Customer Reviews

XAct XS027 Sirius Satellite Radio Portable Boombox with CD Player and AM/FM Tuner

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I purchased two of these units and found that the volume function on the remote does not work on either unit. I contacted XACT (which was a huge hassle) and talked to supervisor after supervisor and the only explanation they could give me to why the volume could not be adjusted from the remote was that " it was manufactured that way"... are you kidding, i had stereo's 20 years ago that had a remote that could control volume. Other than that the unit is fine, but I just feel a state of the art "deluxe" boom box should be able to adjust the voulume via the remote. Why else would you waste 2 buttons on the tiny remote. It is just a pain to have to physically increase or decrease the volume manually.

Must I give this unit 1 star? It deserves ZERO stars.

I purchased XACT model XS027 Boom Box from BEST BUY. The AM/FM "radio" in this model is pure junk. I have been a broadcaster and electronics product design engineer for over 30 years. Typically in a radio receiver design you have to choose between good selectivity (ability to select one channel and reject adjacent channels) and good sensitivity (ability to receive weak broadcasts). The fact that the XS027 does not have an external FM antenna (nor AM antenna) was surprising. I figured that perhaps it had a little bit better RF amplification and therefore would perform just as well. Combine that with the fact I live in the Northern California (Sacramento area) where there are an abundant number of 50K Watt stations on the air, I the last thing I expected was not being able to pick up a very strong local station.

But to my dismay, the AM/FM receiver design in the XS027 is pathetic. I can get some channels even though I am selected as much as 300KHz+ off frequency. For example KHWD 93.7 comes in just as good when the receiver is tuned to 93.4, 93,5, 93.6, 93.7 or 93.8 MHz. And it is not the only station to do that. And I am NOT even close to their transmitter(s).

Then there is KSEG 96.9; which I can not receive at all. I am in their grade A area, but their signal will not lock in on the XS027. KSEG's signal is "best" on the XS027 when I tune to 96.7. EVERY other receiver I have (including some that cost less than $10) pick them up just fine (on 96.9).

What gives? NO sensitivity AND NO selectivity????

Oh I suppose you really dont care about the AM/FM receiver since you figured that everyone would just use the satellite receiver. Well there is a slight bit of truth to that, but there are issues there too. I was out in the forest recently; a good distance away from any terrestrial transmissions. I was down in a canyon and unable to pull in anything on AM/FM (no surprise). Sirius came in just fine. But if I turned the volume up too high, without warning, the satellite receiver simply powered OFF. Once off, the load on the batteries was removed and so the satellite receiver powered back on. On and off like a flasher. Obviously if the batteries are not brand spanking new there is not enough power to operate the satellite receiver. But I used the same set of (dead) batteries to play CDs (at least when they'd play) for well over a week at a fairly high volume.

The CD player is not without its problems either. The spec claims to have a 45 second ESP, but even with the unit sitting solid on a table operating from AC power, CDs often skip, jump or stop playing altogether.

After all these troubles I decided that I must have a bad unit. Then I found out the same unit was on sale at Costco. So I returned my unit to Best Buy and bought an entirely new unit from Costco. The new unit works so identical to the prior unit it is scary. ALL of the same problems, right down to not being able to receive KSEG.

I had a conversation with some PR people from Sirius about this and they directed me to write to the manufacturer, US Electronics in New York. I wrote to them several months ago and did not receive any response. This design is so bad that it can not even be used for the purpose for which it was sold. To me that seems like a case for the FTC.

I've had the XM Delphi boombox for two years now. Today I bought the XS027 for a friend.

I too was frustrated with the volume control on my remote with the boombox. They need to put a info sticker on the remote. I have had equipment where the remote turned the volume knob with a motor. I like this type of analog volume control. I'm assuming the volume works with the car and home kits.

I think the box sounds really good. The inclusion of the radio and CD player is a plus for those very rare occasions. CD plays MP3 too. The aux is jack is something usually not included in products like this. Nice to see it and a rear line out jack on this product.

The fact that XACT shipped this boombox without supporting the volume function on the remote is criminal. Basically I spent $130 for a pair of speakers. And now everytime I want to adjust the volume I have to walk across the room.

It's pretty neat the way the designed the box to 'flip' from satellite mode to fm/cd mode.

The cd player / radio are junk. Do not buy this item if you want to use it for anything other than satellie. The lcd display is tiny, not backlit, and hard to read. The radio doesn't even have a scan or seek function. I think they hired the cheapest engineer they could find to design the radio and CD because there was zero thought put into it. I could probably give our company intern a hundred bucks and a soldering iron and get something more innovative.

Another frustrating issue is that you cannot use a "universal" car type antenna with this unit. Yes, I know it comes with a home antenna but if you have an extra car antenna laying around and want to ever use it (say you permanently mounted the home antenna on your roof and want to listen to Sirus at your neighbors bbq with your car antenna) you are SOL unless you want to do what I did and hack the back of the unit up with a sharp knife so you can plug the antenna in.

All that said I am overall satisfied with it. For the money I would expect a nicer speaker setup than cardboard 4" full range but the sound is pretty decent and it looks cool hanging on my wall.

This radio is only good for Sirius. The CD player works on a whim and the controls are so tiny it was like they were designed for a mouse. The remote has never worked, even for selecting stations. No FM/AM reception and I live in a major metropolitan area on the east coast. It is far too big and bulky just for the Sirius part. I kept it tucked in a dark corner its infrequent usage warrants.My only regret about the review is that I cannot give it no stars.

I expected something a little "beefier" for the price. The speakers are pretty bland...not much range. The screen is hard to read also when using the CD player. Beyond that, it is great to have a "portable" satellite radio now.

Where do I start. The remote control is the worst ever. The battery casing easily breaks and the springs push the batteries out so hard it is near impossible to fix. The remote has volume up and down buttons but they don't work and the company says they were not made to work. So why are they there? The speaker sound is below average, any 30 dollar boombox sounds better and can be turned up louder. I now have to buy aux speakers so that the music sounds half way decent. I swear that now it doesn't even sound like it's in stero. I love Sirius but hate this boombox. STAY AWAY FROM IT!!

DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE BUYING FROM THIS COMPANY. The products are poor, the repairs are poorer and the customer service is non existant. They will not refund anything, even if your product dies twice in the first 9 weeks.