Audiovox SIR-PNP2 Sirius Satellite Radio Receiver

by Audiovox

Product Details

Product Manual [196kb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00012T47C
• Item model number: SIRPNP-2
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Here to bring you commercial-free music, sports, and news listening in a wealth of genre-based satellite streams is the Audiovox SIR-PNP2 Sirius radio receiver. Use of the receiver requires activation of a subscription to Sirius Satellite Radio ($12.95 per month or a one-time fee of $499.99). You'll also need a portable, home, or car docking apparatus. The receiver pulls in the signal, while a docking station provides traditional features like speakers, headphone jacks, and antennas, depending on the accessory. The receiver will produce no audio without an ancillary listening device.

We tested the receiver in 2 different systems: the Audiovox SIR-BB1 Sirius satellite radio portable boombox and the Audiovox SIR-CK1 sirius satellite radio shuttle car kit. Using the receiver under different circumstances--both stationary and mobile--gave a rounded portrait of both the Sirius service and the performance of this particular receiver. As a paid alternative to traditional FM and AM radio, the Sirius service definitely has its benefits. Tons of stations and no commercials--it's hard to beat that. With Sirius, great music is always easy to find.

With traditional radio, the audio signals ride "carrier frequencies" (modulated waves of air) that a receiver subtracts before rendering a wave as audio. With digital radio, frequencies carry data rather than audio. A receiver simply performs the step of turning the numeric transmission back to audio, much as the decoder chips and analog stage of a CD player turns its digital data into sound. This means you'll hear no static, fuzz, or spurious background noises from Sirius radio. The end result is clear and clean. It also means, however, that when reception gets hazy your audio program mutes briefly rather than getting fuzzy or slightly more distant-sounding. This can prove disconcerting or downright irritating if you're not listening in an area with perfect reception.

When you're not moving, reception tends to be better, though still potentially imperfect, depending on the location of Sirius' satellites. (Owners of digital cable or satellite television will know exactly what they're in for.) But by and large our stationary testing proved seamless, letting us enjoy the many stations included in the Sirius package.

Setup and operation of the receiver is a breeze. There are 30 channel presets (a group of 10 buttons with selectable A, B, and C bands) and an intuitive scroll wheel with push selection for menu navigation.

Lovers of pop and rock music fare the best, but there's a little something for everyone. If you're starved for underplayed classic rock, you'll revel in a channel known as The Vault ("deeper classic rock"), and '80s fans can take their pick of Big '80s, Hair Nation, and First Wave ("classic alternative"). Parents and kids--we checked--will relish the Sirius children's channel, especially in the car.

Unexpectedly rich are the news offerings, which include everything from the major cable TV networks to radio staples like NPR and the BBC, as well as 7 sports networks and a host of "entertainment" channels (including Court TV). The lion's share of the channels in the dance/electronica group falls to the dance category, leaving it to the lone Chill station to weave a blend of electronica and other hip but mellow (i.e., nondanceable) music. There are only 3 classical-music channels, and for those with short attention spans one of them plays movements of larger works rather than complete pieces straight through.

Beyond the reception issue, the only other major drawback is sound quality, which some may find subpar. Sirius describes its sound as "digital quality," a euphemism for "digital audio with a bitrate so low that we don't want to scare people by revealing what it is." Whatever it is, its character is very close to what you'd hear from 96 kbps MP3--clear and listenable, but lacking depth, fullness, high-frequency extension, and dynamic range (though radio's always been super compressed). Your awareness of these shortcomings will depend to some degree on the caliber of your playback system. We noted that the classical stations seem to have better sound than the rock/pop stations.

Overall, we found the sound quality to be better than AM radio, nearly or equally as good as analog FM stations, but worse than 128 kbps MP3 and inferior to high-quality analog cassette tapes (though there's no tape hiss with Sirius). But for broadcast music programming, the Sirius lineup is hard to beat and nothing short of a joy to listen to. For additional subscription details, please visit www.sirius.com. --Michael Mikesell

Pros:

• Simple setup
• Intuitive operation
• Easy to find great music
• No commercials
• Rich news selection
• 30 station presets
• Modular construction fits a host of docking devices
• Display is highly legible in both bright and dim environs

Cons:

• Periodic lost-signal mutes in transit
• Substandard sound quality
• No new-age channel
• Limited jazz, classical, and world-music offerings

What's in the Box
Receiver (shuttle) unit, remote control (P/N1363539), 2 AA remote batteries, and a user's manual.

