[ecramer]

Oh doug s., don't get your tunas in a knot.  I think it was JLM that spoke of "low fi" at home.  Poor Emil just wanted some advice about making XM function at his workplace.

Many of us value having music as a part of our lives regardless of sonic imperfections.  If I relied on listening to bad FM in the sweet spot, I'd never listen to over the air music. 

I do think you are right regarding FM being superior in sound, but my "tuna" dial is clogged with c&w, hip-hop, and worn-out classic rock.    Even my NPR station is all talk.  Click and Clack do sound like they're in my room though. 

Click and Clack do sound like they're in my room though.  you have to put up with them too

thank goodness theres a clasical / jazz station in hd a little lower on the dial than the npr station i can recieve.

[doug s.]

Oh doug s., don't get your tunas in a knot.  I think it was JLM that spoke of "low fi" at home.  Poor Emil just wanted some advice about making XM function at his workplace.

Many of us value having music as a part of our lives regardless of sonic imperfections.  If I relied on listening to bad FM in the sweet spot, I'd never listen to over the air music. 

I do think you are right regarding FM being superior in sound, but my "tuna" dial is clogged with c&w, hip-hop, and worn-out classic rock.    Even my NPR station is all talk.  Click and Clack do sound like they're in my room though. 

henry, i have so many tunas, if i got 'em into a knot, i'd really be screwed!    

going back thru this thread,i realize it's jlm who first said something about the waste of having hi-fi in the car & lo-fi at home.  as an avid fm listener, (fortunately, i have a few stations here that satisfy much of my listening needs - quality signal and content), i do get a bit irked when anyone says that something like xm can compare favorably w/fm for audio quality in a nice home system.  xm sounds like shite, imo, compared to anything.  and, quality fm really sounds amazingly good - if you haven't tried it, you don't know.

me, i refuse to support xm/sirius on principal - lo-rez formats should not be encouraged/supported, imo.  if you must do xm, tho, insert a tube buffer stage between the receiver & your preamp; that will make it more tolerable as a background source.  personally, if i needed background music at work/home, & didn't have decent fm to listen to, i would get either a computer audio server or a cd changer to load up...

ymmv,

doug s.

[lcrim]

I got a ride from a guy w/ whom I have had many conversations re: hi-end audio.  He has XM in his car and it sounded OK.  I told him it sounded good but I certainly wouldn't pay any extra for it. I listen to an older 3 gig Ipod in my car, running through the car's stereo.  I change the content on the Ipod fairly regularly so as not to get bored w/ the same music over and over.  Because I went to PC playback of digital music some time ago, I have a large library of flac that has to be translated to Apple Lossless before loading onto the Ipod but to me its worth it.  It sounds much better than the radio or CD's.  I don't listen to the radio in the car very much anyway, if I have any control over it.  Honestly, the garbage that comes over the airways, even WBGO, the local FM jazz station, is mostly just an annoyance.  I'm more comfortable w/ the sounds of the car than even the Ipod much of the time. 
I was a bit surprised that Danny, who is a speaker manufacturer, I think, praised XM on directv.  I raised hell w/ them about that because their former method or supplier was night and day better both in the quality of the sound as well as the content than XM.  Nothing personal against Danny or anyone who prefers it, but in comparison XM is such a comedown. 
I may not agree w/ Doug about many things but regarding XM he got it right.   

[ohenry]

I guess that I value music content over sonics.  And I enjoy someone else to picking the music as long as it's in certain genres, it expands what I know.  Hell, I'd listen to AM on a transistor radio in a pinch if it played music I liked.  No need to get a stiffy over arbitrary sonic benchmarks, but each to his own.

Have you guys ever walked out of a good concert solely because of bad sound?  Maybe that's another topic to snark about.   

[doug s.]

I guess that I value music content over sonics.  And I enjoy someone else to picking the music as long as it's in certain genres, it expands what I know.  Hell, I'd listen to AM on a transistor radio in a pinch if it played music I liked.  No need to get a stiffy over arbitrary sonic benchmarks, but each to his own.

Have you guys ever walked out of a good concert solely because of bad sound?  Maybe that's another topic to snark about.   

i could listen to am on a transistor radio, too!  i actually listen to music sometimes on a ge super-radio, & it's fine.  (fm, tho - no am content here that i like.)  but xm gives me a headache, even as background music.  seriously.  it's not as bad w/a tube buffer.  but to actually sit & listen to xm, w/my eyes closed, like i do w/cd, winyl, or fm?  can't do it...  not sure if i ever tried w/my ge super-radio...  i have done it w/my wintage ge tubed table radio...  but, only for a few minutes at a time, or i would get fired.   


doug s.

[ohenry]

i could listen to am on a transistor radio, too!  i actually listen to music sometimes on a ge super-radio, & it's fine.  (fm, tho - no am content here that i like.)  but xm gives me a headache, even as background music.  seriously.  it's not as bad w/a tube buffer.  but to actually sit & listen to xm, w/my eyes closed, like i do w/cd, winyl, or fm?  can't do it...  not sure if i ever tried w/my ge super-radio...  i have done it w/my wintage ge tubed table radio...  but, only for a few minutes at a time, or i would get fired.   

doug s.

Sorry for the threadjacking, but I have no self control....

Hey Doug, now your talking.  Nice radio!  And the GE is cool too.

Let's start an AM station and lose our asses.    Here's one from my younger days, the mighty Ross Micro Solid State keychain radio... sound to die for (literally):

[doug s.]

ok henry, now you are gonna make me websearch until i find my first ever music machine - a li'l grey ge transistor am radio that i got for my sixth b-day - it's been all downhill since then!   

doug s.

[low.pfile]

OT:

I created a Spin-off thread here: Your favorite less-than-hi-fi listening experiences?


Post about your favorite Memories related to AM radio's, transistor radios, old boom boxes etc.

[low.pfile]

Now back to XM Radio home system discussion.

[doug s.]

OT:

I created a Spin-off thread here: Your favorite less-than-hi-fi listening experiences?


Post about your favorite Memories related to AM radio's, transistor radios, old boom boxes etc.

that's cool - thanks. now, can we stick to the discussion at hand here, which is my least favorite less-than-hi-fi experience.   

doug s.