Anyone try thr new Sirius satellite radio system?

I have a feeling that satellite radio will be growing in popularity now that Howard Stern has signed on.

I have Sirius in my truck, direct connected, factory installed not frequency midulated(FM). It sounds much better than FM. They have a lot of excellent channels and as far as ads the only thing I hear is an occasional announcement of programming for different channels. I would get the Kenwood unit for your home it has an optical output so you could use a better processer if you have one. Let me know if you find a better deal than the $299 list as I'm thinking of getting it also.

Mstram: Is the D/A conversion the issue, or is the data signal compressed (truncated)? Also, do any of the receiver units provide any form of digital outputs?

I use it through my dish network sattelite reciever at home as background music while working. Certainly compressed, but quiet and much better than any FM I can get in the sticks. There is occasional digital interference, but sometimes I am utterly suprised at the imaging. The symphony channel plays selections that appeal to me (ie, it is not just overly popular pieces, and they have special programming including npr's performance today, etc.). I am actually thinking of having a second reciever installed just to use the Sirius channels w/out the tv tube in my second system.

For those of you who are NPR fans, XM now has Bob Edwards in the morning. They just added a channel called XMPR where you can hear Bob as well as NPR shows like Whud'YaKnow, The Connection, and On Point to name a few. The great thing about it is that you can drive from NY to CA and never have to worry about losing the signal.

Agreed, this is not audiophile quality sound, but it's as good as the strongest FM signal. I'm not sure if it is because of compression of the digital streaming, or poor quality D to A conversion and cheap electronics. I wonder if a high end company might be working on an XM or Sirius receiver.

XM is commercial free except on those channels that are basically TV stations broadcasting sound over XM such as CNBC, CNN, CNN Headline News, etc...

You really can't beat XM for its variety and excellent music programming. There is something for everybody and I can tell you, I'm very fussy about my music. I doubt there is less than 1% of all the radio stations in the USA that I would consider to be quality programming. Most of what is out there is crap from the likes of Clearchannel and other big corporate media. Their idea of great music is Brittney Spears and Christina Aguliera and their clones.

Sorry about the rant. Get XM!!! The audiophile (and the music loving) community really ought to embrace digital FM as the future; not for the sound quality (which is mid-fi at best) but for the music.