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Crutchfield rep said we'd have to pay hundreds of dollars to get XM to work on the new unit, but this adapter allowed us to use the old XM tuner that came with the (broken) Dual model with the new Sony. We purchased a new Sony radio from Crutchfield but were surprised to find that it didn't work with the XM tuner that came with the Dual unit that had died. The setup has worked fine for several months now.
If I find another way to install the XM I will try it. Sorry to say it but it SUCKS. As far as this one is concerned; I HATE it. It turns out it was a cold solder but I repaired it and it's now fine. I lost audio to my right side speakers and I traced the problem to this adapter. I installed it November 2004 and it's July 2007 and broken. 3 weeks prior my other Turk adapter which connects from the amp to the radio also broke. It's wonderful that these adapters make it simple but it's nothing but headaches afterwards.
My adpater and XM tuner came from two different re-sellers, but both arrived very quickly. You might want to do a little research to see if there is a stereo head unit with a better XM display - Terk makes adapters for several different stereo manufacturers. I personally haven't felt the need for custom equalizer settings, I just switch between the stereo's presets.Also, my particular head unit doesn't automatically scroll thru the XM display data (station name, artist, song title, etc)., but there is a button that you can press to scroll thru the various display lines. I was able to do it during my lunch break.All in all a great buy, especially at this price. I installed the Terk Satellite Radio Sony XM Direct Smart Digital Adapter along with the XM Direct tuner and both work like a charm. I have a Satellite radio ready Sony head unit with a front auxiliary port - so I was able to install XM and keep my front aux port free.The digital adapter manual does state that most newer Sony stereo models will operate in "mode 3"; which the manual states will not save user-defined equalizer settings, so keep that in mind. The limited display would be my only gripe about this system, otherwise would have given 5 stars.XM activation was a breeze - I did it on XM's website and it literally took about 20 minutes for my in-car tuner to receive the signal.
3 or 4 days later, and several phone calls, I finally decided to just leave the keys in my ignition, in the accessory position, and leave my radio on and hope and PRAY that my car does not get stolen. First of all, when having it professionally installed, I was told that I would loose my auxillary input, which is the main reason I originally bought my Sony stereo, so I could plug my ipod and Sirius satellite into it. Oh and one final thing, this thing takes up BOTH the line input and the CD changer, so don't even think about having a CD changer if you're going to use this thing. Of course, this is a problem for someone who drives 10-15 minutes each way to work, and most of my trips are fairly short, so I found myself sitting in my car in a parking lot waiting for the stupid thing to activate, and it never did. This was unacceptable to me, so I just gave up my aux input and let them install the Terk Sony XM Direct kit. Thank god it didn't, but my XM Radio finally activated. And to make matters worse, in January of this year XM made a terrible decision to further compress and process the audio, so the audio quality of the XM is MUCH worse then listening to streaming radio on the internet, or even Sirius for that matter.
That being said, this is the WORST in dash integration for XM I have ever seen. In fact, if you take out all the static, FM SOUNDS BETTER THEN XM. The activation process that XM uses completely sucks. Simply put, it SUCKS. Now, I was told, I would need to go to Radio shack and get one of those tacky A/B switches and mount it under my dash if I wanted to use the auxillary input. They instructed me that I need to leave my car on for a minimum of 30 minutes, and up to 4 hours to receive the activation signal.
Now this probably doesn't speak for this perticular product, but I just wanted to warn anyone who is getting XM for the first time, make sure you're planning a road trip, or you don't mind sitting in your car.Continuing my list of disapointments came when I realized that EVERY SINGLE TIME I turn my car off, or switch from XM to CD, the stupid Sony unit looses my DSP and EQ selections, I have to press the DSP button and the EQ buttons each time I turn the car on or switch to XM. I'm about ready to rip this thing out of my car and just go back to my exteranal Sirius and IPOD units. While I can't speak for other people who may be buying a Terk XM Direct kit for their brand of stereo, I can speak for those considering buying this device for their Sony. Once the install was complete, the next wave of pain began. Who the heck invented this anyway.Lastly, the stupid thing only displays the artist on the display of my radio, and sometimes that doesn't even work.
the product works great lets you use your xmready radio as tuner instead of wires allover n mountig xm tuner this hides underdash nice way to go for xmradio
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