 "Terrific sound for a very pretty table radio" | 2008-02-06 |
| - Reviewed By davidbak |
This will be just a brief review, and only of the Sirius part of the radio - I haven't used the AM/FM part.
The radio is small, and beautiful, and has absolutely terrific mono sound. (For a bedside/bedtime radio I see no need to buy the extra speaker for stereo sound.)
With Sirius of course you get whatever music/news/talk you'd like. I'm using it exclusively for the 3 classical channels (and maybe the 24/7 All Elvis All The Time channel every once in awhile). (XM also has 3 classical channels, later on when Sirius & XM merge there will probably still be 3 classical channels). The programming is very good.
However, there are a few flaws to be aware of with this radio. The biggest flaw is a direct result of the design - internally this is a digital satellite radio bolted on to Tivoli's standard analog radio: The remote control doesn't control volume! Amazing limitation! The remote does have a mute function. Also, it has a very limited "sleep" mode - only 20 minutes, and to get it into that mode you have to traverse the menu system - impossible to do from across the room with the remote because you can't see the menus from that distance.
Also worth noting: I am using an external antenna (the "SIRIUS Outdoor Home Antenna", bought from [...], very easy install) and the signal cuts out once in awhile - this may be due to some large trees in the line-of-site to the satellite sometimes block the satellite. Yet the signal strength meter shows "3 bars" (of 9) for the terrestrial signal - I live in Seattle where Sirius apparently has ground repeaters - so why should it ever cut out due to not seeing the satellite?
Still, I'm very happy with the radio. 5 stars for sound + looks, then subtract one star for the annoying lack of volume control on the remote. |
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| "sirus radio" | 2007-08-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3F9GI4POU50TO |
| great if you have line of sight to the north otherwise you wont get a signal. |
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| "Best of the Satellite-Compatible Radios" | 2007-04-24 |
| - Reviewed By ken@kenalan.com |
I have no doubt that one reason for the slow adoption of Satellite Radio by consumers is the lousy hardware. I mean, what are they thinking? The collection of products for both Sirius and XM looks like the over-designed, comic book props in Star Wars movies. They're totally dysfunctional. Nothing as elegant as an iPod, with the possible exception of Pioneer's portable radios for XM. Even the car radio's are clunky.
The Tivoli Model Satellite is the one exception to the ugly, under-performing Satellite Radio rule. The sound is about as good as it gets. Indeed, almost too good since it really points up the excessive compression used by both satellite and commercial FM broadcasters. You won't notice this difference until you play an uncompressed CD or MP3 file from your iPod through the AUX port on the Tivoli. Wow! What an amazing sound out of such small speakers. And I don't even have the subwoofer speaker accessory.
The Sirius section works great. It's easy to program. It's got a great "Memo" feature to capture the name and artist of 20 songs you'd like to look up later.
I did invest in a serious outdoor Sirius Antenna prior to the arrival of the Tivoli, so it was just a matter of plugging it in. The FM and AM sections worked fine without any external antennas. It's impressive that they include a serious external AM antenna - something I haven't seen packaged with table radios since the 1970s, and then only expensive "audiophile" models.
As noted by others, the Satellite and AM/FM functions aren't at all integrated. This is basically the Tivoli Model 1 with a Satellite function tacked on as an afterthought.
The huge, bright, multi-line display is awesome at providing all of the information you want at a glance, with a minimal amount of annoying left-to-right scrolling. While the display does automatically adjust to ambient light (a feature that can be turned off and on) it may be too bright for the bedside table for some people.
The Tivoli Model Satellite is to radio what a beautiful 52" flat panel plasma display is to HDTV. It's the best audio you can get for satellite, possibly short of a console deck connected to studio monitors. But, again, given the various compression artifacts on Satellite radio (and the compression is often horrible on talk-only channels) this may be about as good as you dare get.
Unless you have space limitations, it's kind of a waste to spend so much money on a radio only to have mono sound, so plan on buying the (right channel) speaker for stereo.
I have no problem that they didn't include a CD player. An integrated mechanical device would only shorten the useful life of the unit. As just a radio it should last 10-20 years if you're trying to justify the high price tag.
Will Sirius be around in 10-20 years? I don't know. We also hear talk of HD radio coming to AM/FM (but then we've heard about HDTV for 20 years too and it's still not here).
At this price point, it would have been nice if there's been a time-shift feature, sort of a digital VCR (DVR) feature to record shows you want to hear later.
The remote is pretty awful for such an expensive radio, it's just a cheap "membrane" type remote. Inexplicably I got a real remote with my Kenwood Sirius car radio (what good a remote does in the car is beyond me).
