Canceled Sirius XM


 
I spend very little time in the car, so with Android Auto and the free versions of Pandora, I-Heart etc. along with music on my phone, I pretty well cover my needs. If I spent a lot of time in the vehicle, I would have greater needs.
 
LMichaels said:
So here is how mine works. It connects through it's own WIFI signal to my phone. My phone stays connected to my car through BT. So if I go on the screen of the head unit and select I❤️Radio, the phone streams it to the car but the head unit controls the phone. If I decide I just want to listen to a Cubs game on AM, I simply turn off the car's BT stream, select AM670. If someone calls me I can use the head unit to answer the call, my steering wheel button, or what have you and it works as it always has. Pretty seamless. The unit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJ9CWRVF?tag=tvwb-20 has a built in dash cam and 64Gb memory on constant loop, it also comes with a rear camera which I will mount when I have time. THat camera can activate the screen if you connect a trigger wire to the backup lights, but even if you don't the unit will constantly record on a loop from both cameras. It also has a G sensor. If it senses a collision or some abnormality it flags and saves the recording for later use. There are units like it (with fewer features or not same quality but functional) for as little as $80. Bottom line I am prett impressed
Click to expand...
Oh wow. So, WiFi from phone to unit, and Bluetooth from unit to car. That makes sense. We rented a car a few months back that had Android Auto and my wife decided she wanted it in her car. These units accomplish that with far less cost than a new system or new car (lol) but I could never tell how they actually connected. That's great info and I'm going to go ahead and get one for the wife's car.
 
Yeah Mike. Gotta say other than a couple little "niggles" I am enjoying it. Which is why I Buried the wiring inside the dash. So basically what I did is bought a 12V-5Vdc converter, Hard wired that in tapping off the power port from behind (basically what used to be the cigar lighter socket). Soldered the leads to a right angle USB C power lead, cut a relief in the upper dash vent surround (invisible), ran the wire in behind it. That is the only "hard wire" connecting it to the car. The rest is wireless. Parts list follows:
So when I get in the car, I start and the unit boots right up in about 10 seconds, if I have the car set to BT audio the device will connect to the phone right off, start Pandora or I ❤️ Radio right off, and begin streaming. If I want to listen to a USB stick, or radio or CD they all simply work as always. Get a phone call? It routes right through. It's not as polished as OEM Android Auto but darn close. And beats trying to tear into the whole thing and replace the factory head unit which on Toyota with Diversity antenna system is a royal pia and can never be done really well.
 
I've had the Pandora $5/month service for 5+ years on my phone. Don't recall ever seeing the pay up front for the $1/month discount but now I'll look..
I never connected or tried trial services offered by Sirius for both our cars...which are both 2016 model years. It's a simple Bluetooth connection from my phone to the car(Lexus)system which is not capable of Android Auto or Car Play...really all I'm missing is visual navigation via Google Maps on the infotainment screen, the audio comes through just fine. The Lexus navigation is OK but I never use it and it can be updated for about $200 but I see zero sense in using it when the turn x turn Google Maps British lady voice has always been spot on. Same in my wife's car except she uses an iPhone. I would like Android Auto if/when I get a new car. I do keep a USB memory stick with a bunch of Mp3s and even have an old iPod(remember those?) with BT...but I need to charge that with an old school Apple cable to an open USB port so I rarely use it.
Also, I think there's a ton of streaming music available through Amazon Prime that is available but I've not tried that source.
 
Last edited:
LMichaels said:
Well after 7 years I canceled Sirius XM. We've got Android Auto head units in both cars, I use Pandora and have their $5 month service "true" no commercials, unlimited skips, download play lists, very pleased plus I can make my own channels so I can listen to more of what I want to listen to. Just realized I was paying those thieves $40 per month per car! What a racket
Click to expand...
I'll bet you told them to get off your lawn, too...;)
 
