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Polk Audio XM Radio Reciever A Winner

I just received the new Polk XM radio receiver. I planned a series of a/b listening tests with my old XM radio. It only took about 10 seconds of listening to realize how much the sound quality improved. Highly recommended. It is not quite cd quality but far better than the standard fare. FYI my system is Rotel preamp, Adcom mono blocks and Magnepan 1.6s.
mcmanus
mstram
83 posts
 
You will need to have the antenna pointed out of a window, or possibly an outside wall. It will depend on the construction material of the wall and anything outside in the line of sight to the satellite. I have vinyl siding and I'm able to get reception through the outside wall; even with a woods behind my house. The reception is better (3 bars on the Delphi) in the winter when the trees are bare. The antenna needs to point toward the southern horizon at about 30 degrees above the horizon. Where I live in Wisconsin the antenna should be aimed slightly south southeast. The deviation from direct south will depend on your geographic location.

:-( Still waiting for my Polk receiver to arrive :-(
dwr
112 posts
 
I've had my Polk xm for about two weeks now and the antenna is behind my right speaker not near the window at all and I'm getting full signal strength. Your geographic location may get you different results.
jsawhitlock
302 posts
 
I just got my unit hooked up and have the antenna at a southern window and get full signal. The sound quality is not as good as my digital front end but I'm still happy with the unit. The programing is top notch.... I would not use this for critical listening but more for tunes while doing other things around the house, good for the wife as she like the tunes on but doesn't want to mess around with Transport or TT.
I think my next move will be another digital cable and connect into my D/A, should bring it up a notch.


mstram
83 posts
 
Jsawhitlock,

Please let us know how it sounds through your DAC. Which DAC, BTW? Also, do you find that the analog output still sounds better than a high end FM tuner?

Regards,

Mark
jsawhitlock
302 posts
 
Mstram, I'm using a Sonic Frontiers SFD mk-2 D/A.
The best way to describe the difference is the polk sounds more like cd and my vintage tuner sounds more like lp. One thing I noticed is right out of the box the polk sounded lifeless. I noticed huge improvements after four or five hours of play. I'm going to mess around with some cones, herbies tenderfeet, etc....
All in all I'm happy with the unit and glad I bought it.
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