Amazon.com Product Description

Listen to the future of radio today with the plug-and-play Audiovox SIR-PNP2 Sirius satellite radio receiver. The SIR-PNP2 decodes the incoming Sirius digital-quality radio program information from over 100 music, news, and sports channels and delivers an audio signal to your radio or other audio output equipment. It's easily transportable, and enables you to listen to satellite radio programs in your home or car.

The SIR-PNP2 lets you enter your desired channel stream number directly, or search for programming by scrolling through the category list. You can program up to 30 presets of your favorite streams, as well as search by stream, artist name, song title, or category. You can also store up to 20 artist/song title combinations, and the SIR-PNP2 can search the incoming Sirius signal and alert you if it matches the artist/song title stored in memory. The Look Ahead feature allows you to stay on and listen to the current radio stream while browsing other streams to see what's playing. Time-based functions include an alarm, sleep timer, and program alert that allows the SIR-PNP2 to switch to a preprogrammed stream at a selected time.

The SIR-PNP2 has a 6-line amber monochrome display featuring artist name and song title. Two information bands at the top and bottom of the display show stream channel number and name, signal strength, clock, and category name. The multiline display can be configured into a larger display that will scroll artist, title, stream name, and number. It has a 10-level brightness/contrast control, and an autodimming feature that adjusts brightness control for day and night driving conditions.

The SIR-PNP2 Sirius satellite receiver must be used with one of the following adapter kits:

• Audiovox SIRHK1 home kit
• Audiovox SIRCK1 vehicle kit (with wireless FM transmitter)
• Audiovox SIRCK2 vehicle kit (without wireless FM transmitter)

Sirius satellite radio is a subscription service that provides up to 100 channels of programming, from digital-quality music to news, talk, and sports. It is available only in the lower 48 states--not available in Alaska, Hawaii, or U.S. territories.

What's in the Box
Audiovox SIR-PNP2 Sirius satellite receiver shuttle unit, remote control (P/N1363539), and 2 AA batteries.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

114 of 127 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The good, the bad, and the ugly of Sirius Satellite radio., November 7, 2004

By 

sporkdude "sporkdude" (San Jose, Ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Audiovox SIR-PNP2 Sirius Satellite Radio Receiver (Electronics)

Sirius satellite should be considered a great complement to your audio system, whether in home or car. It should not be considered an end all to music selection. It will not replace CDs, mp3s or typical over the air radio. Once this expectation is established, it's good to see Sirius as a decent addition to those who love music.

First off, how much does it cost? You'll need a receiver, then a docking system for the home or office. Then there is a setup fee. So you're looking at a little under $200 to get started. Quite a huge investment for just checking out a new type of radio. I would advise getting Sirius professional installed in your car, unless you don't mind wire flaying around when you drive while looking at a tacking do it yourself setup. Also, if you want both home and office, you'll have to buy a boombox. This can run to about $350 total. Quite pricey, especially when it doesn't include any monthly fees.

Secondly, how about the reception? It's surprisingly well in my car, but does suffer some dark spots when you go under a tunnel or when travelling through a tree line street. However, I was unable to get any signal in neither my home nor my office, so don't automatically assume that it will work at your home. The only consolation is that if you sign up for Sirius, you get monthly web access.

Thirdly, how about the playlist? The best way to describe Sirius's playlist is probably a lot breadth, but not quite a lot of depth. For music, unless you love every type of music available, you'll actually only have about 10 music stations to listen to. For example, all Classical, Latin, Electronic, Jazz, Children and Love stations are absolutely useless to me as this not my type of music. In terms of sports, it's got the NFL, NBA, and if ever, NHL. The best game for radio, baseball, is with XM satellite, which is a huge bummer. Many of the news stations and entertainment stations are just audio replays of audio stations, so it's got commercials and aren't altogether suited for radio. For example, you'll hear, "take a look at this replay". Well, I can't look, it's radio. All in all, the talk and music is the equivalent of doubling the FM and AM radio stations of a big city. You'll still listen to your normal stations, but the number of stations will be expanded.

Fourthly, how about the receiver itself? It's pretty good. The display is huge. You get to see the band or song name before switching to a different station. I love that. It can store 20 songs, which, when one of the songs comes up, the receiver will beep and give you the option of changing to that station. The only small problems were that sometimes the stored songs didn't come up, and the turn wheel will lacks a grip, which is annoying when driving.