Brad Olson said:
I'll bet you told them to get off your lawn, too...;)
Click to expand...
No actually I was firm but as polite as can be. Every time "George" with the strange accent went into a sales pitch, I stood my ground. And he did all the fake fumbling and how important I was and please excuse him taking so long, but FINALLY after 45 min or so I had confirmation numbers for both cars.
I always could and did on occasion use my phone to stream directly to the car. But, especially with mapping I was sick and tired of trying to look at my phone down there in the cup holder. So now with this new install, I have a very nice visual top center for easy reference, a good hands free solution to if I receive a text (it's read outloud to me as long as it's in streaming mode), Honestly it's a really nice add on. One thing I have been wanting to do, but it's so damn time consuming is to digitize my vast LP collection. I actually have some CDs of LPs and some where I have digitized the same LP. And my home made digitized LP sounds WAY better than the commercially made CD of the same albums. Go figure.
Cool thing is all the steering wheel controls work just as before. So if I'm streaming Pandora and some music comes on I'm not quite wanting, I push the track change on my wheel and poof it's skipped. Everything integrates like it was made this way.
My other car (the 2020 RAV4) came with Apple Car Play wireless and wired Android Auto along with navigation built in and such as it was a fully optioned out RAV4 Limited we ordered.
Sadly Toyota's nav system has never been good, and the Entune interface is MEH at best. But it bugged me that I could not use wireless Android Auto. I discovered why BTW. AA is so data heavy it cant stream and run the GUI at same time through BT. It has to use WIFI for the streaming portion or the data portion I forgot which. So I bought one of these devices https://motorolasound.com/audio-products/android-auto/ma1/ for the RAV. Now I have full AA wirelessly in the RAV as well. And it too operates seamlessly as though it was all built like that.
So if you have a vehicle with Android Auto but only wired version add the MA1 to it.
 
LMichaels said:
No actually I was firm but as polite as can be. Every time "George" with the strange accent went into a sales pitch, I stood my ground. And he did all the fake fumbling and how important I was and please excuse him taking so long, but FINALLY after 45 min or so I had confirmation numbers for both cars.
I always could and did on occasion use my phone to stream directly to the car. But, especially with mapping I was sick and tired of trying to look at my phone down there in the cup holder. So now with this new install, I have a very nice visual top center for easy reference, a good hands free solution to if I receive a text (it's read outloud to me as long as it's in streaming mode), Honestly it's a really nice add on. One thing I have been wanting to do, but it's so damn time consuming is to digitize my vast LP collection. I actually have some CDs of LPs and some where I have digitized the same LP. And my home made digitized LP sounds WAY better than the commercially made CD of the same albums. Go figure.
Cool thing is all the steering wheel controls work just as before. So if I'm streaming Pandora and some music comes on I'm not quite wanting, I push the track change on my wheel and poof it's skipped. Everything integrates like it was made this way.
My other car (the 2020 RAV4) came with Apple Car Play wireless and wired Android Auto along with navigation built in and such as it was a fully optioned out RAV4 Limited we ordered.
Sadly Toyota's nav system has never been good, and the Entune interface is MEH at best. But it bugged me that I could not use wireless Android Auto. I discovered why BTW. AA is so data heavy it cant stream and run the GUI at same time through BT. It has to use WIFI for the streaming portion or the data portion I forgot which. So I bought one of these devices https://motorolasound.com/audio-products/android-auto/ma1/ for the RAV. Now I have full AA wirelessly in the RAV as well. And it too operates seamlessly as though it was all built like that.
So if you have a vehicle with Android Auto but only wired version add the MA1 to it.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised that the skip function worked from my steering wheel. I like the radio station format of Pandora too. It's figured out the music you like overtime by your thumbs up or down and the algorithm does a great job of playing your preferred type of tracks. Although, I've noticed that if you play a station for a lengthy period of time, it starts to wander into weird territory.
My son gave me 3 months of Spotify Premium for Father's Day last year...it was OK but I'm so used to the Pandora format I just couldn't get into it.
I know they sell devices(Grom??) https://gromaudio.com/store/vline/a...o-infotainment-system-navigation-upgrade.html
that let you run AA through the dash screen, but installation requires all kinds of dash and console disassembly and it's $680...not worth it. My next car will have it whenever I get a next car which isn't in the near future. I love my 2016 RX350 and it only has 76K...just broken in for a Lexus 😄
 
