Got my Audiovox Sirius...

[Richard King]

I received my Audiovox system a couple of days ago and finally got it properly installed and activated today. I tried it initially in the car with the FM transmitter and thanks to interference on the FM band the sound was VERY disappointing, in fact VERY poor. Needless to say I was VERY disappointed, especially since I have become a dealer and this is my demo unit which I will be showing to prospective Sirius customers. I decided to try the cassette adapter that I had been using with my laptop for audio. I took the end from the cassette adapter and plugged it into the car kit and all I can say is what a difference!! This thing sounds great, certainly better than any FM signal I have ever received. It's not overly compressed (audio compression) like most FM stations. The music selection is diverse enough to please just about anyone. Needless to say, I am still exploring. My home adapter has proven to be a bit of a problem. I think my solution will be to get an extension for the antenna. I am unable to get any signal inside the house, so the antenna has to be mounted on the outside. I hate doing this, but it is a necessity if I want tunes in the house. Right now I have the antenna cable poking around a window screen and the antenna resting on the top of a bush outside my house. I only get one notch on the signal meter and suspect I will probably have the signal going in and out until I solve this. I don't think there are any repeaters in the metropolis of Vero Beach, so I have to place the antenna where it can see the sky properly. If I can get a long enough extension maybe I will put it on the roof next to my Starband/Dish dish (hmmm I wonder where I ground this thing). Even with the low signal, the sound through my JBL studio monitors is excellent. Great balance between highs and lows, no hiss, and as I mentioned no audible audio compression making for good dynamic range. The constant music with no motormouth dj's between songs is a welcome relief from commercial radio. When they do have announcers I must say that I don't mind them at all because they appear to be "grownups" and not trying to be funny and forcing phony laughter while attempting to tread the fine line between decency and unemployment. It's nice to simply hear the occasional song intro or outro without all the garbage. With this thing installed I will once again become a music listener rather than a captive of talk radio.

[jeslevine]

Did you try all three FM settings, and were all bad on the audiovox?


John

[Richard King]

Yep, actually it's four channels. I have heard some audio quality problems on the talk channels, but don't really care if they use the bandwidth for music. The music channels sound fabulous. :D

[raysat]

I picked up my Audiovox SirPnP2 shuttle & carkit at Bestbuy a couple of weekd ago. Also got the boombox. I plugged the car kit into the cigarette lighter socket, placed the antenna on my rear dash and called Sirius to add it to my account ( I have a Jensen unit installed on my Honda Goldwing.) I was able to listen to it on the 2 hr drive back home. That night I used the double tape to adhere the carkit to my dash. I finally ran the antenna wiring permanently on my Mustang this Saturday. The fm transmitter works great in my area as we have limited Fm here. Sound seems quite good. I did have a problem one time using the shuttle in the boombox. It wouldn't find a antenna and it did the same thing back in the car so something happened removing or putting the shuttle into the boobox. Could be it shorted out somehow. No problem as Bestbuy replaced it quickly but now I remove allower to the shuttle before moving it. I have ordered the Audiovox part that will attach the carkit inline with my antenna wire to the car stereo unit. This should give better signal to the stereo in urban areas to override local stations. This method works on my bike. So far i like the features of this product. I also have found that the boombox picks the signal up better when the antenna is separated from the box.