sdente

Although we have the premium sound option on our 2005 545i there is no tab for SAT radio. We bought the car used so are not sure of the exact option list. I asume that satilite radio was not ordred on the car. Does anyone know how much trouble and the cost of adding SIRIUS would be?

Thanks for the help!

Rudy

If you do a search on the terms 'sirius' and 'retrofit', you'll get the following page:
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?act=Search...sirius+retrofit

Pretty much everything you need to know is right there at your fingertips...

Bimmer32

Don't add Sirius. It's a waste of money. Sound poorer than FM stations, and most stations are a bunch of liberals who thinks the world revolves around them. Just my opinion.

sdente

Thanks for the link, you guys are the best...

WebDefy

Bimmer 32, just a quick question without reading through a million posts. I know it's stupid but is Sirius available on my 04/04 build date without Nav? I made an appointment to get it installed and nothing was said now I'm worried I don't have sat prep? Also why do you say sound quality is worse than FM, is it really that bad? Also again without having to read a million posts I had 19.2 installed for aux in and BT, my tech said above this could crash the TCU and he didn't want to risk it, do I want the higher CIP and can I get MP3 playback with title listings? What CIP adds this functionality? Sorry for the dumb questions covered already just tired of searching.

Bimmer32

I know what you mean by the search engine. It's not yahoo or google, but you find what you need - read and read.

1. Sat. prep is one thing. Having the actual Sirius module is another. You have to have Sat. prep to be able to install Sirius module radio (my thinking).

2. Just about every station on Sirius sounds muffled compared to the FM Stations I get in Houston, TX. For example, CD sound is 10. FM sound is 8. Sirius sound is 5-6. Sirius sounds like tape with Dolby B C(remember that?)

3. I know nothing about BT/Aux and higher than CIP 19.2. From what Znod is saying, don't upgrade because performance appears to be muffled compared to CIP 19.xx. BT works great for CIP 19.xx. Have a motorola phone and you can't go wrong with BMW BT.

4. CIP 20.x allows for mp3 playback for US cars WITH NAV. I talked to a shop foreman; he said he didn't know anything about mp3 WITHOUT NAV. Another member on this board said that mp3 playback was not as clear as CD. If that is true, I'd rather stick with CD music. Anyone want to confirm this?

Hope I could help.

WebDefy

Thanks Bimmer32,
I only have the time to check these boards every so often so I'm glad to see your response. Still very confused about Sirius if it as you say worse than FM than it is not worth it. Second I would really appreciate it if anyone could respoind about the Non-Nav MP3 playback, I don't mind a slight downgrade in audio quality (as you would expect going from CD to MP3) but considering I only have a cd drive very curious if it is worth buggin my tech for the upgrade to CIP 20+, Third I wish I had gone with Motorola but I wanted to be differnet and upon initial testing my Samsung "Blade" phone worked great but now I get anoyinh "phantom calls" all day due to my alerts on the phone. Thanks for the reply and for not flaming me for not wanting to "search" all night.

WebDefy

Edit: Upon reading a few topics down it seams that Sirius is worth it.

swajames

Have to disagree a little on the sound quality. I do agree there is definite variation ("talk" channels are not the best and are obviously more compressed, music channels by and large are pretty good, if you listen mainly to talk radio it is of course most noticable). I've had both XM and Sirius and been pretty happy with them, and I'm not one to tolerate obviously crappy sound.

And in the interests of balance, no matter how many liberal shows are out there they are cancelled out by the Fox channels

Analogs

SAT radio well worth the money and the sound continues to improve - I love it and have opted out of having Ipod in place of my Sat Radio. My opinion.