We had a Sirius satelite radio receiver installed by the dealer (Longo Lexus in CA) and it sounds like a transistor radio, that is when I'm not getting a "No Signal" dropoff. We have the Mark Levinson system, so the audio is generally superb. Anyone having lousy audio issues with the satellite radio? We have brought it in to be serviced twice and it still sounds like garbage. I wonder if the factory installed receiver had better reception/sound?

There is no factory install as of yet. It looks like the earliest it will be available is in the fall on the 2007s. And note the factory install when it does come will only be XM. Sirius will still be offered but only as a dealer or port install.

Lexus needs to get on the factory install bandwagon, with a fixed roof-mounted antenna, and quick.

How about Lexus taking the next step, along w/ Cadillac, and offering a built-in array of "hidden" antennas? I don't want any fins, warts or other blemishes on the smooth silhouettee of my GS

I have to adjust the equalizer quite often when switching from CD to SAT. My Longo installation
sucks also. I can't tell if it is the reciever or the lack of bandwidth that causes this poor sound.
I read on CNET that XM has better sound... My signals drop out in south Orange County.

Is this a problem with Longo's install or the Sat radio itself? I just ordered a GS430 from Longo and they told me they will be installing the Sirius Radio for free. Should I have them install XM?

CC

I have the unit on a 2005 GX and I notice a significant difference in the sound quality from FM/CD. I have a Sirius unit in my BMW and the sound quality is much better.

Lexus really needs to offer satellite radio and the rear spoiler as factory installed accessories. Those are the two accessories that the dealer can mess up most on during install.

same here we have an order put in for the GS and we will be getting the 9 months free of Sirius radio for free. after the 9 months if we like it then we pay monthly. should i choose the XM?

I need to call Longo next week to see if they offer XM as a free install. I heard that the owner of Longo is a major shareholder of Sirius radio and that is why they put them in. Anyone out there can compare XM vs Sirius on the GS?

I may consider the $500 life time subscription for Sirius if the sound is ok. Any opinion on this?

I will probably keep the car for more than 5 years and may be even longer to give to my kids to drive.

CC

I can tell you that on the ES loaner we got while our car was being serviced by Desert Lexus (for the Longo-installed satelite radio!), the sound was significantly clearer and more dimensional. I believe that Longo installed receivers seriously stink. Hence the free receiver and 9 month trial period.

Lexus Love - there IS a problem with your install. Can be a number of things, and even the sum of the combination of them: (you can bring this post to Longo to get them educated...) The fact that you are getting mutes too often, and little signal strength, is indicative of an antenna location problem (or the antenna wiring/connections).
1) The antenna needs to be mounted properly. Cannot be behind tint. Should not be on the dash, or rear deck. Should be on the ROOF. Need to maximize signal quality. Don't listen to what anyone else says otherwise - since you are having a problem, none of it will apply.
2) I'm assuming you had a separate receiver installed. If you are using the FM Modulator method of getting the signal into your factory radio (you would be tuning to an FM frequency that is not occupied by a radio station, usually somewhere in the 88MHz range), it is CRITICAL WHERE the RECEIVER is mounted (since the signal is being radiated from the receiver), such that the signal can be properly picked up by your antenna, which is in the rear of the car. I do not recommend this metod of installation AT ALL. The preferred way to do the FM modulator install is to get a WIRED FM modulator and use the "FM-Out" port of the receiver to wire the modulated signal directly into your antenna. This way there is no propagation of the signal thru air.
3) Even better, more preferred way is to avoid the FM modulator altogether. This is difficult with factory radios that do not have AUX signal inputs. But it allows direct, unmodulated signal injection into the receiver. No FM. You can find Aux Input adapters, but this is probably too difficult an install for Longo. This results in MUCH better audio quality though.
4) The FM station that is used to accept the modulated signal from the Sirius receiver is SELECTABLE. You can set it from within the FM modulator menu on the Sirius receiver. Try different frequencies and see if the audio improves. You'll need to tune your factory radio to whatever new frequency you move it to.
5) The audio quality difference of XM vs Sirius is small, if any. And it tends to vary somewhat, depending on development work that is being done on the system. Switching to XM is not the answer - getting your install correct IS. An XM install would suffer from the same issues if the install is poor.

Please let me know what the outcome is when you return to the dealer. Also please post up the model of Sirius receiver you have, also indicating where your antenna and receiver are mounted. I will try to help you get the audio quality up. Keep me posted.
(I am also copying this thread into the Audio forum.)
Unfortunately, I believe this is going to be characteristic of poor satellite radio installations. Dealers know little about it, and don't want to spend the time/money to nake sure they get it right.

Jerry

Mods, please copy this thread into the Audio forum. It should be tracked there as well.
(I don't have forum privs to copy/move in this forum.)

Jerry

i don't know which receiver longo uses, but i bought the lexus/toyota sirius receiver and antenna kit from sewell lexus (lexus-parts.com) and then had it installed locally by a dealer for $180. the sound quality is definitely not up to par with FM, and much much worse than CD. i figured that was just the way it is. this is my 1st time using sat radio, so i just chalked it up to being poor quality all around (compared to FM signals).

the good news is that my signal is very good with XM antenna mounted on the rear shelf, but that doesn't help the sound quality coming in!! i did notice that it is slightly better if you turn off the surround sound button in ML and you have to jack up the volume big time. but it's still annoying to not be able to switch back and forth without making adjustments.

i don't think i will be getting sat radio again

Satellite radio sound quality should NEVER NEVER NEVER be worse than what you hear on FM radio. If that is the case, you definitely have something installed wrong.

I've been doing some experimenting with this.

The easiest way to tell if you have problems with the FM modulator is to eliminate it easily by using one of those cassette tape adapters ($6 or so on ebay - see picture below). Plug the cassette adapter into your car's tape deck and plug the other end into the 'audio out' jack of the Sirius receiver (NOT the FM out jack). This will usually result in a much cleaner signal and will generally sound better than an FM modulated one. If this is the case, and you are using the over-the-air modulation, a better solution is to stick with the cassette adapter, get a wired antenna connection that you can splice the receiver's "FM out" output into, or get a whole separate modulator where its output can be spliced into the radio antenna.