, Sirius has Stern, and as a Stern fan, I give a shit. It's like telling a hockey fan OMG CBC HAS HOCKEY IN HDTV WHO GIVES A SHIT.

XM reception in western canada sucks compared to Sirius. This is because XM uses 2 geosynchronous orbit satellites, which have a fixed reception footprint which is pretty spotty in BC and parts of Alberta.

Sirius OTOH, uses 3 satellites in an orbit that move across Continental US throughout the day, giving coverage in multiple areas. The bad thing is, some areas, you get better reception at different times of the day.

Not that it matters in Calgary, as XM and Sirius both have repeaters here, and it picks up signal via 2.3Ghz from downtown stations.

[GoChris]

Originally posted by DaRockwilder
I'm happy with my Sirius radio. Other guys I know have XM and they seem to complain about it a bit.

I bought Sirius because I love Octane 20. Plus its getting the playboy channel :D

I havent had a chance to listen to that yet, but Maxim radio rules

[TurboMedic]

I was listening to XM today, its ok, its just that they are losing ground a bit to Sirius.....Stern is great, yes, alot of it is great.....But the problems with XM, not as nice recievers, sketchy signal in the mountains, association with clear channel, adding commercials, its just not as good.....

the encoding streams are different for XM and Sirius, they have a long way to go in terms of technology for better bitrates resulting in higher quality sound.....they both have complaints one way or another.....

All I was implying is that XM has been having alot of problems lately, lawsuits, projected revenues (= losses), some mediocre programming, and on the flip side Sirius has done nothing but gain....thats gotta speak for something...

[GoChris]

Originally posted by TurboMedic
I was listening to XM today, its ok, its just that they are losing ground a bit to Sirius

Sirius has actually caught up already.

[rage2]

^^^ Not in total subs. Sirius has a ways to go to catch XM who had an INSANE lead before Dec '05.

[heavyD]

I went with Sirius mainly because my car's factory deck (made by Alpine) was Sirius ready which means that I don't have to go through FM to have Sirius & reatain the factory deck as I have the Kicker system which is a pretty decent factory system.

Now I can honestly say that I could never go to XM for one main reason. Howard Stern. I split my time between Octane & Howard Stern but the funny thing is that his show wasn't even on my radar as I got satellite for the music. I just got hooked on it and now con't go without my daily dose of Stern. I am a little disappointed with the music audio quality as it seems a little tinny like mp3's. Also it seems like the EQ settings from the source material are altered as the bass is higher and the treble is too high on my system compared to CD's & FM radio sources.

Overall I love it though and may never have to hear 'might as well go for a soda' or 'life is a highway' ever again which pleases me greatly.:D

[rage2]

Yes, the Sirius EQ blows chunks. Howard Stern was actually working around all that when he was broadcasting his test shows.

I think Sirius EQ's it that way because they're using fairly low bitrates for the audio, masks the problems. When I listen to my S50 on headphones, it sounds good (no EQ). In my car, with flat EQ it sounds good too, but too much bass. I have a custom EQ profile that cleans up my Sirius input, and it balances the sound better, and that's when you notice the bitrate's too low and the music sounds a bit tinny like you said.

[heavyD]

Originally posted by rage2
Yes, the Sirius EQ blows chunks. Howard Stern was actually working around all that when he was broadcasting his test shows.

I think Sirius EQ's it that way because they're using fairly low bitrates for the audio, masks the problems. When I listen to my S50 on headphones, it sounds good (no EQ). In my car, with flat EQ it sounds good too, but too much bass. I have a custom EQ profile that cleans up my Sirius input, and it balances the sound better, and that's when you notice the bitrate's too low and the music sounds a bit tinny like you said.

Yeah I can clean it up by making adjustments but my stock radio doesnt have profile memory for different sources so when I listen to a CD I have to re-adjust my settings.:( I can live with that if it means never having to hear Jerry Forbes again.:D

[Bill Cosby]

my pioneer deck is XM radio, will it work for sirius as well or will something else need to be done to get it working?

[Rollin']

My deck in my car is Sirius capable. If I buy a home kit, I can't enable my deck as well? I would have to buy the car kit for the home receiver correct?

[TurboMedic]

Originally posted by Bill Cosby
my pioneer deck is XM radio, will it work for sirius as well or will something else need to be done to get it working?

you can either buy a p&p reciever, which will work with everything and use the line in /IP bus for the pioneer, or you can buy the Pioneer Sirius reciever, which will work with most Pioneer decks, but only retain full functionality with a few of the <1yr old decks......All of Pioneer's XM recievers will work perfect with your deck.....But, yeah, just get a reciever....

