SiriusXM radio on Model 3

[goin2drt]

We don’t have our MYP yet but we are also SXM fans. This will be a bummer to get to learn and know another streaming music app. Apple Music was the other one we used in and around the house and lastly we have some experience with Amazon music. Looks like any and all of those three are not available in the Y so this will be a bummer.

I know this is a SXM thread but figured you all are pretty knowledabgle about the music choices.

This will be my wife’s DD. Having said that what music option will be the best for these top two reasons;1) ease of use. Just getting in the car and driving not needing to use your phone to control it etc 2) least expensive option. She is not an audiophile so the absolute best sound quality is not the main concern.

 

[Soul Surfer]

We don’t have our MYP yet but we are also SXM fans. This will be a bummer to get to learn and know another streaming music app. Apple Music was the other one we used in and around the house and lastly we have some experience with Amazon music. Looks like any and all of those three are not available in the Y so this will be a bummer.

I know this is a SXM thread but figured you all are pretty knowledabgle about the music choices.

This will be my wife’s DD. Having said that what music option will be the best for these top two reasons;1) ease of use. Just getting in the car and driving not needing to use your phone to control it etc 2) least expensive option. She is not an audiophile so the absolute best sound quality is not the main concern.

If you have a decent data plan, she could still connect SXM from her phone to the ICE (In Car Entertainment) through BT. If not, there are a lot of good choices. I chose Classic Rock. I also have a USB drive with my iTunes Music library on it.

 

[watsongrg]

….This will be my wife’s DD. Having said that what music option will be the best for these top two reasons;1) ease of use. Just getting in the car and driving not needing to use your phone to control it etc 2) least expensive option. She is not an audiophile so the absolute best sound quality is not the main concern.

The ’slacker‘ streaming audio feature should be fine for you. I was a big SXM user for years, and have since dropped their service. Elon gets my $9/mo. now.
The music/genre selection is very diverse, no matter what you like. I listen to everything from the 60’s to modern day, and sometimes country, even Christian. News, talk, It’s all there. Plus you can just call up any song, artist, album etc via voice command, and you’re listening to it. The audio quality is a lot better than SXM too. JMHO.

If I listened to SXM long enough it was apparent that the music is played on a loop. I’m now listening to things I haven’t heard in a while, with slacker, and it’s diverse..

That said, IT SUCKS THE V11 UPDATE HAS MESSED UP THE WHOLE AUDIO FEATURE OF THE CAR. V11 UI is TRASH.

 

[mycroftxxx]

This will be my wife’s DD. Having said that what music option will be the best for these top two reasons;1) ease of use. Just getting in the car and driving not needing to use your phone to control it etc 2) least expensive option. She is not an audiophile so the absolute best sound quality is not the main concern.

Given what you’ve said, I recommend you not tackle streaming SXM through the phone over BT. The only way to change channels is on the phone; you have to start the app on your phone; etc. (Yes there are ways to partially ameliorate these and other issues, but it’s still not seamless by a long shot.)

I would start with the Tesla-supplied streaming service; there are times when I don’t want to break out my phone and I just bring up Tesla’s classic rock channel. The biggest issue is the streaming is not very reliable; you can find lots of threads about constant rebuffering using the Tesla streaming, going back years, with no fixes in sight. I don’t know if the other paid options like Spotify and Tidal have this issue or not.

 

[crackers8199]

If I listened to SXM long enough it was apparent that the music is played on a loop. I’m now listening to things I haven’t heard in a while, with slacker, and it’s diverse.

i can't speak for anyone else, but IMO the real value in SXM is the live talk/news/sports content that you can't get from slacker or spotify. all of that stuff alone is worth the $100/yr rate you can easily get by calling in on your renewal date - the music is just a bonus.

That said, IT SUCKS THE V11 UPDATE HAS MESSED UP THE WHOLE AUDIO FEATURE OF THE CAR. V11 UI is TRASH.

curious, what do you find so terrible about it? i just updated over the weekend and haven't really noticed any issues so far...

