m00n Posted March 25, 2004 Author Share Posted March 25, 2004 i wouldn't mind xm but I just don't want to pay for it. Not yet anyway. However, I know I would like the selection XM has to offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 ---------------- On 3/25/2004 7:21:19 PM Juba310 wrote: The only thing FM has over XM that I can think of right now, is that its local. Meaning I get to hear about what concerts and other live events are going on by me. Other than that, I like the idea of XM. ---------------- Exactly. I have XM, and I think it is awesome, even if you do have to pay for it. If I wan't to find out what live events are going on locally, I'll look it up on the damn internet! Fortunatly, the Fredericksburg area has an awesome website that has everything I need to find out what is going on locally at www.fredericksburg.com. XM now has localized traffic and weather reports (not that traffic is a huge concern where I commute - I don't commute up into D.C.) The much superior sound quality over FM (and from what I can tell, XM does not apply any artifical equlizations and compressions to the music itself), not having to listen to commercials, not having to "channel surf" when going out of range of a station, not having to put up with static and interference, and the huge variety of music more than makes up for the paltry sum of $10/month I pay for XM. As to what I think sound better over all - CD's by far, especially well recorded ones. CD's are better than XM and XM is better than FM. I figure XM to be about the equivalent of a 128kbps or so MP3 file - plenty good enough for listening to while on the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted March 25, 2004 Author Share Posted March 25, 2004 are there CD/FM/AM/XM car stereos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 ---------------- On 3/25/2004 10:54:11 PM m00n wrote: are there CD/FM/AM/XM car stereos? ---------------- Yes there is - that is exactly what I have in my car. The Alpine deck in my car has the XM built in, along with the FM and AM tuners and a CD player. Pretty nice unit, and it sounds awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted March 25, 2004 Author Share Posted March 25, 2004 how much if you don't mind me asking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 ---------------- On 3/25/2004 11:03:30 PM m00n wrote: how much if you don't mind me asking? ---------------- It wasn't exactly cheap. The head-unit itself costed a good $350. Fully installed (including antenna, dash kit, wiring harness, etc), was a good $550 +/- a few bucks. Personally, I thought it was worth every penny, even more so considering that all I had before that was the factory stock cassette deck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted March 25, 2004 Author Share Posted March 25, 2004 right on... my wife really wants xm. more than I do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 Not every station uses the same approach some sound like crap. I have a pbs station or something that is totally live miced sound. And they play jazz on their that is incredable. As for xm sounding better i highly doubt it. Especially when it is cd quality sound. But it may be I am not saying it isn't but i doubt it to my ears. And i have had bose and heard them and that is a way different sound. I owned the towers not the satellites. They didn't play loud enough for me with the little power i had, but it didn't make them a crappy speaker. I am not a huge bose fan but my local fYi has a bose system that would make you flip your wig and it doesn't have any of that reflection stuff going on. KLipsch rules so you know anyhow. Some people may not have good radio stations near them and they havent' heard what me and some others experienced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 ---------------- On 3/25/2004 11:35:02 PM wheelman wrote: As for xm sounding better i highly doubt it. ---------------- It sounded better to my ears than any of the FM stations I tried locally, including the PBS one. This is on a pretty high-end car stereo with MB Quart speakers front and rear and JL Audio subwoofer, all powered by a 500 watt JL Audio amplifier. I also tried the CD's and the CD's sounded much better than both the XM and the FM. However, that is to my ears, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 ---------------- On 3/26/2004 12:06:57 AM skonopa wrote: ---------------- On 3/25/2004 11:35:02 PM wheelman wrote: As for xm sounding better i highly doubt it. ---------------- It sounded better to my ears than any of the FM stations I tried locally, including the PBS one. This is on a pretty high-end car stereo with MB Quart speakers front and rear and JL Audio subwoofer, all powered by a 500 watt JL Audio amplifier. I also tried the CD's and the CD's sounded much better than both the XM and the FM. However, that is to my ears, though. ---------------- Yeah i understand to each their own. In a car i like cd sound better for some reason. Probally because i don't get a strong enough signal like i do at home. What do you think of music choice on satellite? I havent got it but was thinking about purchasing it. The music packages that comes with dish network, and direct tv. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 ---------------- On 3/26/2004 12:17:08 AM wheelman wrote: What do you think of music choice on satellite? I havent got it but was thinking about purchasing it. The music packages that comes with dish network, and direct tv. ---------------- I do listen to the music choice channels from time to time, and they actually sound pretty good. They do have a decent variety of music on there. In fact, I have found new music/artists that I wanted to find more of (and having the title/artist/album/label info right on the screen certainly helps). One interesting use of the music choice is that while watching TV, whenever a commercial comes on, I'll hit the picture-in-picture and pull up the music choice and listen to that while waiting for the commercial to end and the TV program to return. One of the reasons why I wanted a dual-tuner satellite reciever. In the end, the music choice channels was just the icing on the cake. I got DirecTV because of the better selection of channels, the better picture quality than cable (at the time - cable in this area did improve greatly, especially with the "digital cable"), and it was cheaper than the local cable access (at the time I got DirecTV, there was no such thing as "digital cable" in this area). I didn't get DirecTV, just so I can get the Music Choice channels. The Music Choice channels just was a nice bonus, and since they were there, I decided to go check them out. I do like what I found, and I do listen to them from time to time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 Skonopa thanks for the info. I have dish network believe it or not I have had it for years and never got the top 110 package. Because i thought they would ban the top 50 and make it so we couldn't have the choice of the cheaper package. You know what i mean how it comes to those greedy people? They know they got you pretty much for life every month a payment. But i may upgrade my package to get the cd channels. I went with dish in the first place over direct tv because back then direct tv didn't have the cheaper package i believe so. I don't want to turn this into a dish vs. direct i dig them both. But i may upgrade if it sounds good i can tear down that eye sore of an antenna down. It is like ten more a month for me to upgrade plus i would get more tv channels to. Which i wouldn't watch. That's why it has taken me so long to upgrade is the cd channels worth ten extra a month? I was thinking when i could ad ten more premium movie channels for the same price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwm Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 This information might be useful, I personally like the U.S. style IBOC (In Band On Channel) system which means compability for the owners of current FM/AM receivers. Please note the statement re: the future of FM etc.