lrsaceman

I just bought an '02 S 500. I was told at Circuit City that because of the fiber optics in the S class an after market installation of XM Radio would be incompatible with the existing system. Is he right? What are my options ?

scorchie

https://mbworld.org/forums/showpost....1&postcount=16

https://mbworld.org/forums/showpost....70&postcount=3

-s-

ctemkin

Does your car have an auxiliary input? In E class with COMAND, there is an input located in the glove compartment; I don't know about S class cars. If there is an input, that would solve your problem and probably would sound a bit better than an FM modulator, which is also quite doable.

scorchie

2000-2002 S-class has tape, no aux... THUS, my suggestion to use the FM modulator.

-s-

lrsaceman

so the FM Modulator is compatible ?

Peench

The FM Modulator is compatible with any radio that can pick up an FM signal. So it can be used in any car, or at home, or with a wireless FM headset or....

BlueMonk

Yes we have an FM modulator in my wife's 01 E and it works fine. Sound quality isn't great.

scorchie

No, won't work at all. Sheesh.

-s-

lrsaceman

So the bottom line is there's no way to get xm satellite radio after market in the '02 S 500. That really sucks.

ctemkin

I believe you misread Scorchie's last message, which was tongue-in-cheek, since he previously suggested that you use an FM modulator.

I have XM installed in my E500 using an FM modulator. It works fine. It sounds fine, too, to my ears, although I haven't done a direct comparison between listening to the XM radio and listening to a CD.

scorchie

Yeah, I thought after the same question with the same answer five times, it would have been obvious! But oh well.

You make some very good points: We've all listened to FM radio, and that sound quality is hardware limited the same way the modulator is, yet it's "good enough." Many FM radio stations in their attempt to sound "hottest" on the dial mangle the music in far worse ways than the 30-15000KHz hardware limitation on frequency response. Since the source is satellite radio, there is also some limitation on the sound quality. So for this source, FM modulation is probably just fine in terms of sound quality!

My biggest complaint with FM modulators is the lack of convenience. A separate controller is required; the power of the modulator must be turned off to receive regular radio; and the radio must be tuned to a certain frequency. To me, that's a lot of steps to get to satellite radio. Some will argue that regular radio is required anymore after having satellite radio; however, I know far too many people who want to listen to the game on AM that will need to be able to access regular radio.

-s-

lrsaceman

OK - I might be a little slow on the uptake - thanks for all your input