I am considering putting an XM receiver mounted on the sunvisor, with a Secret Audio unit mounted in the trunk. I plan to use a 600 watt amp along with it. Anyone use a set up like this before? Any suggestions? Secret Audio good enough quality?
I'm not sure on the secret audio, but the XM is great, outlaw country!! i got a delphi unit and the expensive boom box for 10 bucks from the thrift store, she thought it was a cd player, it's always on in the garage. it keeps me from going nuts. someone will chime in you don't need a radio, but it's nice to have tunes. yours will be totally hidden anyway. just make sure to hide the amp so no one can see it when the trunk is open, all you need is some tweaker spying it and ripping up your trunk when you're asleep> I have the small roady myself mounted in an overhead piece, I bought it years ago, you can't see it at all just by looking in the car. with the hidden audio you will have a direct audio input from the XM unit, the FM modulators in those things are terrible as far as sound quality. eithier a direct input, or a separate wired in modulator in line with the antenna cable.
anyone make a better unit like it? i couldn't believe how much they wanted at the car show here, i made my own by separating the head unit from the face.
I personally would skip the secret stuff and mount a radio under the seat, most radios have a remote now so you have a way to control it. I have had a couple of Pioneer brand stereos with remotes and they work well. There are also radios that have XM built in so you don't need an extra piece mounted anywhere. I love XM, you will ALWAYS find something to listen to. Merry CHRISTmas! Jim
if you are good with electronics, you can do what I did and separate the head unit from the detachable face with a ribbon cable or shielded multiconnector cable. this gives you a lot of options to hide the face when it's not being used, you don't have any depth behind it. it can be a problem using the CD player, but most people use the XM or an ipod anyway. you can put the ipod anywhere when you are driving. it can be a pain not being able to not see the face of the radio and not know what mode it's in etc.
I have the radio mounted under the seat on the drivers side in my 55 Ford and had a guy at work convert a original radio as a remote,I can use it or the remote that came with the radio. I originally had a marine remote mounted in a factory block off plate but the original radio looks better in the dash,I ended up mounting the marine remote back under tha dash so I could see what station its on for the trip to Daytona and dont know if it will be removed again since it really is not needed when using my portable Sirrius.
Tom, First of all what car are you putting it in ? The Cad ? Okay, I would go with either a Pioneer, or an Alpine Unit. Eclipse is good too, but usually costs more. And, try mounting it in the glove compartment...that way you can always have easy access to it if you need to and it will be hidden from view. If you're using a CD changer, you CAN mount that in the trunk. And, yes, ALL have remote with the Head Units, so you don't have to worry about changing stations or CD's...just click your remote. JK
I have an Alpine, it's going in the glovebox, just open it up and use the remote. My ipod attaches to it with a cable, and a sirius box as well, all in the glovebox. Amps go behind the rear seat with the sub, and the antennae on the trunklid. Power antenna for local radio goes behind the dash. Speakers in the package tray for fill x overs behind the dash midranges in the doors and tweets wherver I can stick them FWIW
you can do this with a pacs swi-x box, it takes pushbutton inputs and converts them to output infrared signals to run your head unit, you program twelve functions with your original remote. the buttons on the original radio become remote control butons
Another very cool way to hide the unit is to use an under-dash "Kleenex Dispenser" swivel-out box. You can get repo units and they look factory-stock. (They were a "dealer installed" option on many cars during the 40's - 60's.) I have my Pioneer unit under the dash on my '57 Dodge D-500, and I found an early Dodge factory "radio delete" Plastic Logo Cover that I Installed over the front of the Pioneer Unit, and it looks factory bone-stock ! JK www.legends.thewwbc.net
I had XM for years and loved it..played thru the casette in my radio...but alas...Serius took over fired 'Matt The Cat'..screwed my 50s over with Beetles crap and now I just listen to tapes or the sound of twice pipes.....like Milner said,"when Buddy Holly died the music went to hell".....RDR
The satellite radio antenna is kinda hard to hide. Putting on the inside of the trunk lid or on the glass inside the car didn't work for me. It's fairly easy to set up a system using an iPod plugged into a small preamp, no head unit at all.
most of the portable xm antennas are magnetic, I haven't seen a new one, but the roady had an antenna about an inch square, i used industrial epoxy to anchor it to the roof after running the antenna through a hole in it, molded the edges, and it's small enough to not be too noticeable. I sealed the inside of the hole in the roof with mastic
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