Honda Car Forum

Hello:

Am thinking of getting satellite radio XM as a gift for a person
with a new 2004 Accord LX 6 cyl. Apparently it does not come
with an XM capable radio (only the leather packages have it) so will
have to do it the hard way, I guess.

a. Does the "standard" 6 CD radio that came installed with the car have an
aux. jack
to accept the XM tuner output, or must one use the small fm transmitter that
you can purchase for it ?

b. Hate to have to install the antenna on the exterior of the car.
The salesman said that it works fine placing it on the dashboard, as the
glass is so angled, it has a good sky view. Also said it work if you
place it on the rear inside shelf.

Are both of these statements true ?
Or, is it "substantially" better on the roof ?

c. Not too sure what else to ask.

Are you folks happy with XM ?
Works well ?
Worth it, in your opinion ?

Any caveats, etc. ?

Thanks,
Bob

In article <7Kmdna5TkolVbxfdRVn-sA@comcast.com>,
"Robert11" <rgsxrose@comcast.net> wrote:

> Am thinking of getting satellite radio XM as a gift for a person
> with a new 2004 Accord LX 6 cyl. Apparently it does not come
> with an XM capable radio (only the leather packages have it) so will
> have to do it the hard way, I guess.
>
> a. Does the "standard" 6 CD radio that came installed with the car have an
> aux. jack
> to accept the XM tuner output, or must one use the small fm transmitter that
> you can purchase for it ?

It doesn't have an AUX jack, but it *may* also accept an external CD
changer. If it does, you can buy an adapter that plugs into that port
on the back of the radio and provides RCA jacks to the outside world.
Plug your XM radio into those jacks, and simply choose the external CD
changer on the radio; voila, the radio plays whatever's plugged into
those RCA jacks, thinking it's the external CD changer.

Otherwise, use a cassette adapter or inline FM modulator. I prefer the
cassette adapter first. FM modulators screw with radio reception.



> b. Hate to have to install the antenna on the exterior of the car.
> The salesman said that it works fine placing it on the dashboard, as the
> glass is so angled, it has a good sky view. Also said it work if you
> place it on the rear inside shelf.
>
> Are both of these statements true ?
> Or, is it "substantially" better on the roof ?

The antenna is designed to have that big flat metal underneath it to
augment reception. That being said, what's to lose by trying it on the
inside? Many have tried it, and although they admit that reception
isn't as good as the outside, they're very happy with it.

If the inside install fails, you go with the outside install. There are
also through-the-glass antennae for a cleaner look, although word is
those aren't nearly as good as the regular antennae. I'd leave that for
last, unless you have some money to burn.

I'm happy with XM. Works well even through the cassette adapter, which
surprised the heck out of me.