Has anyone added the Scion xB to their SNS? I'd like to do that, rather than have a separate XM receiver in my car. Any idea of the cost? The Scion website says it's $449, but that seems out of control. Could their receiver really be $449?

 

just get it from trdsparks.com or newscionparts.com you wont pay 449

 

Believe it or not, the 2 parts on their site, combined, are 440ish. The installation is INSANE, taking the whole friggin' car apart. I was a bit horrified. Seriously, could they make it any more stupid?

 

WTF is the deal with these SAT tuners? I recently bought a new HT receiver and they threw in an XM tuner and antenna for free. Now if I want to add a tuner and antenna to my "SAT-ready" XB HU it will cost more than my HT receiver? I don't get it.

I'm thinking about getting XM too but I don't fully understand the options. I know I can add a XM tuner to my FM antenna for <$50 but it will sound like FM radio. Isn't there a cheaper way to get good SQ and use the HU interface? TIA.

 

*shrug* I didn't go with either, I went HD

 

So you replaced your HU with an HD-SAT-ready aftermarket unit? What's the big diff between HD, XM and Sirius anyway? I thought they were all digital satelite signal based but with different content and pricing.

From what I'm learning, to add any SAT radio to any Scion HU requires a very expensive "fit-kit" due to Toyota demanding a proprietary bus interface for their radios (learning from Sony?). Anyway the best option is probably to chuck your Scion/Toyota HU and get a better aftermarket unit but I did find a more reasonable alternative to Scion's $450 rip-off.

$200 for the Toyota interface, cables, XM direct tuner and antenna is a lot better.

http://store.xmfanstore.com/texmfortovex.html

Edit #2: I just noticed that the Sirius fit-kit is a lot cheaper than the XM kit at Sparks. Just something else to consider when choosing how you want to get ___-raped to add SAT radio...

Sirius fit-kit: $88
Sirius tuner: $170

XM fit-kit: $270
XM tuner: $180

 

This is interesting! I found the same XM fit-kit that Sparks sells for $270 at ScionPartsPeople for $82.50. Yes, the very same part number (PT546-52080). I also found the same kit at other places for under $100.

Now if this fit-kit (digital interface) works with a $50 Terk XM tuner instead of the $170 oem tuner, I'll go for it.

 

No, I added an HD reciever to the SNS, plug and play. It plugs into the sat socket. As for comparison to XM or Sirius. It's terrestrial over the air digital not satellite. Yeah, you have to buy a reciever, but you dont pay for any service, it's just radio. Try www.hdradio.com to see what is available in your area. (btw I purchased mine through dice electronics, they make HD recievers for OEM radios)

 

That's weird. How can we tell if the Terk will work with it?

I'm a little suprised at the installation. I don't want to ____ing take my car apart to install this thing.

 

Hummmmmmmmm, I don't care about HD all that much, since it's sound quality, but of the same programming in my area. I'm not happy with the programming, so it seems it's better for me to get Sat.

 

To each their own, I like that the stations I do listen to now have more than one format. Like HD1 is usally the HD rebroadcast of the normal analog station HD2 diffrent format, same station same with HD3. Not complaining about the SQ either, it's night and day.

 

Thanks for the explanation and info. I didn't know squat about HD radio. All things considered it looks like my best option is to simply replace my base HU. I could use pre-outs and sub control anyway. I looked into HD add-on tuners but I can get a new HU with built-in HD tuner for less. I'm a bit surprised and disappointed at the limited selection of receivers with built-in HD tuners but this JVC unit looks promising. Besides getting free HD I could add Sirius or XM to it for a lot less than the cost of adding SAT to the Scion HU.

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Produ...&tp=5684&avf=N

 

That's the one my wife wants for her car. It aint too shabby at all

 

I'm 99% sure that the Scion SAT tuners are the same ones available elsewhere but to confirm this I'd have to see one and I can't even find any photos online. I'd hate to pay $170 for one and then find out I could have bought a $50 Terk instead.

As for the installation, I think the worst part would be running the antenna lead to the back. The rest is pretty much pnp and mounting the tuner and interface unit. I'd probably put them in the center (shifter) console.

 

I don't know, I don't consider takin' apart the whole cargo area, the whole passenger side of the car, removing the back seat and the 2 front seats to be PNP.

 

fwiw, got the Toyota XM receiver for 184 and the fit kit for 85.

Carson Toyota

 

Do you have SNS?

 

Nope but afaik it's the same part number and connectors for all three stock audio options.

 

It's not that bad, but I'd still budget a day for the install. You shouldn't have to remove any seats but you will have to remove a lot of interior panels. Scion says to install the XM tuner under the seat but I think there's plenty of room in the shifter console. I was able to fish speaker wires from into the cargo area without removing the rear seat. Just run the antenna wire under the door sill panels and fish it into the cargo area.

All things considered, the factory XM kit for ~$250 isn't such a bad deal At least in comparsion to the $450 ___-raping the dealer wants. It would be sweet to do it for ~$150 with a TERK tuner but requires some leg-work to see if it will work. Personally I considered XM, Sirius and HD-Radio but finally decided to simply burn my 100GB of MP3s to CD instead.

 

That's not bad. From what I've seen recently, there are only 2 different AM kits for various Toyota/Scions in recent years. There is a kit on ebay for $210 that covers most SAT-ready Toyota/Scions including ours.