What kind of a freaking post is that anyway? I just expressed dissatisfaction with satellite radio and you try and ridicule me as some kind of unsophisticated moron. Short guy complex rearing its head again is it? I had bigscreen home theater systems in 1990, plasma screens in 2003. Get a life you idiot.

 

I think I read somewhere that the lifetime subscription is transferable twice for $75 each time. Doesn't matter though since I'm keeping my car for quite a while. My car may out last Sirius! Who knows these days?

 

Still have my '08 Clubbie S with 45k miles on it, and the lifetime Sirius still works. But I hardly use it now that I have the better sounding Streaming audio via ViseeO Tune2air Bluetoothed to my Iphone. Only time we use Sirius is when we are traveling where there is no cell signal.

 

I constantly use my Sirius especially for Howard Stern.

I actually did transfer it to my M3.

At this point. Just a couple more months of use and I will have paid $5 a month since I got my Cooper S in 2007.

 

Sure, and said "digital music" is highly compressed crap audio that sounds like a 1970's 8 track.

 

Quality seems to vary by station and by time of day. I was surprised when I got in a loaner with "HD Radio," and discovered the depth and quality of that signal. That being said, I rank Sirius up there as a "must have," right behind AC and cruise control.

 

HD FM generally is of good to high quality. And that's because it's based on sampling of original analog signals at very high bit rates. When I flip between it and SiriusXM, the difference is literally like night and day.

Which is sad. During the early days of satellite radio (when XM and Sirius were slugging it out as competitors) the quality of satellite signals was much better than it is now. There was more of an emphasis then on providing higher bit rate signals across fewer channels than trying to cram in as many different channels as possible. When competition began to focus on the latter, it quickly forced both companies to lower the amount of bandwidth allocated to each channel, which is what led to the drop in sound quality.

 

Yep, ditched SiriusXM a while ago, was a serious challenge to get them to turn it off. Worse outfit I have ever dealt with. In any event, the sound quality simply sucked, sounded like they broadcast at the end of a tunnel..

 

Yes, SiriusXM is infamous for lousy customer service. My household still has subscriptions on three cars (although I'm about to make that just two) and we are still trying to get SiriusXM to send us a consolidated billing statement.

Frankly, that network is moving from intensive care into life support, because their business model has become too dependent on a "churn" strategy. Specifically, get auto manufacturers to install receivers and then offer a "free" initial short term subscription to car buyers. The assumption was they'd become addicted to the convenience of satellite and become long term renewal customers once the free trial ended.

But contrary to expectations, large proportions of buyers dropped the subscriptions when the free introductory period ended or within a month or two of that happening. And that symptom is being exacerbated by increased use of in-car streaming. My prediction: within a few years, satellite radio will be in the same shape as CDs are now. A service used by a dwindling number of aging clientele.

 

I may resemble that remark. Now, don't make me pause my cassette and come up there and open up a can on your a**.

 

Well, I still listen to vinyl through a completely analog tube-based system (which has three dimensional fidelity no digital equipment can touch) and record music off of FM radio using a 1977 Nakamichi cassette deck. So the resemblance you mention is something I'm actually part of. Albeit, the newfound interest in vinyl by a large number of millennials are showing is suddenly making me feel a lot more trendy.

 

Nakamichi. Gawd. Blast from the past.

Buddy of mine runs through two Dynaco tube amps; one per side into Magnaplanars. Yeah, he's a tweek.

 

Wow, two Dynacos - I assume you've heard them in action and were impressed by the fact a tube watt puts out a lot more SPL than a transistor one; a function of the high voltage (around 400 in a Dynaco) going into the filter caps. The power amp in my system is a 1963 Dynaco ST 70, pretty much original except for upgraded tube sockets (replaced the OEM plastic with ceramic ones), replacing the selenium recitifier with a diode, new electrolytic capacitors and an aftermarket VTA driver board.