Hey all,
With Football season coming up I am really interested in getting the Sirius Satellite System and have it installed by Best Buy (since it is free.) I was looking into the OEM satellite radio but found out it would cost over 500 dollars for parts and labor. I have found aftermarket units for 50-150 dollars and would rather go down that road.

My question is for those who currently have an aftermarket system or who know about them. Since I have an 05' I will have to play the radio through the FM frequency. Will the sound quality greatly diminish compared to a directly wired system? Where does the wire run and where does the antenna get installed? Most importantly is it worth saving the extra few hundred or should I go all out and get the OEM unit.

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Please post pics if you can! Thanks.

 

I'd recommend a hard-wire / OEM / aux solution over a FM Modulator solution. I'd compare running satellite through FM with running an iPod or discman (back in the day) via FM. Even if you manage to get a good lock on the FM signal (and that isn't always so easy), the FM transmission is a poor reproduction of the sound because it truncates the range of frequencies in the original source. I'm not an expert at this, so take that simply as my opinion and two cents.

 

I don't know of anyone here that has done the "aftermarket" type. However, looking at the one in my company car, it could be done fairly easy in the cubby that the Navi fits in. If not look for the smallest you can get and it might fit in the sunglass compartment.

Go for the OEM, you won't regret it.

 

You can buy the OEM receiver along with a window mount antenna, plug it in, mount the antenna and go within 15 minutes yourself if you are prewired. Cost for the unit is $285 + antenna $69 from Grubbsperformance.com...you get 90 days free Service + free activiation....the trick to doing it easily is to mount the winshield antenna at the to of the rear window, the wiring is a snap.

 

if you were interested in XM I could totally help you out, but I'm no good with Sirius stuff