Fifthly, what were some of the major problems of Satellite radio? Besides the high cost for the equipment, the fact that they charge an activation fee was annoying. I'm willing to pay a monthly fee, do I need to add another fee to that? Secondly, the nickel and diming continues with the fact that the receiver contains no basic antenna nor power supply. You must buy a docking kit no matter what. I bought a car docking kit, but it only had a power supply for the cigarette lighter, which meant that all setup has to be done outdoors, in the car, with the car running. I couldn't even test it to see if it would work indoors, so I had to buy a boombox to test, only to find out it didn't work, and then return the boombox. A cheap home AC/DC power supply included in the docking kit would have saved me hours without costing me fifty dollars for the other docking system. Also, the customer service is not that great. The people on phone are nice, but you have to endure the navigation system along with a large self-serving tirade about how well Sirius radio is before you can get to the menu. In order to get stream player access, you have to e-mail them for the password, but no one bothered to reply to my e-mail, so I had to call them again. When the company won't give you the password for the free web access, and won't reply when you follow the website instructions, it gets annoying. Another thing is the repetitiveness and limiting factors of the playlist. Some of the bands I'm interested in, Carbon Leaf, the Streets, Perfect Circle, Tool - groups that I thought should appear for paid radio, are not really there. However, Ashlee Simpson, Maroon 5 and Leonard Skynard are pretty much on 24/7. Not quite the original playlists I was hoping to get.

Finally, what were some of the things that surprised me? First off, it's still cool. To be free of Clear Channel's chokehold on music radio is great. The web access is free. XM charges you about four dollars a month, making it more expensive monthly if you use web access. If you get Dish Network, the music stations are there already to listen through over your television. If you don't get Dish Network, you can get a free preview via the web for three days. Nice. Finally, I've become acquainted with many bands that I would not have known or just barely remember. It's nice to hear Traffic, Public Enemy, Guns and Roses, Flogging Molly, N.W.A., etc.

So, all in all, it's a nice complement, but it's no magic musical panacea.

Pros:
Song preview
20 Memory Storage
Large display
Free online access after signing up
Free 3-day online preview

Cons:
Nickel and diming
Very repetitive song list
Entertainment and News is Just a Replay of Television
Customer Service is lacking
Signal cannot be received in many places.

Minimum Setup Cost ~ 200 dollars
Optimal Setup Cost ~ 350 dollars
Monthly Cost ~ 13 dollars

37 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Nice, but Not Quite All I Wanted, March 12, 2004

By 

Spencer Medvick (Richfield, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Audiovox SIR-PNP2 Sirius Satellite Radio Receiver (Electronics)

The first thing I'd like to give here is a warning - NPR lovers beware. The NPR stream available here is probably not what you expect. Check out NPR /Sirius websites to see what it offers before buying. NPR was my biggest reason for buying Sirius over xm.

Overall though, I am thrilled, the BBC stream is tremendous, the music channels are varied and play a great collection of music inside their genres. The sports channels let me hear NHL and NBA games now and will let me hear every NFL game.

The product is good, not perfect, but well conceived. Setup was simple and 10 minutes after purchase I was up and running, the auto adaptor broadcasts on the four 88.x fm channels.
In short I recommend the product, but educate yourself carefully to make sure you know what you're getting.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works pretty well, but needs work, July 24, 2004

By 

AntennaBreaker "James" (Arkansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Audiovox SIR-PNP2 Sirius Satellite Radio Receiver (Electronics)

Let me start by saying that I've listened to both XM and Sirius, and Sirius' programming is far superior. The streamhosts, though they do talk a little bit, bring a ton of knowledge and programming savvy to the streams. And the variety is very good. And I really like that subscribers can listen to the music channels online for free.

As for the Audiovox receiver: I bought the receiver, the car kit and the home kit. I'm giving it 4 stars because it's pretty good and easy to operate. I like the "memo" feature that allows you to find your favorite songs no matter what stream they're on. And the remote control is nice for home use.

But it does have some annoying issues that should give most people pause.

As mentioned by several others here, the tuner runs very hot during continuous use. Don't make the mistake of leaving the radio on without the car running. Mine got so hot sitting in my parked car (it was about 80 degrees that day) that the screen blacked out and it wouldn't work until I shut it down and let it cool off.

I also moved the receiver and antenna from one car to another one, and in the process broke the antenna connector plug. It's really poorly made. The jack is difficult to plug and unplug, and there's a weak point that breaks easily. You have to really tug on it to unplug it. I tried soldering the plug back together, but that didn't work. I'm going to have to spend $50 to get a replacement antenna. Solution: If you have two cars, buy two car kits.

And now that Sirius is on Dish Network, it defeats the purpose of having a receiver in my living room.

In hindsight, I should have bought a car-only receiver that hooked into my stereo.