[Insighter]

I swore I'd never get XM radio, but now that I have it in my Insight I couldn't be happier with it. Satellite radio seems a good match for such an advanced car, especially given that I intend to take long road trips in my Insight.

I would like to do something about the gap between the edge of the radio bezel and the edge of the radio surround panel. I've noticed this same gap on other Insights with aftermarket radios.

This is a Pioneer Premier DEH-P650 with a factory-refurbished XM tuner hidden in the back. I got both for about $250 on eBay. The XM subscription is $9.99/mo. for 100 channels of music, news, sports and entertainment. I've only had the signal fail once, and that was in a parking garage underneath a grocery store.

The face detaches from the radio, and I'm going to take it with me every time until I install my alarm. The radio is securely installed in a such a way that I think it would take the most experienced thief at least 15 minutes to get it out.

 

[amplifiedmouse]

congrats. my cd/mp3 deck is sirrus ready. i'm thinking about getting it installed in mine. i just want to see/hear a little more about it.

 

[Insighter]

Sirius...

There are a few differences between Sirius and XM. XM costs $9.99 per month for the first receiver ($6.99 each for 1-4 additional receivers) while Sirius costs about $12.99 ($9.99 for an additional receiver). The main reason for the price difference is that Sirius has no commercials on its music stations, while XM has about one or two commercials per hour.

Neither company has the number of subscribers it needs to be profitable. I believe XM has about 500,000 subscribers and Sirius has about 1/10 as many. Sirius is in really bad financial condition. There stock is at about $.50, while XM is at about $5.00. I was concerned about whether Sirius would be there down the road.

If you like talk/news/entertainment, Sirius has the better channel lineup. In addition to not having commercials, the disc jockeys on Sirius' music channels are not allowed to say much of anything, except a little bit of information about the song or artist.

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

Insighter / Lee - Thanks for the pics. The XM Radio looks good apart from the gap.

A cheap fix for the gap, which I carried out on an old car stereo involves a stiff piece of cardboard and a black permanent marker pen.....you can work out the rest!

 

[amplifiedmouse]

wow insighter, you know your stuff

 

[Delta Flyer]

XM - the ultimate DXing radio! I bet there is more variety than most US media markets.

 

[Insighter]

XM...

DXing?

I live in San Diego. Radio here has been terrible ever since they did away with the regulations limiting the number of stations one person or company could own in each market (I think the limit was one AM and one FM).

A company named JACOR bought almost all of the stations and now almost all of them suck. Now the stations change formats so often that you can't keep track of them.

 

[Delta Flyer]

DXing Defined

DXing is finding the most distant radio station, usually on shortwave and AM frequencies. This is becoming a thing of the past with radio signals able to travel on both the internet and satellite.

 

[Atheos]

Insighter,

I have a trim ring I filed down to fit perfectly around a DIN styled
radio for the insight. I removed the trim that came with my alpine sterio, and the
my trim rests perfectly between the face and the dash.
In about a week, I won't need it anymore and I can send it to you if you want.
I'd rather give it to someone, then throw it into the trash.
:wink:

 

[Atheos]

Ok, I guess I do have a few of these trim rings left.
They are Metra part# 89-40-0500
You can find them about anywhere that sells aftermarket car audio
stuff, and take a file to it.
I don't have a need this many trim rings, so if someone needs one,
I'll send it to them for postage.
Insighter already claimed the one I filed, so anyone else who needs
one must file it themselves.
I put some picutres at:
http://www.installerassist.com/archive/insight/radio

 

[Macwarrior]

I put a Grundig YB500 in mine. It just sort of sits there. The antenna runs here and there...not a professional job at all. BUT I can get lots and lots of shortwave bands! And I keep the clock very up-to-date with the 15000 and 25000 bands.

 

[Delta Flyer]

I may get XM radio at the end of June. To get it at home and the car, I will probably get the Delphi SkyFi (option 3 at http://www.xmradio.com/buyers_guide/cho ... ening.html). The knowledgeable people can tell that I'm not too discriminating by going this option. First of all, the car sound will not be digital. The SkyFi unit will feed either transmit the signal to 88.5 FM or through the cassette. Secondly, I will be using the Honda stereo, one of the few bad things about the Insight. But again, I'm mostly interested in selection.

Question: Has anyone used the Delphi antenna mount. It's a magnetic mount If anyone has used one, how did you mount it on the aluminum Insight?

2nd Question: Anyone have XM reception problems?