I was driving home this afternoon listening to my Sirius Satellite Radio in my FJ Cruiser when all of the sudden I had an epiphany. I looked at the FJammer buttons and noticed that the Satellite and AM share the same button.
Could it be that the Satellite Connecton is playing through the AM reciever side of the system?
I'm no electrician or electronics guru but there sure are alot of simalarities in the sound quality of AM and Satellite Radio Reception in this stereo.
If anyone out there knows if this is even possible please let us know.
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Sniperdude
I have nothing clever to add.
The fact that the "AM/SAT" button toggles between am & sat has nothing to do with an FM modulator or the audio quality. It's just a cosolidation of multi-function buttons by the designers.
The FJ's OEM radio is designed for XM...Toyota must utilize a "converter" when Sirius is installed (at the P.O.E.). Therefore it's a "port installed" option (vs factory or dealer). These converters, while offerring a direct audio connect to the head unit (NOT using an RF modulator), are somewhat problematic. Sometimes they don't power up and offer limited use of controls for the "head unit". Some of these limitations include only being able to adjust the volume from the steering wheel controls (not the channels) and significantly limited text display (name of channel, artist, title of song, composer field).
The audio system in the FJ Cruiser is fairly good (and offers good speaker placement). Since Satellite Radio tranmits each channel at a fairly low bit rate (only around 42 kbps), the in herent quality of satellite radio is not very good, and more noticible on higher quality audio systems. In some cases, RF modulated units can actually sound BETTER because the modulator can "mask" some of the unpleasant audio artifacts inherent in highly (data) compressed audio streams. Sirius also has a better satellite system in general, and offers significantly better sounding channels (especially music) than XM. Another alternative for FJ owners who want Sirius, is to buy an aftermarket radio, and use the MP3 player 1/8" jack to feed the head unit audio vs dial up the RF modulator on the FM radio.
Very good post, Sat does broadcast at a significantly lower bit rate than CD, and it is audibly noticeable.
The other factor is the source material of some of the stations. For example, when i listen to Fox sports on XM, they are using their national AM feed, so the quality of sound is even more degraded. It doesn't much matter to me on talk radio, since I'm not looking for fidelity, but it's still a downgrade.
Quote:
NYC-FJ-TRD previously said:
The fact that the "AM/SAT" button toggles between am & sat has nothing to do with an FM modulator or the audio quality. It's just a cosolidation of multi-function buttons by the designers.
The FJ's OEM radio is designed for XM...Toyota must utilize a "converter" when Sirius is installed (at the P.O.E.). Therefore it's a "port installed" option (vs factory or dealer). These converters, while offerring a direct audio connect to the head unit (NOT using an RF modulator), are somewhat problematic. Sometimes they don't power up and offer limited use of controls for the "head unit". Some of these limitations include only being able to adjust the volume from the steering wheel controls (not the channels) and significantly limited text display (name of channel, artist, title of song, composer field).
The audio system in the FJ Cruiser is fairly good (and offers good speaker placement). Since Satellite Radio tranmits each channel at a fairly low bit rate (only around 42 kbps), the in herent quality of satellite radio is not very good, and more noticible on higher quality audio systems. In some cases, RF modulated units can actually sound BETTER because the modulator can "mask" some of the unpleasant audio artifacts inherent in highly (data) compressed audio streams. Sirius also has a better satellite system in general, and offers significantly better sounding channels (especially music) than XM. Another alternative for FJ owners who want Sirius, is to buy an aftermarket radio, and use the MP3 player 1/8" jack to feed the head unit audio vs dial up the RF modulator on the FM radio.
Don't miss my point! Sat radio is GREAT...and SIRIUS sonds better in general...even on the FJ Cruiser head unit.
Despite the fact that the FJ Jammer head unit is designed for XM, Sirius STILL sounds better through this unit than XM.
All that said, remember that ANY vehicle on the road throughout the entire WORLD today can benefit from a amp/speaker up-grade.
If you want the variety of offerrings provided by Sat Radio, hands down go with Sirius. From full bandwidth, commercial free music channels and the NFL,NBA, Stern, NASCAR, blah blah
Actually Sirius does not have Fox sports, only ESPN.
Both of those feeds are their radio feeds.
Some chans, such as CNN are TV feeds.
But I wholeheartedly agree, satellite radio is absolutely awesome in terms of content. I listen to sat in the car more than I do CDs, and really only listen to CDs when looking for high fidelity.
Quote:
NYC-FJ-TRD previously said:
PS: Sirius & XM get their FOX audio feeds from the television channels.
At BEST the merger will be done by end of year, this a BEST case scenario, so 1-2 years is the time frame.
Now the FCC may not like this, and loookie here, Ashcroft hates it too...
Theory, Why Satellite Radio sounds like crap.
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