Best of XM on Sirius and/or converting from Sirius to XM

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rmarquet

New Member
Jun 7, 2009
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Okay, this is frustrating. The current situation is that I have three vehicles, all with Sirius tuners. The two cars have SIR-KEN1 tuners with Kenwood head units and CD changers. The camper has a SIR-PNR tuner (not sure if it's a 1 or a 2, but I've had it about four years if that helps) with a Pioneer head unit, plus an auxiliary input. The changers and aux input are hooked to the "to changer" bus port on the Sirius tuners.

The problem is that the girlfriend wants to get the NHL channel, which is part of the Best of XM. Unfortunately, I was only able to get it for ONE of the SIR-KEN1 tuners - the other two tuners are listed as "ineligible"...which doesn't make much sense to me.

So, I considered switching to XM. But I can't find an XM tuner for Kenwoods that will let me hook up the changers (and current Sirius tuners have the same problem - when one died last fall, I had to buy a refurb SIR-KEN1 to replace it). The Pioneer tuner that would let me do that (GEX-P920XM) seems to be out of stock everywhere, but I can probably find that refurb somewhere if I have to.

Ditching the CD changers is not an option. I don't own an iPod, and I suspect I would run into the same problem even if I did (and had one of those iPod interface adapters for each system).

So... my questions are:
1. Is there a way to get Sirius to activate the remaining tuners I have with the Best of XM? Does anyone have Best of XM on more than one tuner? I suspect it's a business limitation rather than a technical one.
2. Or, is there an XM tuner that will let me hook up my CD changers? This can't be only me having this problem... For that matter, is there a current Sirius tuner that will let me hook up the CD changers?

Thanks.
 
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My name is Matt

Member
Oct 10, 2008
644
11
18
Chicago
What you can do is update the tuners in either the kenwood or pioneer units and still be able to keep your sirius accounts while getting "Best of XM". Here is what you need to upgrade to:

Kenwood: Kenwood Sirius Connect Package

Pioneer: Pioneer SIRIUS Connect Package

The universal tuners that come in these kits (SCC1) are capable of receiving the best of XM. Just swap them out for what you need and you will be able to activate those accordingly.
 
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no1hedberg

Member
Oct 13, 2008
335
19
18
West Virginia
You might want to try what Matt recommended above, but instead of the scc1 tuners, you could get the scvdoc1, and a plug and play tuner. SIRIUS Connect Vehicle Kit SCVDOC1 You could share the pnp with all your radios, and save some subs. All the universal dock pnp's are boxm compatible. I'm positive it works on the Pioneer setup because i've done it. Matt can probably tell you if the Kenwood translator will work too.
 
R

rmarquet

New Member
Jun 7, 2009
2
0
1
My name is Matt said:
What you can do is update the tuners in either the kenwood or pioneer units and still be able to keep your sirius accounts while getting "Best of XM". Here is what you need to upgrade to:

Kenwood: Kenwood Sirius Connect Package

Pioneer: Pioneer SIRIUS Connect Package

The universal tuners that come in these kits (SCC1) are capable of receiving the best of XM. Just swap them out for what you need and you will be able to activate those accordingly.
Click to expand...

The thing is, I'm pretty sure the two Kenwood tuners I have ARE capable of receiving the Best of XM, since one of them already is, and they're the same model - I realize there could be software limits, but I suspect that's not the case. I think the reason I can't get it on the second one is a business limitation (i.e., Sirius doesn't have a plan in place for that), rather than a technical one. That's why I'm wondering if anyone has two radios with the Best of XM on one account...

The KCA-SR50 does look like it'd allow me to hook up a changer, if I use the $80 changer switch.

It does sound like there is a solution, albeit expensive: get the kit ($80-$100), the switch ($80), plus the XM radio...

That Pioneer setup looks great - I thought at first that you still had to control it through the separate radio, but it looks like it's controlled through the head unit, based on the pictures and on the link no1hedberg gave! That could be a decent solution for me...cheaper, too.

Thanks - you've given me some stuff to think about. But I still wonder about that best of XM thing and multiple radios... :)
 
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