Hi Gang,

Apparently I just missed the nightly backup before the site went down so I'll report this.

A week ago I installed the Kenwood Sirius satellite radio receiver in my car. Let's run down some figures first:

kenwood receiver - $99
car install kit - $39
aux kit (from MINI) - $39
additional audio cable - $6.99

monthly service - $12.95 *no commercials* - they're doing a special offer right now for lifetime service for $399

The installation went very smoothly and took about 3 hours overall. I mounted the antenna to the roof and ran the wire along the inside edge of the car once navigating it in through the trunk under the rubber seal.

I ended up mounting the receiver on the right side of the dash because I wanted to see what tracks/titles were playing and didn't want to look down - thought that may be a little unsafe - but ie also provides some nice eye candy while driving, especially at night.

The reciever sits in a mount and can easily be ejected for security reasons but also taken inside to listen to the service if you have the home kit.

I plugged the aux cable into the rear of the HU. Getting the unit out was a breeze once I had the right tools. Then the audio cable connected from the aux cable to the audio output on the reciever. I'm running power from the outlet right now. Ran the cable with the audio cable back along the upper end of the passenger foot well and up behind the rubber sealing of the door.

You cannot see any wires accept for the ones behind the reciever so I'm very happy with the clean look.

Now I just hit MODE on the stereo (or steering wheel) and it changes to the AUX input. There is a remote control for the unit I also mounted to the dash.

The sound quiality is cd quality for most music channels. The TV channels are broadcast in radio quality. The signal is acquired literally within two seconds and there is a buffer on the unit so that when you're driving along the highway and go under a bridge it doesn't skip in the signal. You get a track title and name instantaly for each program or song being played. I'm quite impressed.

What sold me on it was listening to it in a rental car a couple of weeks ago and being thoroughly floored with the Purejazz channel. I'm an absolute traditional jazz nut and they are playing tracks out of my collection I never thought I'd hear on the radio! Plus, they're playing many more tracks I haven't yet come across or forget about. They also have a funny stand up comedy channel that is 5 minute snippets of numerous live stand up skits. And of course, various TV channels where they play the live feed.

Since they use live DJ's....I've yet to come across any repetition in songs...maybe just one. But it doesn't bother me.

Anyway, it's a great product and I'm very pleased with it. So, without further ado, here are the pics!

:smile:

ps. Yes, it is screwed into the dash. I know, a bit of a shocker but frankly I think it was the best place to put it. I have the mini-mania shelving in the center console so I couldn't put it there.
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GO NAKED! - Debadge :smile:

 

Ouchie! You drilled into your dash?

Looks good though.

Cabbage

 

Very cool, I like it a lot. Nice clean install too.

 

Should have bought a parcel shelf and installed it there. Would have been alot cleaner look and out of sight. That's my plan but .......

 

Nobull, to be honest, the parcel shelf would be the last place I'd put this. Again, the reason being I wanted to see track titles and names without having to move my eyes off the road. That would be extremely unsafe if it was located on the parcel shelf. In addition, you want to pick a spot where the remote control has a good line of site. If you have a passenger in the car, they may not be able to easily change stations. The remote is somewhat picky unfortunately.

haf :smile:

 

Thats why you put yours on the dash and I will put mine under. Drilling into the dash IMHO is a shoemaker installation and looks ........ Well lets just say looks different. But enjoy. Better you then me.

 

I've found that the display on the Audiovox Shuttle is big enough that I don't look down for very long when I want to see song title etc... No longer than if I needed to look at the AC controls.

I've never used the remote although it did come with it, the Shuttle has a jog dial that I can reach down and turn without looking at the radio.

I've found that the sound quality on the Shuttle is comparable to the Kenwood, and the Jenson that we have in my wife's car (although her stereo isn't that great). The sound quality is better now that I tightened up the AUX jack connector.

Since the car kit for the Shuttle includes and FM Modulator, I've also played with it. The sound quality is just as good when using the AUX jack, however the signal off the AUX jack is stronger so I don't need to turn the radio up as loud to get an audible signal.

 

I've moved the pictures...if you want to see more:

http://members.***.net/hafid/indexmini.html - at the bottom.