I have XM on both my vehicle ( V and Silverado) and I lose reception too easily. It sucks now in the summer in New England with all the large trees. On the Merritt pkwy on a half hour run, I lose it for a second or 2 no less than 15 times. If you are near mountains or big hills you lose it also. Maybe they need to throw a couple more satellites in space to help me out.

I'm not impressed with the sound quality. no low end bass at all, nor midbass.

My XM cuts out driving in the city downtown around 10 story and larger buildings so I can imagine lots of trees would be even worse.

Agree with the sound quality being pretty crappy. When I had the free 90 day trial in my '03 Silverado SS, I remember the quality being very good.

Wonder if it is vehicle related or did XM dumb down the signal when they went commercial free? The free trial for the XM in my Silverado was back when they still had commercials and that part sucked _____! <-- fill in your favorite explicative here.

XM (as well I believe the other brand) are 4.5Mbps digital streams divide that by 100 (PLUS) channels = 45kbps per channel (or less if more than 100 channels) in stereo, let's not forget the data stream upcoming for NAVTraffic as well as the song listings/titles. Not alot of room for high fidelity.

I should have posted the reply from XM on the fidelity
(LoFi). They told me that the did an AB on all medai types and no one could tell the difference. They must have been def..

It's not the GM XM radio... I have an aftermarket "XM commander" (DIY install) in other car... both cut out at exactly the same places...

And there are only two satellites (Rock and Roll)... maybe more would help!

Bone Yard http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/images/smilies2/rock.gif

I don't use any of the audio systems any more. I keep the car quiet so that I can hear the differential if it starts to whine so I can get home before it blows up......

Doug

I have a non-factory add-on Sirius receiver in my Town Car. It has to run through an FM modulator. But it sounds better and doesn't cut-out nearly as much as XM.

...But it does sound better than FM Radio right? Sucks to hear that reception is so bad.

No, it does not sound better than FM or even the same as. XM is just a step up from AM radio in my book. If it were at least FM quality, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

Gotta disagree there... to my ears, XM sounds better than FM... somewhat close to a decent MP3, and nowhere close to CD. This is for most of the *music* stations... the talk show/comedy stations are compressed more... and the traffic/weather stations sound like the announcer is under water!

XM in my parent's 04 suburban is awesome. I've never heard it cut out. Its great bc I never have to bring CD's when I use the car. I alternate between ch. 42 and 70 :suspect:

Thankfully I do not have a very discriminating musical ear. :D

Perhaps I don't have the EQ set right. I listen mostly to 80's metal and modern country - yes I know, strange combo. Anyhow, I've got all my presets set to EQ3 with one notch up on the bass and set to 'spacious.'

Tonight on the way home from work, I switched from 'spacious' to 'driver' and it sounded better, but still not "Roll the windows down and crank Motley Crue" worthy.

AM quality was a bit harsh, more like 75% of FM in my V. Perhaps I need to tweak my audio settings? Recommendations on that?

As I mentioned in this thread:
http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15878&


Sound quality is one reason I also hate XM. I happened to have a CD in the player of a song that was exactly the same song that was playing on XM one time (CD was burned from a compressed MP3 no less). I switched back and forth a few times and the difference was ASTOUNDING! The CD was SOOOO much better. You can definitly hear the highs and lows cut out on the XM. Not worth my money.

This is the nature of it being a compressed medium!

Reed
http://www.cadillacfaq.com

it's the same deal as wireless internet. if you were getting a 4 mbps download and sharing with 99 other computers, you'd be getting the same thing. until reading virtually all bad stuff about XM, i'm not going to get it. my fm in my area is not too bad. there are 7 stations of wide variety that come in very very clear. like most of the time i can't tell the difference between them and a cd. so i think i'll just stick to that and my cds and my laptop with mp3s on long trips.

I posted awhile back on the XM. The reception and sound on my wife's 04 Escalade is noticeably better. I actually like the XM, as I always find something I like and it's easier than fumbling around through CDs. But I'm a bit frustrated that it isn't as good as the Escalade... very, very strange. However, for the second car it's $6.99/month and still worth it for me.

My listening is very simple. just pop in the Led Zeppelen CD, select "Rock and Roll", turn the volume up to 9 and watch the shockwaves shimmer out the windows just like the TV commercials. What else is there?

I love my XM radio, but I only own about 10 CD’s. I hate buying a CD when I only like one or two songs on it. I like the variety on XM and the ability to get CNBC. It’s a great entertainment value for me. I also have a Roady2 that I take with me in rental cars, but I normally keep the Roady2 in the office because you can program it to scroll 20 stock quotes. It keeps the internet police at work, off my back.

Yea, I have the same problem. My radio shop is suggesting adding another antenna in parallel near the front of the car to make the car a bigger target and reduce the cutout time. Has anyone else tried that?