---- in Canada anyway, and I dont particularly like it. I dont see how they can do this in 10 years with the millions of dollars of broadcast equipment currently in use!!........(Wheelman and others) http://www.digitalradio.ca/dabcore.cfm?Page=DabFaqs Do a Google on IBOC.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 ---------------- On 3/26/2004 12:43:51 AM wheelman wrote: But i may upgrade if it sounds good i can tear down that eye sore of an antenna down. It is like ten more a month for me to upgrade plus i would get more tv channels to. Which i wouldn't watch. That's why it has taken me so long to upgrade is the cd channels worth ten extra a month? I was thinking when i could ad ten more premium movie channels for the same price. ---------------- I got the "Total Choice Plus" package with DirectTV. The only reason was that there were a few TV channels that I wanted that where only available with the uprgraded package. It just so happened that it also included more of the Music Choice channels, thus it was a nice bonus. I don't watch enough TV to make it worth it to me to get the premium channels, such as HBO, Showtime, etc, though. For a good while, when I first got DirecTV, I never went into the Music Choice channels. I got bored one day (nothing else was really on), and I started to explore the music channels to see how they sounded and what was available (at least at the time, I had a pretty decent Yamaha/Infinity HT setup, so the music channels did sound good on there). They are a nice bonus that came with the regular TV service and as I have already mentioned, plays a pretty good variety of music. The quality of the sound is also good (very close to CD quality). Now, is it worth upgrading your programming package just to get the extra music channels? That is a call you'll have to make. If you think you'll enjoy listening to them, then perhaps. Also to add: I still have my big TV antenna up on the roof (which was actually leftover from the previous owners of the house). I don't have the local channels on my DirecTV, instead I pull them off the air (and I get well over 30 channels with that thing! - including channels from Baltimore, MD!). The big reason I am going to keep it is that I will eventually get HDTV within the next couple of years, and I have found out that I can get a lot of HD channels over the air with that antenna. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 ---------------- On 3/25/2004 1:10:50 AM wheelman wrote: I think they have top notch cd players and thats what were hearing. Good in good out. ---------------- Whatever the difference is you're hearing it's not becasue they have some super-duper cd player. Bullet-proof CD players, yes - special audio-wise, no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 ---------------- On 3/26/2004 9:38:29 AM skonopa wrote: ---------------- On 3/26/2004 12:43:51 AM wheelman wrote: But i may upgrade if it sounds good i can tear down that eye sore of an antenna down. It is like ten more a month for me to upgrade plus i would get more tv channels to. Which i wouldn't watch. That's why it has taken me so long to upgrade is the cd channels worth ten extra a month? I was thinking when i could ad ten more premium movie channels for the same price. ---------------- I got the "Total Choice Plus" package with DirectTV. The only reason was that there were a few TV channels that I wanted that where only available with the uprgraded package. It just so happened that it also included more of the Music Choice channels, thus it was a nice bonus. I don't watch enough TV to make it worth it to me to get the premium channels, such as HBO, Showtime, etc, though. For a good while, when I first got DirecTV, I never went into the Music Choice channels. I got bored one day (nothing else was really on), and I started to explore the music channels to see how they sounded and what was available (at least at the time, I had a pretty decent Yamaha/Infinity HT setup, so the music channels did sound good on there). They are a nice bonus that came with the regular TV service and as I have already mentioned, plays a pretty good variety of music. The quality of the sound is also good (very close to CD quality). Now, is it worth upgrading your programming package just to get the extra music channels? That is a call you'll have to make. If you think you'll enjoy listening to them, then perhaps. Also to add: I still have my big TV antenna up on the roof (which was actually leftover from the previous owners of the house). I don't have the local channels on my DirecTV, instead I pull them off the air (and I get well over 30 channels with that thing! - including channels from Baltimore, MD!). The big reason I am going to keep it is that I will eventually get HDTV within the next couple of years, and I have found out that I can get a lot of HD channels over the air with that antenna. ---------------- I was checking voom out earlier this morning and they throw in a digital antenna for your locals. NO one does that unless they charge you for it. I don't even have high def but i am thinking of gettting for now so i can watch those channels in 5.1 surround. I am waiting on an email from them. They are having a special. Who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueMonk Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 I have had XM radio for about a year and consider the sound quality better than FM. The variety and lack of commecials is addictive. It doesn't sound as good as a CD on my system and certain channels are more compressed than others. Lots of info on this at xmfan.com For the Dish Network, I think they will be dropping the Music Choice soon and picking up Sirius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strabo Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 ---------------- On 3/26/2004 9:56:14 AM Trooper wrote: Whatever the difference is you're hearing it's not becasue they have some super-duper cd player. Bullet-proof CD players, yes - special audio-wise, no. ---------------- I was wonding if it might be caused by a lack of channel separation. This could make it seem closer to a mono signal which might be creating their imaging. Just making guesses at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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