darden

I have been wanting to install XM in my IS300 SportCross for almost 8 months. I finally did it. They got a great deal at www.bestbuy.com and www.crutchfield.com for the XM Roady.

They are now including the Cig. Lighter Power Plug FM Modulator with the Roady which sells for $30 by itself.

Here's some pictures how i put the XM in the IS300. (I did a lot of search and found too few pictures of XM inside of the IS300). I hope this helps future owners when thinking about XM.

I put the XM on top of the Ashtray using its included mounting kit. Had to sacrifice the Ashtray which I was using as a Change Tray...but it's worth the sacrifice for XM.

darden

here's the close up of the XM sitting on top of the ashtray with it's mounting arm. I ran the wires down the middle console. one wire to the armrest power plug, and the other wire under the steering wheel dash under the panels to the back for the atten. wire.

darden

here's a picture of the Power / FM Modulator Cig. Lighter plug in the power socket under the Armrest.

The wire runs down the side and then I tuck the wire under the center cosole going to the XM.

darden

here's the picture of the XM atten on the roof behind the radio atten. Since i have the SportCross, the hatch makes the atten install very easy.

darden

then i tucked the wire in the interior panels down the side of the back seat to the door.

darden

here's how the wire runs down through the hatch to the interior. didn't want to cut holes on the seal so i have the wire sitting on top.

darden

Overall, i am pleased with the install. it was easily done. the hatch on the sportcross certainly does make my atten install much easier. all the wires are hidden from view from the inside.

XM activation was fast online and $5 cheaper to activate online than the phone. XM was working fully with all its channels after 20 minutes of activation online.

the fidelity of XM is better than radio but not as good as CD since i am using the FM modulator cig. lighter plug. XM also needs to boost its low frequency sound b/c the bass is low. i had to turn up my JL audio amp a notch for XM bass. but the sound quality is certainly not bad at all. i won't be buying CDs or downloading music for a long time to come.

here's one more picture of the roof atten from the side view.

PERRYinLA

That looks great! I would have done someting similar with mine, but since I am constantly surfing the streams, I tend to view and touch my PnP unit very often, and having it that low would make me a dangerous driver. So my PnP is up at the vent grille level.

I agree that once you have satellite radio, your need to buy CDs or download music goes way down.