Polk Audio XRt12 Reference Home XM Satellite Radio Tuner (Black)

by Polk Audio

Product Details

Product Manual [513kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 2.3 x 17 inches ; 9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 10 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0006L506C
• Item model number: XRT12
• Batteries: 2 AAA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,292 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #24 in Electronics > Home Audio & Theater > Stereo Components > Tuners

Product Description

Product Description

Product Description The XRt12 from Polk Audio is the world's first component-style XM Satellite Radio tuner for the home. It's the best sounding and most convenient way to enjoy XM's wealth of digital music, sports, news, and entertainment programming in your home through your existing amplifier and speaker setup.The XRt12 connects to any audio system and fits in any audio furniture or equipment rack. (Use of the receiver requires a paid subscription to XM Satellite Radio).

Set it up once and the XRt12 is ready to deliver high-fidelity XM programming in your home anytime you want to fire up your favorite XM channels. You no longer have to remember to take your plug-and-play XM tuner from the car and dock it in a home adapter. No more squinting and running up to the tiny display to see who's performing that awesome song. The unit has its own 4-line blue-backlit display and a composite-video output for viewing the artists and track information right on your television.

The XRt12 comes with everything you need to enjoy XM radio the day you bring it home: a high-gain XM antenna with 20-foot cable, an optical digital-audio cable, and a stereo audio/composite-video interconnect. The unit's rear panel features both optical and coaxial digital-audio outputs for easy connection to surround receivers and processors. And, if XM starts delivering multichannel surround sound, you'll be ready. The XRt12 also features standard RCA analog stereo outputs for connection with any stereo receiver or integrated amplifier.

The XRt12 features both optical and coaxial digital outputs for easy connection to surround receivers and processors.

Other features include a built-in signal-strength meter to help you position your antenna, up to 20 channel presets for quick and easy switching to your favorite channels, a memory button (so the XRt12 can store up to 10 records of channel, artist, and song data for later retrieval), and a function that lets you scan through major channel categories (rock, talk, sports, etc.). Preview mode lets you see what channels are available and what's playing--before switching from the channel you're listening to.

Further, the XRt12 sounds better than other XM home appliances because of its high-grade parts and construction. If you already have XM in your home, Polk is certain you're not yet hearing its full sonic potential. The XRt12 maintains low noise and low distortion, delivering music that approaches CD sound quality. The digital bits and bytes of satellite radio must be converted to analog for listening, a job handled by a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The reference tuner uses a Burr-Brown DAC, widely regarded as the best in the industry.

Each major function (power supply, display, outputs, preamp, and tuner) of the XRt12 are on physically separate circuit boards to minimize interference and noise.

The DAC's analog output must be amplified to a voltage level that your receiver or preamp can use. The XRt12 employs a true high-fidelity preamplifier circuit board, offering greater gain than do the cheap headphone preamps found in plug-and-play tuners. In fact, you can adjust the XRt12's analog output to match the gain of your other components. Each major function (power supply, display, outputs, preamp, and tuner) of the XRt12 is on a physically separate circuit board to minimize interference and noise.

If you have a whole-house distributed audio system like those made by Crestron, NetStreams, or Elan, the XRt12's RS-232 I/O connector allows you to plug right into the system to enjoy XM radio throughout the house. You'll be able to control the XRt12 from any station on the system, displaying channel, artist, and song data on any control screen in the network. If your audio receiver or amp has a 12-volt trigger output, you can connect your XRt12 to it and have the receiver turn the XRt12 on and off.

What's in the Box
XM receiver, a remote control, remote batteries, an XM high-gain home antenna, an optical digital-audio cable, a stereo analog audio/composite-video cable, a user's manual, an XM channel reference card, and online registration information.

Product Description

The Polk Audio XRT12 Reference Tuner is the first component XM tuner and it is the performance reference standard for all XM tuners. It is specifically engineered to complement your current audio components with digital and analog outputs and a full featured remote control. It delivers your favorite XM stations directly to your living room, playing crystal clear audio through your own home loudspeakers while displaying the channel, song and artist information on your TV.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Satellite Radio Sound, May 17, 2005

By 

A Name "Bokonon" (MI, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Polk Audio XRt12 Reference Home XM Satellite Radio Tuner (Black) (Electronics)

This unit offers excellent sound. The SkyFi unit has very good sound for all that is packed into a small box for less than $100, but the Polk uses high quality analog preamplifier and the heralded Burr Brown DACs that deliver the best analog output available from a satellite radio. If you use the optical connector then the quality of the sound will depend on your DAC and analog stages. The weak link in the satellite radio plug and play units is not the digital compression.

If you are running the audio outputs from a SkyFi into your home stereo this unit will be a very nice upgrade. Assuming you have a mid-high grade system you Will hear a difference. The SkyFi II has a newer digital processor, not yet in the Polk, and so it would deliver a better digital output if it had an optical output, but it is only capable of delivering analog and so the Polk still outperforms by virtue of its superior analog stage. But if I owned a SKyFi II I would wait for a newer version of the Polk. This is 5 Stars based on it's sound quality and oncreeen menu features, but I admit some dissapointment that it does not yet have the latest digital processor already rolled out in less expensive units 7 months ago.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good product, but missing two important features, June 27, 2005

By 

jg_music (CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Polk Audio XRt12 Reference Home XM Satellite Radio Tuner (Black) (Electronics)

This product has many nice features, and the sound quality is better than FM radio and MP3s (but not quite as good as CD). However, this product does not contain two features that are important to me.

Feature One: Channel Surfing. While watching TV, I like to channel surf by pressing the Next Channel button on the TV's remote control. With one button press, I can jump to the next channel (example: I'm at channel 40, pressing the button sends me to channel 41). The Polk tuner does not have a Next Channel button, instead, you have to press three buttons to move to the next channel. The Polk tuner has some sophisticated features for moving through channels, but lacks basic Channel Surfing.

Feature Two: Headphone Jack. I want to listen to this Tuner with headphones in my bedroom, but I had to buy a Receiver just so that I could use the Receiver's headphone jack.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sees the bird even inside commercial buildings, January 6, 2006

By 

S. Bell (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Polk Audio XRt12 Reference Home XM Satellite Radio Tuner (Black) (Electronics)

WHAT WORKS;

Something the typical XM subscriber might not know when they first read about satellite radio is that the signal for the XM systems arrives as a direct line of sight signal AND a terrestrial repeater signal network in larger Metro areas.

We get both.

When I first set this up at the office, the menu for Signal Aiming only showed 2 land signal bars and the satellite showed 0 (zero) signal bars. I thought I would have to drill through the buildings 24 inch brick walls to connect.

Wrong!

It connected to the XM Service without a problem with the land signal alone. The sound quality of this is very good played through a small 5.1 channel home theater I pirated from a residence. The senior partner likes it so much, he is re-discovering the joys of listening to pure music at his fingertips.

We are very happy with this Polk tuner. I will only buy audio systems with a satellite service std/option in the future.

WISH LIST;

I would like to see an option for a larger mini menu display, and perhas one with a bit more legible color text/background on it. A few others have mentioned this. Perhaps Polk will offer other options for this unit over time.