Thinking about becoming a dual service subscriber, could use tips on what reciever (1 Viewer)

[Benson R]

Hi, I am a fairly happy XM subscriber. I love O&A, hate Stern, and love XM's alt rock channels. However the music I listen to the most is classic rock and hard rock, even a little hair metal when I am in a cheesy mood. I find XM's offerings in these areas too schizophrenic or too obscure.

Some friends have suggested I might be better served by Sirius in this regard if I can put up with short playlists (I think I can, my tastes in this area aren't particularly sophisticated).

Anyway what is the cheapest reciever I can get for my car? I also would rather pay a little more then have to put up with mail in rebates I always forget to send in. I see circuit city has the Xact Plug n Play on sale for 40 bucks. Would I be reasonably happy with this unit. I am more then happy with my Roady 2 which I connect to a line in input on my car stereo. Other than trying to make it all look neat on my cluttered dash are there any issues from connecting both recievers at the same time?

Any advice on recievers or whether subscribing to both services might be right for me would be appreciated.

 

[Blu]

I bought a small $45 Audiovox XM receiver over the weekend to get a good comparison of the two services and to loan it to a couple of music friends who are into different kinds of music than I am.

I am mainly a 80's metal and classic rock kind of guy as well although I do like Country and sometimes I'll turn it to a symphony station.

I plan on keeping the best service but I am enjoying my dual service this month, we'll see about next month and I'll weigh heavily what my friends think when they have the set up in their vehicles for a few days as well.

So far your description of XM in that regard seems accurate to me. I have enjoyed Opie and Anthony and Ron and Fez, I'm not a big Stern fan. I was just expecting more..comedy maybe?

I've never been able to listen to him when he was on the air and I figure he must be an acquired taste that I don't have.

 

[Ernie Estrella]

Get the Sirius One for cheap and easy. Slim profile. I'd stay away from the other XACT recievers. The music stations on Sirius are highly underrated. There are more channels that divide out the genres with smaller playlists better whereas XM combines them into less channels and get bigger playlists.

 

[Benson R]

Thanks for the replies guys. I don't want to give the wrong impression, I like some parts of XM's philosophy on the music channels. On XM I really enjoy Ethel. I always hear enough songs I love to keep me listening, but am also always hearing a song or two I didn't know. I have been listening to the 3 day free online trial of Sirius, and alt-nation does not cut it. However I think the hard rock / classic rock stations are what I am looking for, though I am still a little concerned about repitition. Anyway, I am still a little on the fence. XM was really easy for me to tryout, you can buy a Roady2 for less then 20 bucks without rebates. I was hoping for a similar equivalent with Sirius, but I probably will bite the bullet and buy a 40 reciever to try out.

 

[Ernie Estrella]

Look, Repetition allows me to try other music or another channel. That's the beauty of so many choices. So many of these genres have never had radio play. I use all 30 presets of my radio and love it. I never get to listen to everything I want to because I'm overwhelmed. I listen to five stations one week, another five the next. I rotate. I never get tired or feel the repetition so many XMers complain about.

The best rock stations are in my opinion:

Alt Nation 21
First Wave 22 Classic ALternative
Little Steven's Underground Garage 25
Left of Center 26 (College/Indie Rock)
Spectrum 18 (Adult Album Rock)
Vault 16 (Deeper Classic)
Coffee House 30 (Acoustic Rock/Jazz/Chill)

The surviving Ramone has a great show called Blitzkrieg which plays all of the early punk from his era that never got play.


26 has some great live concerts with modern rock stars. Tori Amos tomorrow!

I don't listen to but I hear good things about Hair Nation for the hair bands.

 

[Benson R]

I posted a similar thread about my situation in the XM area and as expected I got a very different opinion (which of course is to be expected).

I think XM does a great job, but I really am starting to agree that for rock Sirius wins even if I hear a lot more repeats. Basically it comes down to the fact that Sirius has 5 channels vs 2 on XM for the type of hard and classic rock I am looking for. I think right now I am just trying to decide whether listening to those 5 channels is worth another 13 a month.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Actually, there are 3 surviving Ramones (4 if you count Clem Burke, drummer for Blondie, who was with them for about 3 days). Marky (the one on Sirius, former drummer for Richard Hell) is not even a founding member, he was the second drummer after Tommy. The 3rd is C.J., who replaced Dee Dee on bass.

Marky is the drummer with the longest time and is probably the most well known. Tommy quit drumming and became a producer around the 3rd album .

 

[mylan]

No, Xm's problem is not repetition, its that the rock channels are all over the map, esp. BoneYard.