Last edited:
Jay D in Jersey said:
I love my 2016 RX350 and it only has 76K...just broken in for a Lexus
Click to expand...
Not even broken in yet LOL. The Highlander is pretty much same. 182k has never needed a repair. Just regular maint, fluids, filters, one (yes you read that right) set of brakes, and spark plugs. Until recently. My power lift tailgate has stopped working. But, the car is 14 years old too. And I can still open and shut the gate manually. Going to run it to the dealer and see what is needed as I do like the convenience.
I've not noticed any "drifting" of my station(s) play list. Although I have mine set up to run a "mix" of all my stations. but, yeah bottom line, this was a great addition to give me what I wanted for AA and ease of operation along with ease of installation all in for well under $200. Put my old Highlander into the 21st century LOL
 
Dealing with XM is brutal - I actually bought a life membership plan probably 20+ years ago..... for 300 bucks... seemed like a lot of money back then, but doing the math it's worked out pretty well. We recently purchase a new car for my wife, and it had no CD player - I guess we can't be shocked any more (though my 2002 Chevy PU has a CD player AND a cassette player...lol) The future is Android Audio and Carplay. As Phil points out, there are still a lot places ( by far mostly out west) where there's no service- these are the places were XM is still handy..
 
LMichaels said:
Not even broken in yet LOL. The Highlander is pretty much same. 182k has never needed a repair. Just regular maint, fluids, filters, one (yes you read that right) set of brakes, and spark plugs. Until recently. My power lift tailgate has stopped working. But, the car is 14 years old too. And I can still open and shut the gate manually. Going to run it to the dealer and see what is needed as I do like the convenience.
I've not noticed any "drifting" of my station(s) play list. Although I have mine set up to run a "mix" of all my stations. but, yeah bottom line, this was a great addition to give me what I wanted for AA and ease of operation along with ease of installation all in for well under $200. Put my old Highlander into the 21st century LOL
Click to expand...
I know they sell the power lift gate struts for my RX350 on eBay for a fraction of what the dealership charges. Installing them is a different story but I'm not sure it's all that difficult but you need a solid support for the tailgate to hold it open while you do it. I routinely lube mine with white lithium or similar.
Yeah, if I switch stations, the drifting towards weird stuff goes away. I need to try the feature you mentioned and let the app pick my station choices randomly. One thing I've noticed is that the music sounds great in my car streamed via BT from Pandora but the sound quality from my circa 2010 iPod is noticeably better to me and I have damaged hearing that's corrected via an in-ear hearing aid.(consequence of shooting without proper protection and surfer's ear). But I'm not sure how I can add any more music to that old iPod...Nano??
 
Last edited:
On my older generation the lift is done with a motor hidden in the panels through a crank rod. Old school. I've done this type on old Chrysler stuff. It's no treat to work on that is fo sho. I will likely just live with it. I've heard it's like $1200 to repair it on the older HL. IDK, I really want a pickup truck anyway LOL. I'm going to make an appt at the dealer here in town and see what they say. Believe it or not their prices are more reasonable than the regular generic garages here in the area. Which is why I always take it to the dealer for services I don't want to deal with
 
EricV. said:
"a man after my own heart!"

Here is a pic of my preamp with (8) exposed 6ns7 NOS tubes & my TT.

Now back to regularly scheduled programming!

View attachment 89387
Click to expand...

OH!
Heavens........this is a much more serious set up than I have for my wax listening needs....
Looks real nice.
I have a local guy that builds amps and pre amps.....I go over to his place to pick something up and the music is the softest anyone has ever heard.
Makes me want to get a couple pieces but the pricing is high end.....something like over $2,000 for a 10 X 2 channel.......and that is only half the battle right there....
But those 10 watts will out do what my 45 X 2 is doing at my place any day.
 
