I installed the XM setup tonight. all i have to say is, 'you gotta get this.' my regular radio just sounds like tin. way cool.

that said, i mounted the antenna in the hoop behind the passenger's head (yes, under the roof) and reception is nearly perfect; there were some dead areas, but i think that's transmission, not the antenna cause it worked perfectly 98% of the time. some tweaking might be in order, but it was certainly acceptable. nothing like trying to figure out how to get a head unit out for the first time, but i finally got a handle on it, and it went smoothly from there. ran the wire behind the rear wall panels down to the tuner box under the passenger seat. very neat, can't see any of it, unless the top is down. then you can see the antenna, but if you're not really paying attention, you don't see it. top up is all tinted windows, so you can't see it at all - mostly stealth it's nice working in a stereo shop - you can install til whatever hours you like any questions, fire away!

 

are there anyother places to put the antenna? Aslo which xm radio did you get? I am thinking of geting xm, but i just bought brand new mp3 radio player and i would hate to replace it, but i heard that theres a little display that you can put above your current radio or something like that? do you know anything about this?

 

if you want you can mount the antenna on the trunk, or any other surface - i just found that to be ugly, and wanted to rig it inside if i could.

as for the display, you can get that too - uses radio frequency technology, and in my opinion, that's a silly way to use technology that sounds better than standard radio - all you're doing is downgrading it's sound to radio level. but it /will/ work.

 

I will be doing this very very soon in my car...........like THIS WEEK!

I plan on putting my antenna on top of the rear gas tank using some tape to hold it down from flopping all over the place. I will center it under the rear deck lid where the top folds into. We shall see how it does in there! I have to be 100% stealth! Its just me!

Yes working at a stereo shop does have its advantages.

 

i agree - working in a shop is nice however, i found that location did not work well at all for me, although i do have the hardtop too. but in the install bay in that spot i didn't get great reception. moved to the passenger hoop and voila! no problemo.

 

i think it is a new capitalistic idea that serves no real purpose on a consumer vehicle.
it is understandable for a business vehicle such as a taxi or bus, but not a personal vehicle.
pay monthly for radio, please. I will continue to burn my cd's so that I have full control over
what I listen, thank you

 

I could not disagree more. I think this idea is specifically consumer friendly. I absolutely hate the time and effort it takes me to burn CD's only to end up with still very limited choices. Hearing the same thing over and over. I like a certain type of music 50% of the time and, if available, I would love to listen to 10 other styles 5% of the time. Who has enough time, energy, and rsources to burn 100 CD's of music you might want to listen to once a week.

XM gives you the power to listen to any type of music at will. No pre planning, no time wasting finding a source for music to burn a CD from, etc. I do not own XM or have any stake in XM, but I would love to have it installed.

Are you kidding...10 bucks a month for the opportunity of listenting to any type of music whenever I feel like it, without having 20 CD's strewn about the inside of my car...I love the idea and find it particularly consumer choice friendly.

Try taking a 1000 mile drive with 10 CD's and static ridden, poor selection, AM/FM radio. The XM concept is a great idea!

 

I like the idea, although I'm not quite ready to invest in the equipment. Anyways, it's there if you like it. If you don't, don't worry about it. I know that I would never hear any different music if I never turned on the radio.

 

I will be installing mine in the next few weeks as well. My biggest concern is the antenna. When i saw the first ones that looked like shark fins I almost cried, anyway my equipment should be on its way to the shop as we speak.

 

if you don't want to invest in the equipment, BlitzSafe is going to have an adapter available in the next month or so that will allow you to use your CD changer connection for XM - you'll lose the text ability (very cool, IMO), but you'll have full ability to hear all stations. i considered waiting for that, but in the end decided i had an excuse for a new head unit