# portable vs wired-in for car & home



## musichands (Dec 31, 2005)

I'm new to sat radio, and torn about which way to go.
I drive a Honda Odyssey, reasonably quiet ... in rural area. 
If I get a Kenwood or other direct-wired Sirius antenna, adapter and head that controls Sirius, I'm sure it would sound a little better ... but how much better? I will have moderate speakers driven by medium power car stereo receiver (no separate amps), reasonable hearing levels, variety of music ... and most of the time the car's moving and there's road and wind or rain noise.

It might be a bit safer than trying to operate a small portable mounted to the dash.

But, I'm guessing. What has been your experience with wired vs portable FM-retransmit Sirius devices?

Is it worth the extra $150 or so?

MH


----------



## dpd146 (Oct 1, 2005)

A little delayed in response, but I do not like FM transmitters. That being said, you can usually wire the portable's directly to the radio or use an FM modulator without buying a compatible head unit. If you already have a portable, then you will have to pay $7 more a month for the additional receiver. An expense I would pay if it was going to be the stock radio but it is not worth it to buy an aftermarket radio. Go with the portable which you can hook up in all your cars, boats, homes and offices (with +/- $40 dock kit for each).


----------



## zman977 (Nov 9, 2003)

We have the plug n play sportser with the FM tansmitter and it works pretty good. We have it set to 87.9 FM. and we don't get any interference from anywhere even going to Chicago. It will get a real test when we go to the Grand Canyon on vacation later this year. We live about an hour and a half outside of Chicago. We also have the home docking station with the antenna on the window ledge. Works fine for most of the day but for some reason it loses the signal around sunset. The signal is geat in the day time but for some reaon at night it keeps cutting out. No explination as to why this happens. It can be clear or cloudy and to our knowledge nothing is blocking the signal. A frined of mine a few blocks away from where we live has the same problem when he has his in the house. Same set up but at night loses the signal. In the car it works great. As I said though. The FM transmitter will get it's real test when we go on vacation later this spring. So far the 87.9 frequency has worked great even with a station in our area on 88.1 FM.


----------



## musichands (Dec 31, 2005)

If you have a reasonably quiet car, good speakers .... is the sound quality less with a small portable sat receiver? 
I'm wondering about hiss, static, or dropouts (other than the sunset situation you mentioned).


----------



## wipeout (Jul 15, 2003)

Sound quality will not be as good if you transmit with the wireless fm as opposed to a hardwire of the plug n play unit. I have the Starmate in the car and use the wireless set up. There is static and his at times but I have Sirius for the talk radio so this does not bother me. The convenience of taking it in the house is great. The wireless transmission works on all of the radios in the house at anytime with the unit parked in just one location.


----------