Darryl - swazies said:
OH!
Heavens........this is a much more serious set up than I have for my wax listening needs....
Looks real nice.
I have a local guy that builds amps and pre amps.....I go over to his place to pick something up and the music is the softest anyone has ever heard.
Makes me want to get a couple pieces but the pricing is high end.....something like over $2,000 for a 10 X 2 channel.......and that is only half the battle right there....
But those 10 watts will out do what my 45 X 2 is doing at my place any day.
Click to expand...
Being an audiophile isn't a cheap hobby, I went through numerous upgrades over a long period of time, before I got to where I wanted to be sound wise.
 
EricV. said:
Being an audiophile isn't a cheap hobby, I went through numerous upgrades over a long period of time, before I got to where I wanted to be sound wise.
Click to expand...
It can be seriously damaging to the bank account.....I am aware of that.........
I went with some old equipment after buying a couple things I really didn't like....
Both my turntable and receiver are from the early seventies and they do very good work.
I don't need to have things like an EQ or a pre amp per say as everything does work without it...both a pre amp in my receiver and the turntable...... I think anyway. Getting the cassette player unit that matches to the year shortly. I won't use it, I only have a handful of cassettes...and the sound like crap anyway.
I could do better, like having an ultrasonic for the wax would be a good start but what I have works for me at this point.....me and the MRS both love music and have built up a pretty good collection closing in on 900 vinyl's.......
Those records use to be fairly affordable but since that magic in 2020 changed everything, and simply paying close to $50 for a new record has become a real pain in the butt.......
We have been finding collections that appear to be pretty much new and that has been much success....of course much of what I listen to is the 1967 to the mid seventies era so there is a bunch around to gobble up.
Also having room in the house for much more is becoming a problem that I didn't foresee a few years back.
I started collection wax back in 2016.......so 9 years in now.

900 vinyls
100 is CD's
50 is cassettes
We both know what sounds the best........I wish I had tubes though.
 
Darryl - swazies said:
It can be seriously damaging to the bank account.....I am aware of that.........
I went with some old equipment after buying a couple things I really didn't like....
Both my turntable and receiver are from the early seventies and they do very good work.
I don't need to have things like an EQ or a pre amp per say as everything does work without it...both a pre amp in my receiver and the turntable...... I think anyway. Getting the cassette player unit that matches to the year shortly. I won't use it, I only have a handful of cassettes...and the sound like crap anyway.
I could do better, like having an ultrasonic for the wax would be a good start but what I have works for me at this point.....me and the MRS both love music and have built up a pretty good collection closing in on 900 vinyl's.......
Those records use to be fairly affordable but since that magic in 2020 changed everything, and simply paying close to $50 for a new record has become a real pain in the butt.......
We have been finding collections that appear to be pretty much new and that has been much success....of course much of what I listen to is the 1967 to the mid seventies era so there is a bunch around to gobble up.
Also having room in the house for much more is becoming a problem that I didn't foresee a few years back.
I started collection wax back in 2016.......so 9 years in now.

900 vinyls
100 is CD's
50 is cassettes
We both know what sounds the best........I wish I had tubes though.
Click to expand...
I am somewhere between 2,500-3,000 LP, $50 for a record is new new norm, however I have been dabbling in these UHQR records, $150!

Vinyl Records, SACDs, DVD Audio, Audiophile Equipment|Acoustic Sounds

Acoustic Sounds Audiophile Vinyl Records
store.acousticsounds.com
 
Yeah that gets expensive fast....I got my fingers into a few pieces of mobile fidelity and I like those very much.
If I could have all my pressing at a better pressing option I would for sure.
I find today's pressing to be garbage in comparison to what they use to be 50 years ago......most of them anyways.
It is all about the dollar anymore and I had to learn my lesson the hard way.
For example I am after a Pink Floyd record right now.....I can buy a new pressing that is remastered....or a remastered new half speed or I can keep looking for a listened to once pressing that was one of the first pressings......
We both know what is going to be the best option in 99% of the cases. Some of the old ones are worth their weight in gold almost it seems.
But everything or anything can be expensive when trying to deal with " the best " ....try taking up the range, target practice or clay sports is another good example. Something of good quality starts at $10,000 around here and I have seen them pass $50,000 for some hand made Italian jobbies...

I didn't know there were many others around here that were so in touch with music and the sort.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top