Some head units are advertised as Sirius Head units, others require a Sirius tuner.

What is the difference?

Before you answer, I'll preempt the comedians answer of "one requires a tuner and one does not."

Is one preferable over the other?

 

Sirus head units have the electronics to communicate with Sirius built into the head unit itself. This adds complexity and cost to the head unit but eliminates having to have an external tuner somewhere else in the car. This scenario works well for someone who wants Sirius service from day one, has one vehicle, and doesn't plan to move their subscription service to other location. In this particular scenario, if you want to move Sirius to another car then you need to either install this particular head unit in that car, or purchase a new Sirius head unit and install that into your car.

The Sirius capable head unit has the hooks built into it for adding a direct connection Sirius tuner at some future point. The Tuner is capable of directly controlling the Sirius unit so no external control unit is required. By not integrating the Sirius electronics into the head unit it reduces the complexity and cost of the head unit. When you decide to add Sirius, however, the overall goes up since the Sirius control units aren't exactly free. In this scenario if you want to move Sirius to another car, simply uninstall the Sirius control unit (leaving the head unit) and install it to a compatible head unit in the other car.

The third, unreferenced, scenario would be to get a portable Sirius head unit and connect it to most any head unit. These use FM modulation so sound quality isn't quite as good but they allow you to move the Sirius from vehicle to vehicle or into your house or office.

Preference is really what works best for your particular situation.

 

Excellent reply Martimus. Very informative. I wasn't too sure what it ment myself.

 

Good reply Martimus.

 

Kenwood X959-$379.00 Siruis capable to Kenwood Sirius Tuner SR903-$45.00
one Kenwood Sirius antenna $35.00

The sound difference for everyone in the neighborhood to throw out their FM Modulation tuners and get a Sirius capable head unit. Kenwood sells them fo as cheap as $150.00.

Also, easy to install, took me only about 30 minutes to hook up! B)

 

This is good if your not traveling from state to state or city to city but.... sometimes I do and the frequency that is not used in one city may be used in another! This is a major PITA because it requires you to retune both units while driving to listen static free. Even though this installation is nice for moving your unit from vehicle to vehicle it does have draw backs.