Re: Sirius and XM antennas

If this had been discussed in the archives, let me know and I'll check, but I don't recall seeing much about it here.

I am thinking about getting sirius radio. I had an aux in installed in my 2008 Boxster. And, I also now have an Outback that has aux in. My thought is to have a unit that I can simply switch between cars (why pay for two subscriptions?). First quesiton: Does the aux in work for plugging in a portable sirisus radio? And, second question(s) are about the antenna: Has anyone installed the external sirius antenna on their Boxster? Is it a pretty easy job? It looks like it from the sirius web page. Are these antenna's easily stolen? Does it make your car a "mark" for a breakin to steal a presumed radio inside?

Thanks for an help on this and any other advice that comes to mind.

1999 Arctic Sivler/black/black (sold)
2008s Silver/black/black - so predictable
2011 Outback
8/24/2011 first Grandson

I installed my antenna for Sirus under one of the plastic covers that sits at the base of the passenger side of the front windshield (under the front hood). Reception was pretty good, and compared favorably to when I had it mounted on the outside of the rear clamshell. BTW, I had a portable head unit that I transferred between two cars.

It was all not worth it however, since I only bought the thing to follow Howard Stern, and he is on vacation and has so many commercials that I dropped it after the first three years.

I looking for decent music when I take what are going to be more frequent long drives. (My daughter, and more importantly, my grandson, are about a 75 minute drive; and my kayaking buddy is about 2 hours away.) Free radio just doesn't cut it for me anymore on these trips - too little music, too repeditive, way too many commercials. I have a friend with an iphone and he like plugging in internet radio, but I am still in the stone age. I have a half decent collection of tunes on my ipod, but I gotta say, even those are getting old after all of these years, and the sirius channels will have much more music variety than anything I will collect.

So, the quesiton is, does sirius sound like a good solution for me, or are there other options that I am not thinking of that are worth considering?

Thanks

Quote
Bobtesa
I looking for decent music when I take what are going to be more frequent long drives. (My daughter, and more importantly, my grandson, are about a 75 minute drive; and my kayaking buddy is about 2 hours away.) Free radio just doesn't cut it for me anymore on these trips - too little music, too repeditive, way too many commercials. I have a friend with an iphone and he like plugging in internet radio, but I am still in the stone age. I have a half decent collection of tunes on my ipod, but I gotta say, even those are getting old after all of these years, and the sirius channels will have much more music variety than anything I will collect.

So, the quesiton is, does sirius sound like a good solution for me, or are there other options that I am not thinking of that are worth considering?

Thanks

To me, the best option for music, is and always will be your personal mp3 player/iPod. I've got Sirius in my Jetta Sportswagen daily driver with a free 6 months subscription and never listened to it. I guess I am different from you--I like my music and my music library is around 2500 songs. I have a playlist that is comprised of the "unplayed" songs, and I go a couple of months before it plays through the entire library without repeats; reset the play count, and start all over again. In effect, my iPod is my own personal classic rock station without commercials or DJ chatter to get in the way.

Subscription music services just don't do it for me, and the thing I always hate about satellite radio is drop outs, when you go under overpasses, in parking garages, or in intercity with high buildings. And the sound quality is not as good as cd or mp3/iPod.

Current Porsche: PCA Club Coupe 2 of 50

Past: 02 986 S

01 996 Turbo

00 Millenium Coupe

99 996 C2

99 Boxster

I have a Stilello2 and it's great because I set it to record the Howard Stern show from 3am - 8am everyday (I live in the west coast) and when I wake up I can listen to today's show and fast forward/skip through all the commercials and anything else I'm not interested in. Unless he has an interesting guest(s) I only end up listening to about 1-2 hours of actual show. I always listen to Robin's news, but I skip all the drama with various staff and people like Eric, Riley, etc..

I received a Sirius Stiletto radio receiver about 5 years ago as a Christmas gift. The performance has been fine, both in the house and in the car. Numerous parts and accessories, such as addtional docks and antennas are readily available on e_bay. I just replaced my battery pack ($15). The unit also automatically records the audio you are listening to, along with allowing you to download MP3's.

Mounting in my Boxster has been temporary, for trips only, and so I simply put my antenna on the dash.

Car antennas are on e_bay for under $10.

BTW, if you do get the radio, DO NOT simply subscribe online. Call to purchase a subscription as it is much cheaper. My yearly subscription was up to $180/year before I realized that the company would bend over to keep their subscribers. I now pay $20 for 5 months. I've renewed at this rate 4 times, I did not have to threaten to cancel, just called and requested the rate.

IMHO, the service is worth $50 a year as I can listen to NFL and college football along with some great music channels. Stern still amuses me the few times I do catch his show.

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles

I don't have Sirius but have XM. I assume the antennas are pretty much the same. In my Boxster, I have installed the antenna inside the front window in the center. I occasionally get a drop out in the mountains - but the performance with that placement is pretty comparable to the external antenna placement on my other cars.

Although I have a "permanent" installation in my Boxster, I also have a Pioneer XMp3 portable unit that I switch between two cars, my office and my home. I have cradles at all four locations with antennas and just move the small Pioneer unit from place to place with one subscription. I really like this portable unit because it also has internal storage for recording radio shows and MP3s,

You mentioned you have an aux input in your 2008 Boxster. Do you have theCDR24 radio?. If so, how did you get the aux input? If it is just an FM modulator, there is a reasonable chance you will not be satisfied with the result. I had that and eventually installed the Dension unit with my CDR24 - a huge improvement in sound quality.

mike

We have an 06 explorer we purchase used that came with an aftermarket XM radio. I removed the radio when the subscription expired due to dumb subription rules (after sirius and xm merged). I tried my sirius radio (in sirius car dock) and the antenna plugged right in. Not so lucky for the power connection.

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles

Forgot to mention that I have used both home antennas as well with my sirius home dock and did not notice any performace difference.

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles

I don't know what kind of radio I have in my 08, it is the standard unit with Bose speakers. I don't us FM modulation, I had a unit (not Dennison) professionally installed that is hard wired into the fiber optics. It works great with my ipod. I assume that I can plug in an mp3 or a sirius unit using the input wire, but I don't know for sure.

Your Dennison unit has an audio input jack. (looks like the headphone jack on your MP3 player.

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles