| G. COLTON |
I am seriously considering adding XM Satellite Radio to my 2004 MDX. My wife has the XM in her Cadillac and I like what I hear.
Who here has added aftermarket to their MDX. From what I can tell on the internet there is a hard mounted bracket that seems to be the same from several sources. I want to have the unit hardwired so as to not have extra wires hanging around.
I am told that I may or may not need an FM Modulator booster. Have any of you not used the booster and been sorry that you did not.
At this time I have a peference for the Delphi XM. Any comments on that unit.
Just any useful information will be greately appreciated.
G |
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| jhue |
I added a PnP Sirius tuner to my MDX. It is mounted on a very thin swivel mount from Bracketron which is then mounted on a Panavise mounting bracket.
Unless you find poor fidelity acceptable, I recommend you do not go the FM modulator route, even with a hardwired antenna connection. I'm using a USASpec PA11-HON aux input adapter with my 2004 (Touring, RES, no Nav). Right now all the wires are just hanging out, but when I pull the radio again (to splice in the wiring for my two amps) I'll replace the cigarette lighter adapter with a hardwired connection, tidy everything up and wrap up the Sat tuner wiring in corrugated plastic tubing so it looks much cleaner.
This page was very helpful in showing how to mount the antenna and route the wire. There's also a picture floating around (I couldn't find it) showing a clean looking sat tuner install with small (1/8" or 1/4") plastic tubing wrapping the wires going down to the opening in the back of the center console. |
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| 04mdx4sq |
| I added Sirius, but I don't think my install pics would be much help....:D |
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| highmath |
04mdx4sq,
Sweet!! :29:
Where did you get the fabrication casing for your after market CD/XM radio? I'm thinking about doing the same, but with a CD/DVD/NAV/XM Combo unit for my 04'. |
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| G. COLTON |
quote:
Originally posted by jhue
I added a PnP Sirius tuner to my MDX. It is mounted on a very thin swivel mount from Bracketron which is then mounted on a Panavise mounting bracket.
Unless you find poor fidelity acceptable, I recommend you do not go the FM modulator route, even with a hardwired antenna connection. I'm using a USASpec PA11-HON aux input adapter with my 2004 (Touring, RES, no Nav). Right now all the wires are just hanging out, but when I pull the radio again (to splice in the wiring for my two amps) I'll replace the cigarette lighter adapter with a hardwired connection, tidy everything up and wrap up the Sat tuner wiring in corrugated plastic tubing so it looks much cleaner.
This page was very helpful in showing how to mount the antenna and route the wire. There's also a picture floating around (I couldn't find it) showing a clean looking sat tuner install with small (1/8" or 1/4") plastic tubing wrapping the wires going down to the opening in the back of the center console.
Thank you for the information.
I am puzzled by your comments on the FM modulator. My understanding was that the modulatir would IMPROVE the signal quality in areas with a high concentration of FM stations. My intent would be to hard wire that and all other connections.
George |
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| jhue |
quote:
Originally posted by G. COLTON
I am puzzled by your comments on the FM modulator. My understanding was that the modulatir would IMPROVE the signal quality in areas
An FM modulator is the thing that takes the L+R stereo audio from your satellite tuner (or iPod or other audio source) and synthesizes a normal FM radio signal so you can listen to satellite radio (or your iPod) by tuning your regular FM tuner to the frequency of your choice (matching that which you set on your FM modulator). An improvement on the basic FM modulator built into just about every plug-n-play satellite tuner is the ability to hardwire the antenna connection. This is what avoids the interference problems in areas of densely space FM radio stations. Without the hardwired antenna connection, you're transmitting the FM signal through the air from the PnP tuner to your car's antenna.
What I am saying is to avoid the FM modulator completely, and add an auxilary analog input to the factory head unit so you have a direct connection. No modulated signal. |
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| 04mdx4sq |
quote:
Originally posted by highmath
04mdx4sq,
Sweet!! :29:
Where did you get the fabrication casing for your after market CD/XM radio? I'm thinking about doing the same, but with a CD/DVD/NAV/XM Combo unit for my 04'.
Thanks, the kit itself is from Metra and it originally had the single DIN opening that the radio flush mounts into and a pocket below which I cut out for the Clarion Sirius controller. I took the original case and split it so I could do a semi-flush mount into the pocket area. The front of the case had to be ground down to accomodate the curved surface on the dash kit. Overall I am pretty happy with the look.
The reason I went this route was the CD player I am using is absolutely awesome sounding but has no input or controll for the sat receiver. |
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| 04mdx4sq |
quote:
Originally posted by jhue
What I am saying is to avoid the FM modulator completely, and add an auxilary analog input to the factory head unit so you have a direct connection. No modulated signal.
I would always use a line level aux adapter over any FM mod due to the improvement in sound quality. With an FM mod you then restrict the frequency range of the signal to conform to the FM tuner's frequency range, effectively cutting off low and high frequencies. When you use an AUX adapter, the input will generally have at least the frequency range available from CD, which will not restrict quality from the Sat radio. Sure a hardwired FM mod will have less interference than one that broadcasts, but it would be my second choice behind an adapter.
A hardwired FM mod will sound like the clearest FM broadcast you have ever heard, but if you like the added sound quality avalable from XM or Sirius, it won't all be there. |
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| wal92tt |
| I have a 04with Nav/Res and added the XM Skyfi2. I have mine wired to the 3rd row Aux input. All I do is press Aux on the radio and I listen to XM with out losing any sound quality by FM modulating it. The Skyfi sits below the ashtray behind the shifter. |
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| G. COLTON |
As of yesterday I have a SKYFi2 jardwired and mounted on the dash. It is working very nicely except under the big tree in my driveway. I am surprised at how much "capability" is in such a small package. It has 30 minute storage capability so you can repeat your favorite music. I will try to get a picture in the next few days and post.
G |
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