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My stereo system is in a built-in entertainment wall and does not allow for the antenna to be pointed at a south facing window. I plugged the SkyFi in and immediately was getting two bars on the signal strength indicator. After a few quick adjustments I was getting 3 bars or it bounced between 3 and 2 bars. It has 10 foot flat and tray ceilings.After hooking up the cables to my surround sound receiver and placing the antenna on the top of the stack of stereo components, I pointed the antenna generally to the south and toward the ceiling at about 45 degrees.
Overall, I am very happy with the SkyFi, the home kit, and the XM service. I timed it and it took 12 minutes before the tuner updated and began receiving all channels. After getting a strong signal and hearing the sample channels loud and clear, I activated the subscription online. My wife and I really enjoyed it and decided the home kit option was something we were very interested in as we don't spend long periods of time in our cars. I was reluctant at first because of worries regarding the antenna not being in a south-facing window. My house is 2 years old, one story brick with a normal pitched roof consisting of plywood decking and dimensional fiberglass shingles. I do not have terrestrial repeaters in my area, so I am relying solely on the satellite.
I was pretty impressed it activated that quickly.I picked XM over Sirius because I had a chance to hear it in the Avis rental car and I trust Delphi equipment. I recently rented a Cadillac from Avis and was able to listen to XM at no charge. After reading that many others have had success with the antenna in less than ideal areas, I decided I would give it a try. I was very happy to have it work, and it is not even close to sitting in a south-facing window.
There was an audiophile version of an XM Radio home tuner which included FM, but I do not believe it is currently available. I was surprised at how good the sound was through a $30K stereo system. I replaced it with a shielded iPod Monster cable for $20 and the hum went away. I would highly recommend this as a great addition to any home stereo system with an available RCA input for an additional device. This adaptor mates well with the SKYFI receiver and allowed me to connect the receiver to my high end stereo system. The out-of-the-box cable was cheap and unshielded and caused a loud hum in my system. It is not CD quality (uses lossy compression) but was better than my Stereophile Class A tuner.
The tip: if you plan on using the home stereo adapter, spend the $20 for a Monster cable to connect to your amp or receiver. It's especially disappointing since big bucks have been invested in the technology and programming and in the last few feet the signal quality is degraded to an unlistenable level -- and you've got to believe that the "adapter kit" is a pretty high margin item for Delphi.
It's worth getting now and we'll look forward to more from XM. Johnson would have been happier.The concern: I hope XM takes advantage of the opportunity to take radio programming to some new and creative places.
Had they maintained the quality of the product maybe Mr. It doesn't look like we're ever going to get anything creative from commercial radio, and XM has vastly greater resources than Public Radio if they want to use them.My system works great (now) and there's a lot of potential here.
XM Radio and the Delphi equipment for the most part live up to the rave reviews:=marvelous on long road trips, no need to fear moving out of range just when you've found something engaging=sound quality generally equal to FM=wide, wide variety of programmingBut, I do have a tip and a concern. It took me two trips to the retailer to get this resolved.
There's quite a variety here, but much of it tends to become a choice about preferred "wallpaper" music.
This could not have come to soon. WOW. A+++
This is a poorly designed unit which takes a digital signal from space and turns it into the quality of a scratched LP record. If you have a crappy stereo unit and are used to poor sounding audio, then this unit is for you. If you have a high-end stereo system, you will not be happy with how this sounds at all.
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