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Hello Everyone!
I had a moment to test and investigate the Sirius tuner now available from Toyota. All functions worked OK with the Prius including text (only 10 characters) and touch screen control. Sound quality and speed is good. If you are contemplating it, you cannot connect both XM and Sirius at the same time. Connecting both will not damage anything, but the dual communication is not configured to be compatible, so the units will have conflict. The Sirius tuner with interface is smaller than the XM package so more options for positioning the tuner can be available. Installation is still a single plug to the back of the radio with the other end of the cable plugging into the Sirius tuner. The antenna is a small single wire with Toyota options of magnetic roof mount or stick-on window antenna.

Anybody have a preference of one over the other? Does either one work better than the other with the Prius, or is it really just a choice in programming availability?

Bob Edwards of Morning Edition fame is on Sirius! I miss that growly baritone in the morning.

It honestly depends on what kind of music you like. Personally the entire cost of XM is justified with the single station Fungus 53.
http://www.xmradio.com/programming/chan ... .jsp?ch=53
Squizz, Lucy and Ethel aren't too bad either.

I wanted Sirius for their NPR programming and a friend of mine has Sirius. The sound quality of NPR on Sirius is very poor and they combine their Punk and HipHop on the same station. So after listing to XM, he is going to switch.

XM's Public Radio is pretty weak. This seems strange since NPR and XM are down the road from each other, maybe it’s the whole Bob Edwards thing.

I bought the Coastal Tech XM Radio kit. I don't know how he did it but it was a hell of a deal. Thanks Dave!

Bob

Howard Stern will be on Sirius next year.

Does this work with the JBL upgraded unit as well as with the stock stereo?

We were interested in it because we get such bad reception in our area for Air America. However then we heard that Sirius is dropping Air America next month. Anybody know anything about that?

Do you have to make any long-term commitment (i.e., early termination fees) to these services? Seems to me they can't charge you if you cancel because they dropped a show you bought it for.

I have another satradio 101 question... Takign the upcoming Stern show as an example. he airs his show live on the east coast, tape-delayed on the west coast hours later.

On satellite, will it be similarly handled? Do they run shows liv only, or do they repeat daily shows like Stern's throughout the day?

I work with some people that did some of the technical groundwork for Sirius. Their slant is that Sirius has better coverage than XM. XM needs many more ground repeaters to reach the same audience coverage that the Sirius platform has.

So, just like cellphone, you've got to find out how the coverage is in your area. You might like one over the othe.

Gary

I read a really nice balanced article comparing Sirius to XM (wish I had it now, it was Business Week or something like that). Anyway, on most issues they were pretty much equal. Clearly if you're a huge Howard Stern fan or something Sirius would be the way to go. If you mostly want news they're basicly equal, if baseball is your sport then XM, if you'll listen to all your football then Sirius.

But when it comes to music I think the real divisioin occurs. XM has 3x larger (maybe 10x, but I can't confirm that without the article) music library and gives it's DJs a lot more freedom to choose the music allowing them to dig into the archives and experiment and play a big variety of music. They, of course, have the Top 20 channel and such, but on all the other more general genre stations it's quite open. Sirius, OTOH, did/does extensive market research finds what songs people love and come back to and heavily plays those and keeps the DJs on each channel on a tighter rein so they don't stray outside those boundries.

This is NOT to say one is necessarily better than the other as regards their music play decisions (I do have my opinion), but rather that if you're someone who likes to hear stuff you know you like and doesn't want someone throwing in the 'B'-side track off of a Blue Oyster Cult single when you're listening to 'classic rock', then Sirius is your best choice. If, OTOH, you really get into some of the more arcane material and like to hear something you've never heard before from a band you thought you knew well, then XM is a better choice as far as music.

If I find that article I'll post it.

Dave,
I am sure you have already considered this but any chance that you could get both Sirius and XM on the MFD using your viewtech arrangement or a A/B switch. I am refering to the text info. I am sure the sound is covered. Thanks, RIck

Bob's on XM. And unfortunately, his growly baritone is a little tinny, due to the sledgehammer compression on most of the talk stations.
Sirius does have generally better offerings from NPR at large, but after he got fired at NPR (stupid, stupid...) Bob's an XM guy.

Air America: They recently signed an exclusive deal with XM, so they're now off Sirius, and XM's "America Left" channel is now officially branded "Air America".
(I also occasionally listen to America Right (know thy enemy...) (just kidding, you loveable Rapture Righties!), and I find it highly amusing that the 10-character limit on the MFD truncates the title of the Rusty Humphries show to "Rusty Hump")

KTPhil - Long term committment: Not on XM. Dunno about Sirius. In fact, my sibs and I bought an XM receiver for our folks, and I put them on my Family Plan even though they live far away, so they only pay $7/mo instead of $13. That's a nice savings, if you have multiple family members who want to join and someone's willing to pay the whole bill, then get reimbursed by everyone.

Gagendel - Sirius prolly does have marginally better mobile coverage, since they have 3 sats in a constantly-moving elliptical orbit. The XM in my car rarely drops out though, so I'm happy with it. On the other hand, if you have a Home Kit, XM definitely has better home coverage with their fixed-orbit satellites, so you don't have to chase the signal with your home antenna, which is a problem a friend of mine has with Sirius.

Just installed the Sirius radio yesterday. Dave is right about the 10 characters. Don't understand how or why a new receiver would only have 10 characters. Sirius tuners have two halfs. I tried switching between the toyota model and the starbase model hoping to get the extra characters but apparently the two halfs require the same serial number. SO in recap the sirius satellite sends more than 10 characters, the toyota display can display more than 10 characters in CD text, but the old technology receiver they just released cant support 10 characters.

I used the following part numbers. PTS31-00051 (cable) $88.88 and PTS31-00050 (Receiver) $177.75 and ordered online from McGeorge Toyota in Richmond. They shipped Fedex for 17.94. Website http://www.mcgeorgeparts.com/. click on 2005 Solara and you will see the kits. I know its expensive compared to the newer sirius tuners that also provide for more characters but it does plug right in (no modification) and works with the touch screen.

I mounted the tuner under the rear seat (passenger side as the cable is shorter than the ones that Dave includes with his XM kits. The antenna is also ugly so I substituted with a nice compact sirius antenna from ebay. Honestdee is the seller but does not have one up at the moment. The key is its small and has good protection for the microcable.

I have Dave's XM kit in the other Prius and he has probably not put any SIRIUS units out for sale yet due to the shorter cable and ugly antenna. I mounted the small tuner under the black metal corner area of the rear seat and ran the antenna under the door weather stripping to the rear hatch. some pictures are available below of the finished product, sorry about the focus).

http://webpages.charter.net/r1957/SiriusPrius/

They bumped the price to $288 for the reciever.

WHen I check the site I don't see a price change. I see XM the kit for 286.99 and the Sirius tuner at 177.75 plus the cable at 88.88. Have fun, RIck