Are Sirius and XM Radios Interchangeable (and othe questions)?

[mkdanz]

Question 1
If I want to change from one Sirius receiver in my car to another, are the power and antenna connectors standard, or do I need to rewire the vehicle for the new receiver?

Question 2
If I want to change from Sirius to XM in my car, same question. Are the power and antenna connectors standard, or do I need to rewire the vehicle for the new radio?

Question 3
Is one antenna better than another? I have the Starmate Replay mobile kit. Is there a more powerful antenna?

Question 4
Is one add-on receiver better than another? I'm not asking about the feature set of the receiver, just in terms of reception and audio quality. I use the FM transmitter function and the quality of the audio isn't nearly as good as terrestrial radio audio. Some stations actually sound like poor 20k streams at lower volumes.

These are of course the research questions one should ask BEFORE buying the equipment, but mine was a gift and I'm not at all satisfied with the reception, audio quality and performance of my current system.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Kent]

Question 1
If I want to change from one Sirius receiver in my car to another, are the power and antenna connectors standard, or do I need to rewire the vehicle for the new receiver?

At least for the most part, yes. The two Sirius receivers I have use exactly the same power and antenna connector. However, there may be a few units that use an odd antenna and/or power connector.

Question 2
If I want to change from Sirius to XM in my car, same question. Are the power and antenna connectors standard, or do I need to rewire the vehicle for the new radio?

No and yes. The power connectors are not standard; I seem to remember one is a 10 volt and the other is a 12 volt. The antennas, however, are interchangeable, at least for the most part. I have an XM antenna on my car, and I can plug my XM receiver or my Sirius receiver into it. It makes no difference. Others have told me the exact same thing.

Question 3
Is one antenna better than another? I have the Starmate Replay mobile kit. Is there a more powerful antenna?

Don't know. I like the XM antenna for my car a little better because it's easier to unplug and plug into the units I have. I seem to have to wrestle the Sirius antennas a little more.

Question 4
Is one add-on receiver better than another? I'm not asking about the feature set of the receiver, just in terms of reception and audio quality. I use the FM transmitter function and the quality of the audio isn't nearly as good as terrestrial radio audio. Some stations actually sound like poor 20k streams at lower volumes.

Sound quality is better when you don't use the FM transmitter, but I still don't get the CD quality some people claim to get. It seems like one of those situations where the FM modulator, tape adapter, and auxilliary plug are distinguishable from each other but otherwise indistinguishable.

These are of course the research questions one should ask BEFORE buying the equipment, but mine was a gift and I'm not at all satisfied with the reception, audio quality and performance of my current system.

When it comes to reception, what's your situation? Are you listening in the car, in the home, or where? I get the impression you're listening in the car from your questions, but your automobile reception should be okay unless you live in a setting with lots of obstruction and no terrestrial repeater.