 

[crackers8199]

This will be my wife’s DD. Having said that what music option will be the best for these top two reasons;1) ease of use. Just getting in the car and driving not needing to use your phone to control it etc 2) least expensive option. She is not an audiophile so the absolute best sound quality is not the main concern.

you can get a portable SXM unit and either wire it to the FM receiver (i'm not sure where it is in the Y, but on the 3 it's in the passenger C-pillar) or by using the bluetooth dock...here's my write up on how i did this on my 3 (the Y should be similar, but there will be some differences with the refreshed console and perhaps elsewhere):

SiriusXM Satellite Radio: Tesla Model 3 Install | deedni

Installation SiriusXM Satellite Radio in a Tesla Model 3. Installation Guide, products, photos and video explanation.

www.grecobon.com

when i did this install, i was aiming for exactly what you just said: just get in and drive. it has worked for me going on 3 years now...i just leave the radio set on 88.5 and when i pull out of my garage, the satellite picks up as soon as i clear the house and the antenna can see the sky. i have thought about getting the bluetooth dock, but this works well enough that i haven't bothered to worry about it too much yet.

 

[tivoboy]

you can get a portable SXM unit and either wire it to the FM receiver (i'm not sure where it is in the Y, but on the 3 it's in the passenger C-pillar) or by using the bluetooth dock...here's my write up on how i did this on my 3 (the Y should be similar, but there will be some differences with the refreshed console and perhaps elsewhere):

SiriusXM Satellite Radio: Tesla Model 3 Install | deedni

Installation SiriusXM Satellite Radio in a Tesla Model 3. Installation Guide, products, photos and video explanation.

www.grecobon.com

when i did this install, i was aiming for exactly what you just said: just get in and drive. it has worked for me going on 3 years now...i just leave the radio set on 88.5 and when i pull out of my garage, the satellite picks up as soon as i clear the house and the antenna can see the sky. i have thought about getting the bluetooth dock, but this works well enough that i haven't bothered to worry about it too much yet.

Can‘t you just use the FM modulator to send to the in car head unit of the model 3?

 

[crackers8199]

Can‘t you just use the FM modulator to send to the in car head unit of the model 3?

yeah, that's what I was talking about when I said you can wire it into the FM receiver. if you don't wire it in with the antenna adapter, it's very hard if not impossible to find an open frequency.

 

[tivoboy]

yeah, that's what I was talking about when I said you can wire it into the FM receiver. if you don't wire it in with the antenna adapter, it's very hard if not impossible to find an open frequency.

Yeah, figured that was a better way.. I continue to use our Sirius XM stand alone receiver with external antenna just for ROAD trips, where finding an open FM frequncy in the 88. Or 89. Range but way outside of metro areas seems to work. Streaming within Cellular ranges of a major metro and getting solid CNN/CNBC/ESPN etc. seems to work, and I don’t really use Sirius for much more than that. I keep our annual OOP at ~~$60 for the all in package which includes mobile streaming for the times when TuneIN is just not playing nice.

 

[vletnguyen]

where did you mount it?

Sorry, I forgot to snap a pic. Please excuse filth, it's super cold and I do not have a heated garage nor patience to clean it. I experiemented with some positions, even on the wood trim but found this to be best for me (line of sight, does not obstruct view or road, easy to switch stations etc)

I tried the FM modulator route long ago but for driving through different cities it always had static.

My XM unit is an old one, so had to buy the BT dock. The newer units have BT built in. It connects as a phone would.

 

[Zacster]

By the time you run the signal through the FM modulator will there be any music left? You are taking a low bitrate music signal and multiplying it by a low frequency response FM modulator. The results can't be good.

 

[vletnguyen]

By the time you run the signal through the FM modulator will there be any music left? You are taking a low bitrate music signal and multiplying it by a low frequency response FM modulator. The results can't be good.

