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Thread: Listening to Satellite Radio in your car through FM tuner question

  1. #1
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    Listening to Satellite Radio in your car through FM tuner question

    Does anyone know if quality is affected when the satellite radio isnt directly wired in and instead tunes in via a fm tuner to a non used fm station in your vehicle?
    My truck didn't come with it but has an option to via Jeep and the cost is about 800 ( 350-400 for module and antenna, 200 installtion kit specific to vehicle, 200 install) out of pocket ( not through jeep) that would be fully intergrated like factory.
    Im thinking of just buying a portable one that tunes into FM. I have had the factory one before in my last jeep but 800 is alot to shell out for satellite.

    Thanks

  2. #2
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    Back in the day I would have vehemently argued that you SHOULD hard wire the Sirius receiver because they were broadcasting at near-CD quality levels. Today, they are no better than non-HD FM stations (in terms of audio quality). Summary: Go with the FM modulator solution, you will not be losing any sound quality.

    $800 is highway robbery. For $250 your can get an Alpine CDA-105 & their XM kit from Crutchfield which includes installation directions and everything you'll need for the install. Most units can be fully integrated with steering wheel controls and have bluetooth & ipod connectivity. I'm not sure if that model specifically fits your jeep but it's an example of what you can get.

  3. #3
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    You used to be able to buy radios that integrated to the factory radio in the aftermarket. I bought one in 2006 for a Chevy Colorado. That was back before the merger and near-bankruptcy.

    Do you have and like satellite radio now? I quickly got bored with it and didn't renew after the first year. When I replaced that truck with one that came with Sirius, they pretty much harassed me about renewing after the initial 6 month subscription ran out. I was barely listening by the time the trial subscription expired.


  4. #4
    I couldn't live without satellite radio in my car. We go back and forth to a cottage every weekend, but even during the week I love being able to listen to wide varieties of music with no commercials. I usually like to listen to rock, but am sure glad not to have to listen to the pretty much the same classic rock playlist that they were playing when I was in high school. We like it so much we have two subscriptions, one for a boombox that we keep at the cottage and only listen to on weekends. I barely ever listen to my CDs in the car, and I sure feel the pain when I'm borrowing my wife's car which does not have satellite.

  5. #5
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    Is the FM injection wired or over the air? If it is over the air, it might be slightly tricky to get working. I bought an over-the-air adapter to put an ipod in my truck. It works well in the position where it now lives, but if I move it only fifteen inches or so lower on the dashboard, the sound is full of static and distant FM stations.

  6. #6
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    My XM Roadie XT is not hardwired into the radio and my reception is just fine using an unused FM station (been that way for 5 yrs). The only issues are when we travel long distances and come across a town that is using one of those low band FM stations that my XM is dialed to. It is a fairly simple matter to just change the signal to another unused station though.

  7. #7
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    We play our garmin and also an ipod trough an FM transmitter to an unused radio channel. It works great. As noted, if you travel significant distances you sometimes encounter a local station on your unused frequncy. Switching is easy. Most units will seek an unused channel for you, then all you have to do is tune your radio to that frequency. I doubt with the normal level of road noise in a car you could detect any loss in fidelity.
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  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Meiser View Post
    You used to be able to buy radios that integrated to the factory radio in the aftermarket. I bought one in 2006 for a Chevy Colorado. That was back before the merger and near-bankruptcy.

    Do you have and like satellite radio now? I quickly got bored with it and didn't renew after the first year. When I replaced that truck with one that came with Sirius, they pretty much harassed me about renewing after the initial 6 month subscription ran out. I was barely listening by the time the trial subscription expired.
    I only listen to satellite, hate commercials on radio and TV. If I could get pandora or slacker radio in the truck I would like it better than Sirius. Maybe I can havent looked into it yet. I suppose my iphone could be plugged into the stereo somehow. I dont have have an AUX in on stereo at least on face.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Craig D Peltier View Post
    I only listen to satellite, hate commercials on radio and TV. If I could get pandora or slacker radio in the truck I would like it better than Sirius. Maybe I can havent looked into it yet. I suppose my iphone could be plugged into the stereo somehow. I dont have have an AUX in on stereo at least on face.
    Internet radio (Pandora and others) recorded to an Ipod is my solution. The Ipod goes into the truck's FM radio through a $30 wireless adapter (from Iluv). Iphones should be able to use the same adapter. Replay Music and RadioSure are two PC programs for recording Internet radio stations.

  10. #10
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    I listen to Pandora via my Sprint Android phone over Ford's Sync. It works pretty well as long as there's a good signal. Ironically, the most trouble I had on a trip from home to St. Louis was in metro Indianapolis where I had a good signal but slooooooowwwww 3G and no 4G.


  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Meiser View Post
    I listen to Pandora via my Sprint Android phone over Ford's Sync. It works pretty well as long as there's a good signal. Ironically, the most trouble I had on a trip from home to St. Louis was in metro Indianapolis where I had a good signal but slooooooowwwww 3G and no 4G.
    The difference between your system and mine is that your Pandora arrives over the cellular net, while mine arrives over the wired internet. You're dependent on cellular coverage, which can be spotty, and you're probably paying for a data plan that is more expensive than the wired connection. Of course, my version has some time delay from the time of transmission, but for music that isn't an issue.

  12. #12
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    I've got something similar to this in my truck:
    http://www.amazon.com/Audiovox-Siriu...uct/B000KGLL84
    It plugs in between your antenna and the stereo. When you turn on your satellite radio, it automatically overrides the antenna and plays whatever is plugged in to the adapter. FWIW, some adapters allow you to input a 3.5mm mini-jack so that you can plug in your IPOD or whatever. I believe the Sirius specific adapters have a different plug that only works with the portable satellite receivers.

    Sound quality is pretty darned good with this type of unit; IMO much better than the FM broadcast style.

    ETA: I don't think I have this particular unit; I included the link as a general reference only, not as an endorsement of that product.

  13. #13
    The downfall to FM modulated, which I used for several years, is that in addition to losing sound quality you have to change the signal stations periodically. IE, you live in a place where 88.7 doesn't have a station but you drive through an area where 88.7 broadcasts. $800 for wired unti is ridiculous though. Why not just buy a new head unit for the truck? It'd probably cost less than $300 and sound better than the factory unit.

  14. #14
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    The FM modulated doesn't work well in crowded radio markets. Here in Phoenix, there isn't a frequency available that works all the way through my 22 mile commute - too many FM stations broadcasting.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Orion Henderson View Post
    The downfall to FM modulated, which I used for several years, is that in addition to losing sound quality you have to change the signal stations periodically. IE, you live in a place where 88.7 doesn't have a station but you drive through an area where 88.7 broadcasts. $800 for wired unti is ridiculous though. Why not just buy a new head unit for the truck? It'd probably cost less than $300 and sound better than the factory unit.
    My head unit has nav built in, im sure its over 2k.

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