Let's hope with the merger of the two satellite services they make more of an effort to create better looking, more functional hardware AND clean up their sound quality. I'd rather they have half as many channels with better sound and produce better programs that are re-run several times a day. |
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 "Tivioli is 5 Stars but Model Satellite??? Read and Buyer Beware" | 2007-04-06 |
| - Reviewed By fly_fisher |
Let me say that I love Tivoli radios. I love the warm and rich sound from such a well designed and sexy cabinet but please save yourself the money and pick up a free satellite radio receiver along with a Tivioli Model Two Radio instead of the Model Satellite. Both Sirius and XM (take your choice) are offering free radio receivers with a subscription that you will have to get anyway to use the Model Satellite for Satellite Radio reception.
You can save yourself $100.00 outright by buying the Model Two instead of the Model Satellite and save $160.00 if you would plan to buy the matching stereo companion speaker for the Model Satellite. The Model Two comes with two speakers right off the bat. This gives you plenty of money left over to buy the Tivoli Model Subwoofer which I have and highly recommend.
I have a Model Two and a Sirius receiver that I can set to transmit on any FM frequency I choose. The Tivoli tuner picks it up beautifully and I still have the auxillary input jack available for my Ipod. The whole Sirius receiver is only 4" X 3" X 1". You don't even know it's there.
One other thing if you haven't heard Sirius Radio has had "serious" financial troubles and has been bought out by XM. The two will run separately for only the rest of the year and then Sirius will cease to be. XM will probably take over some of Sirius' programming but no one knows if a receiver designed to pick up Sirius signals will work after that point and be able to be used to pick up XM broadcasts. You could end up with a very expensive but obsolete radio before the end of the year. I'd sit tight and explore other means as I have of enjoying satellite radio through the wonderful sounding Tivoli line. |
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| "Tivoli Sirius Radio" | 2007-03-17 |
| - Reviewed By boblindsey86 |
| In the world of tabletop sat radios, the selection is very limited. This is by far the highest quality on the market and it is also self contained with the speaker. I have both Sirius and XM and frankly the quality of the music on Sirius (See a technical review on [...] for this radio) I found this radio exceeded my expectation and would recommend it as the "best in class". Remember this is a developing market and the selection of table top radios are limited. |
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| "No bad/not good" | 2007-02-25 |
| - Reviewed By jlrobbins3 |
| The sound is pretty impressive.I've never had a long wait in dealing with sirius. If you can't wait a few mins., use the internet. My main complaint is that crappy remote. I wish it had a volume button. It's just too small. |
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 "Beware of antenna aiming limitations" | 2007-02-21 |
| - Reviewed By User: A96ISNT5XYNSA |
| Hard to get activated. Spent over 2 hours trying to find where the antenna could be aimed. Reception fluctuates during the day. The radio itself is high quality with excellent sound. |
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 "The radio I've been waiting for!" | 2006-08-17 |
| - Reviewed By juniper777 |
I love this radio. Starting with the real knobs to turn, I find it very solid and convenient to use. Yes, there are wires for the antennas, but you have to have them to get the good reception so there is no point complaining. You might as well moan about gravity.
It really sounds wonderful. After two weeks with one speaker I had to have the second one for stereo, and that was well worth getting. As other reviewers have said, it does have a slightly boomy tone, and I can't imagine why the sub-woofer would be needed. Maybe it is for rap music - I haven't tried that.
The programming from Sirius is excellent. It is more entertaining than cable TV. One word of warning though: if you need tech support from Sirius, you will be sorry. Apparently nobody there has ever used a satellite radio. They seem to be minimum wage people who are told to bluff their way through as quickly as they can so they can pull the wool over the next person's eyes. They don't know anything about electronics, and barely know what an antenna is. Don't confuse them by mentioning the FM or AM antennas!
In the end I got adequate reception in spite of all the misinformation from tech support. It was worth the effort. |
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| "Tivoli Sirius Satellite Radio Receiver" | 2006-04-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2PLICGGBKSOCX |
This is an amazing and highly satisfactory product; the sound quality is very good indeed especially with instalation (optional) of a companion speaker.
My only recommendation for change would be for the manufacturer to enable the remote control to "power on/off" and to "adjust volume".
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| "Great Easy-to-Use radio for the bedroom or your lounge" | 2006-03-11 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1Q37O23WSJ0O3 |
I really do appreciate waking up to this radio every morning. The sound is very good for such a compact unit and works wonderfully with the optional subwoofer. Menus for choosing stations, genres, or by songs could not be any easier or more clear. The clock even sets itself using the satellite signal! And the FM reception is really out of this world (has an internal FM antenna as well, and a very intuitive precision tuning ), dare I say as good quality as or better than digital radio... But with the sirius content, I find myself keeping the switch on Satellite.
I am not sure why the other reviews are particularly so unimpressed. The Tivoli Satellite Radio is a great sounding, good looking, reliable, loud, easy to use radio! |
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