Yea, thats why I went with bluetooth instead.

 

[crackers8199]

By the time you run the signal through the FM modulator will there be any music left? You are taking a low bitrate music signal and multiplying it by a low frequency response FM modulator. The results can't be good.

it's fine. it's FM radio quality. it is what it is.

high bitrate music / streaming don't do me any good when i have no cell signal, which is the part that everyone who complains about the sound quality or "just use your phone" keeps ignoring no matter how many times i bring it up.

 

[crackers8199]

I tried the FM modulator route long ago but for driving through different cities it always had static.

that's why i used the antenna adapter. it eliminates the static and/or the stations overriding the XM signal.

 

[Zacster]

it's fine. it's FM radio quality. it is what it is.

high bitrate music / streaming don't do me any good when i have no cell signal, which is the part that everyone who complains about the sound quality or "just use your phone" keeps ignoring no matter how many times i bring it up.

I had a great FM tuner back in the day when that was a thing and it sounded really good at home. It was an Onkyo T-9 and is still considered one of the best ever. You would touch the dial and it would unlock itself from the frequency it was on and you'd turn it to the next station you wanted and let go and it would lock onto the frequency. The was nothing digital about it. But even compared to an LP you knew it was limited on the high end.

Where do you go without a cell signal these days? The only place I encountered that in a cross country trip is at the state lines, where neither state quite reached. Even on the interstates that happened. I guess out west it is different, there are still pockets without coverage. Here in the east you never lose coverage.

 

[smartypnz]

I had a great FM tuner back in the day when that was a thing and it sounded really good at home. It was an Onkyo T-9 and is still considered one of the best ever. You would touch the dial and it would unlock itself from the frequency it was on and you'd turn it to the next station you wanted and let go and it would lock onto the frequency. The was nothing digital about it. But even compared to an LP you knew it was limited on the high end.

Where do you go without a cell signal these days? The only place I encountered that in a cross country trip is at the state lines, where neither state quite reached. Even on the interstates that happened. I guess out west it is different, there are still pockets without coverage. Here in the east you never lose coverage.

Lost everything for some time driving from Kalispell, MT to Coeur de'Alene (on road north and off the Interstate). Lost Nav, maps, cell coverage, and finally paved road. No houses, no signs. Past halfway - so no return. Beautiful, but a weenie shrinker.

 

[Zacster]

That's pretty far off the beaten track. I've never been up that way. I spent a few days in Sun Valley but that's my only experience in Idaho and I've never been in Montana nor N. Dakota. We did a trip from NY to Denver last summer but took the long way through SD to stop at Badlands and Mt. Rushmore and from there we took back roads to Cheyenne, but that was through prairie. All we saw were cows and corn.

 

[crackers8199]

Where do you go without a cell signal these days? The only place I encountered that in a cross country trip is at the state lines, where neither state quite reached. Even on the interstates that happened. I guess out west it is different, there are still pockets without coverage. Here in the east you never lose coverage.

there are plenty of places in the canyons of so cal that have no cell signal. same for large swaths of the western US.

 

[crackers8199]

We did a trip from NY to Denver last summer but took the long way through SD to stop at Badlands and Mt. Rushmore and from there we took back roads to Cheyenne, but that was through prairie. All we saw were cows and corn.

if you've done this drive, I'm not sure at all why you're asking "where do you go without cell service?" unless things have changed in the past three years, that entire drive from rapid city to Cheyenne is a complete dead zone. no service for hundreds of miles...at least it was when we did it in the summer of 2018.

 

[Zacster]

if you've done this drive, I'm not sure at all why you're asking "where do you go without cell service?" unless things have changed in the past three years, that entire drive from rapid city to Cheyenne is a complete dead zone. no service for hundreds of miles...at least it was when we did it in the summer of 2018.

If I were in my Tesla I'd have noticed but we weren't. We were in a Camry. Scottsbluff, NE had service, but I'm not sure where else we even looked.