hawk232

iTrader: (4)

I am buying a sirius radio and I am caught between the stiletto and the sportster 5. I know people with the stiletto and they say that the car kit that is designed for it has a crappy FM transmitter and that it sometimes wont even transmit stronger that static. My question is: Is the FM transmitter in the Sportster 5 any better than this or is it equally as crappy. I really like the idea of the "love" button and being able to store songs that I like, but if the sportster has better transmission through its FM transmitter, I think I will get that one.

Flamin' bird

iTrader: (24)

I have the stiletto in my beater and it's just fine. In the T/A though I have the Sirius running through the Apline headunit via the SC-C1 and the KCA-SC100. The sound is 100% better not working through the transmitter but then you dont have the portability of the radio of course.

Check out the forums on www.siriusbackstage.com there might be more help there. I found alot of helpful info there.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

You could get the SCV-DOC1 instead of the SC-C1. That is the new universal dock that allows you to control a portable (Stiletto) or plug-and-play (Sportster) Sirius tuner from your Alpine head unit just like it was built in.

I have the same kind of setup with my Kenwood. The SCV-DOC1 allows me to use Sirius from my Sportster 5 that I have hidden in the console box and I can still pull the Sportster for use on my bike. Only one subscription for all my vehicles!

Flamin' bird

iTrader: (24)

I had the SC-DOC but decided I just wanted a cleaner look and better sound so I went with the SC-C1 set up. Speaking of sound ...I still cant get the bass to sound right . I did find the HPF was set to off and adjusted it. It sounds somewhat better but nothing like it did with the Monsoon. I'm not sure what to do about it. My friend said the 80hz is not enough and it needs to be in the 60hz. I'm just disappointed in the sound. Also oddly enough before I always had to adjust the CD sound lower then what the radio was set at but now it's the other way around. The sirius is MUCH louder so I have to turn the volume way up for the CD.

Skie

You can blame the lack of transmission strength on the FCC. I ended up wiring the FM Out to the antenna just so I could hear something other then static.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

There is no difference in sound quality. The dock just allows using a portable tuner instead of a fixed one - all the signal processing is still done in the head unit. With the dock mounted inside the console box, you can't tell it's there. All of the display and control functions on the head unit work the same as if the standard Sirius tuner was attached.

I noticed that when I recently switched from a Pioneer head unit to the Kenwood. The bass was much richer and fuller with the Pioneer. I have played with some settings on the Kenwood to make it better but I still have a ways to go. I'll play around with it this weekend and if I can come up with some settings that work, I'll let you know so you can try them on your Alpine.

As far as the volume difference between different music sources...both the Pioneer and the Kenwood have "differential" settings that allow adjusting the relative volume between different inputs. It's to keep from blowing out your eardrums when switching from one source to another. I'm sure the Alpine has something similar.