[heavyD]

Has anyone been listening to Stern this week? He's got that George Tikai (Sulu from Star trek) on the show all week. Even though he's gay he fits well on the show and they have used his laugh and voice for some classic prank calls. The one with the redneck and George looking for big black dicks was priceless.:rofl: :rofl:

BTW: I don't know how to spell his name.

[TurboMedic]

yeah, he tried to get george to stay as a regular, but he didn't......you can catch all the fuzz on howard at the sternfannetworks forum (gotta search, can't remember the address), and some at siriusbackstage.com

[rage2]

Originally posted by heavyD
Has anyone been listening to Stern this week? He's got that George Tikai (Sulu from Star trek) on the show all week. Even though he's gay he fits well on the show and they have used his laugh and voice for some classic prank calls. The one with the redneck and George looking for big black dicks was priceless.:rofl: :rofl:

BTW: I don't know how to spell his name.
OH MY!!!!

haha George Takei was on the entire first week Stern went on Sirius. He's a funny guy. They made him say a bunch of random stuff first week and they pieced together some funny as fuck prank calls.


Originally posted by TurboMedic
yeah, he tried to get george to stay as a regular, but he didn't......you can catch all the fuzz on howard at the sternfannetworks forum (gotta search, can't remember the address), and some at siriusbackstage.com
http://www.sternfannetwork.com/

Make sure you register on there, when the site's busy they boot off guests. The guy that runs the site ended up getting a job with Stern doing the superfan roundtable show.

[heavyD]

Originally posted by rage2
They made him say a bunch of random stuff first week and they pieced together some funny as fuck prank calls.

That was the stuff they were playing. I was stuck in traffic downtown for an hour on Wednesday on route to the oil show and was laughing my ass off in the car by myself. I think the guy in the car next to me thought I was on some really good shit. :rofl:

[ryder_23]

Question for you guys.

Where you mount the antenna in your car? besides obvious answers as the roof (if it is necessary). Sorry, just thinking about getting it, not sure where I would mount it so it looks decent.

thanks guys

[GoChris]

Originally posted by ryder_23
Question for you guys.

Where you mount the antenna in your car? besides obvious answers as the roof (if it is necessary). Sorry, just thinking about getting it, not sure where I would mount it so it looks decent.

thanks guys

I put it in the back window, inside the car. works great 100% of the time

[likwid]

I dont need the antenna mounted anywhere when Im in Calgary.. I can drive into my underground parkage with the antenna under my seat and I still get great signal.

[heavyD]

I just mounted mine in the middle of the rear deck. I have tinted windows and have no issues with reception. Definately do not cut any holed in your roof or other panels to mount the antenna as they work pretty well anywhere on the car. I know some people mount them under the plastic shroud near the windshield wiper motors on many cars with no issues also if you want to mount it outside the interior.

[TurboMedic]

Originally posted by ryder_23
Question for you guys.

Where you mount the antenna in your car? besides obvious answers as the roof (if it is necessary). Sorry, just thinking about getting it, not sure where I would mount it so it looks decent.

thanks guys
here's my whole install, i mounted the antenna under the dash pad

http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.php?s=&threadid=132385

[adam c]

i have XM.. but i mounted my attena on the roof at the very back, and i have the cable run down through the hatch, into the frame of the car where all the normal wires run...

[DaRockwilder]

Does it only work under the dashpad in Calgary?? Mine won't work unless its outside the car. Nice install BTW! Where did you get that bracket? I wanna do the same thing!

[ediamond]

Has anyone who has sirius radio, been having problems with the reception near downtown.. I just got mine installed, it's clear until i get near downtown, then the reception is terrible.. not sure if the install was just done poorly or if i can do somthin to fix it?

[rage2]

Repeaters were having problems last week, but was fine today.

[TurboMedic]

Originally posted by DaRockwilder
Does it only work under the dashpad in Calgary?? Mine won't work unless its outside the car. Nice install BTW! Where did you get that bracket? I wanna do the same thing!

the bracket is made by Panavise....its a cell phone mounting bracket....I drove through the mountains to Kimberley BC and I had no dropouts (1 small 1 second one in really tall trees is all) with the under dashpad install