Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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128 of 140 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easy Install, Easy Activate, September 26, 2004
The SA50000 is well-worth the money. It's a bit bulky compared to the Roady 2 but you have to remember that the Roady is for car audio use only. The SA50000 can be installed on a boombox/indoor unit or in the car so you get both functions with this receiver. When you buy this receiver, there are no accessories included except the remote. Use a C2032 battery to power the remote. So before you head out and buy this, don't forget to buy the battery. I had to open one of my old motherboards and pulled out the battery. I don't think it's mentioned on the packaging about what type of battery it uses. So I'm saving you all a headache and telling you. Ok let's start off with the installation. I bought a Delphi Boombox to hook up the receiver. To actually review this product, I would have to review the boombox as well cos without a boombox or car adaptor, this receiver is useless. So...installing the receiver is quite easy on the boombox. The boombox has a cradle that catches the receiver. Be careful not to force the receiver into the cradle mount. Just slide the receiver into the cradle. The contact pins should catch the receiver in the cradle, and then lightly push the receiver forward. Push the receiver on the top-most part of the device. Push the receiver until it clicks. To unseat the receiver, just push it again and it will make a faint click. Pull the receiver off gently.
Now, to activate. It's really a painless process. Make sure that the receiver is hooked up and seated properly in the boombox cradle. Ok, power-up the boombox and receiver. Just have your credit card ready, a pen, and a piece of paper. Once the receiver is powered-up, go to Radio ID channel. To switch channels, use the rotary dialer until it says Radio ID. It should give you the Radio ID number. Copy it and then activate it online. Activation fee via online is about $2.00 less than if you activate it over the phone. Once you get a message on the XMradio activation page, go back to your receiver and start looking for the channels, starting with channel 1,4,5,6,7, then 122. You can also use the number keys to switch channels. The ENTER key is that big button on the rotary dialer's hub. If after activating it, you don't get any sound from the channels I mentioned, please don't blow a gasket. Give it like about 30 mins. for the satellite to update your receiver. After about 30 minutes, you should be getting most if not all 120 channels.
Now the remote...well one thing is missing on the remote and that's the MENU key that's found on the receiver. Maybe it's somewhere on the remote but I haven't found it yet. Remote is fairly straightforward operation. As for the boombox, it comes with an antenna. It has a 20 ft. cable. I suggest you put the antennae close to a window in your house. It says to look for the southern part of the house to get best results. I didn't bother looking for itcos how many people here in US know exactly where the south part of their house is? Anyways, get the antenna on an elevated position and turn it towards the window. The receiver has a function that will tell you the signal strength of the satellite waves and the terrestrial repeater waves. You can access this by going to MENU and then scroll down to Antenna Setup. If you see four-bars filled for satellite and three bars filled for terrestrial, then you are GOOD TO GO. The boombox packs a wallop! The sound is crisp, tight, and powerful. I have it at level 20 volume and it's shaking my lounge. I don't know what the max volume is and I won't even try it. The boombox comes with a humongous sized power adapter to power your receiver and boombox. Overall, the SA50000 is a fantastic receiver, it's easy to install, activate, and it gives a nice clear sound and signal. My suggestion is buy SA50000 and keep it for home use only. If you want to have a satellite radio for the car, I suggest you get the Roady 2.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome!!!!, January 16, 2005
I was researching recently on which satellite radio system I should get. I came across two choices: XM radio or Sirius Satellite radio. XM offers 130 channels while Sirius offered something like 110 channels. XM was also 9.99 while Sirius was 12.95. By comparing I decided to get the XM Delphi because of the number of channels and for the monthly price. So far its been awesome, music is crystal clear and is everything people made it to be. The only reason why I'm not giving it 5 stars is because it isnt 100% commercial free. I would say its in the range of 95% commercial free. It has any genre your looking for, including 12 news channels (MSNBC, NBC, ABC, BBC etc...), 3 Comedy Channels, and Automated Weather Channels.
I purchased the home kit simply because my home theatre system is fully compatible. So far no problems I highly recommend this product. If you are planning on purchasing this product, the activation might be a little complicated. If you activate over the Internet its 9.99 or over the phone for 14.99. Technical support is very poor for this product, however rarely will it glitch or have a problem.
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24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Let this price go by!!!, December 12, 2004
XM Radio, what can I say it was the first and still remains number one in sales and stock for Satellite radio! And those baseball fans out there, XM will have EACH and EVERY MLB game starting from the spring training up to to the world series! It doesn't matter if you're a Dodgers fan living in NYC or your local market does not play your team (there are no blackouts where they block the game), you'll hear your team!
Did I mention XM has FOUR channels with Christmas songs? One with tradational, another with contemporary, another with country and the last (my favorite) is songs like the Chipmonks, Muppets, Barney, (you know all those non-tradational songs we all love).
Ever listen to the radio and say "hey what's the name of that song?" Well no more doing that with this receiver as it displays the song title and singer! Plus you can hit the memory button and it'll store it for you!
Me I have the SA5000 SKyFi with the Delphi SA1001 Boombox. XM has a VERY strong signal (stronger than any other), so much that I have the antenna on top of the table in my bedroom (signal must go through walls, and part of another house) to reach me. Now that's strong! Weather does not effect the signal, and it does not fade like AM/FM radios. You either get the signal (again I'll bet you will) or you don't. Just be sure to face the antenna south (if you're using it in the house).
What I like about XM is the upcoming MLB (trust me you'll hear more about this as spring comes), and the receiver allows you to keep 20 channels. There's a Decades (I enjoy the 80's), country, hits, christian, rock, urban, jazz&blues, Lifestyle, latin, world, classical, kids, news (has all the news like FOX, CNN, CNN Headline, MSBNC, CNBC, BBC), sports, comedy (3 comedy one of them has funny talk shows), talk/entertainment (Rollye James, Art Bell/George Noorey, Alan Colmes, Mike Medved, Bruce Williams, MIke Gallalgher), Traffic Weather, Special Events and Premium (Playboy and Opie and Anthony).
And did I mention that with XM you'll be hard pressed (or have to listen 24/7 for days on end) to ever hear a repeat song!!
What's real good is that you can listen to your tunes/show and scroll through and then go to whatever channel and see what's currently playing, PLUS with the weather you can either scroll or tune to the weather channel you want (have all the major cities) and see the curren temp., conditions and any road or emergencies as in traffic, etc. XM is the only one that has this!
And you get a remote control that gives you FULL control of your radio, including the volume! Even has a mute button! The display is a orange/amber color.
Personally I enjoy listening either with the lights out or dimmed down as XM lights up and the information on the screen and buttons make it very calming and cool to watch while listening to my favorite shows!
You can't go wrong with this receiver! Nor will you find this price anywhere! Look around at your local stores or other online stores! It's basically for free!
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