Dodge Ram and Sirius Radio question

From : cpl366

Q: i noticed while shopping for my ram 2500 that the dodge dealers sell sirius satellite radio. when i asked the various salesman about it i got various answers. one thought that the fatory radio was set up to accept sirius another wasnt sure. has anyone installed sirius in their dodge if so does the factory unit act as the controller or is it a fm modulator unit or some other setup tia cpl366 .

Replies:

From : jack f

the sirius kit comes with a cable that plugs into the cd changer controller socket on the back of the factory radio. you need a radio with the cd changer control buttons. from what i have read it is a high level input the wires are not shielded. it is definately not fm modulated. i installed the factory upgrade and am generally happy with the setup and sound. an aftermarket receiver and sat. tuner would be cheaper and sound better but i wanted to keep the factory look for the audio system. a tuner/modulator add-on combo would also be less expensive but wouldnt be as integrated or look as good imho. i dont have the infinity sound system but did add a couple 3.5 speakers in the dash. they helped the high end but sirius seems a bit boomy to me. i may soon add a sub under the back seat to fill out the bottom end. as another poster noted the basic level in the slt receiver will only display the channel number. upgrade level recievers with the dot matrix display show more. i was pricing the better radios on ebay for a while but ive gotten to know the channels i like and just put up with not having the artist/title display. jack mike correct me if i am wrong but i believe that even the factory option is still fm modulated. with sirius like xm there is a huge difference in sounds quality between the mod set up and a non mod. the 03 mopar radios are set up for sirius compatibility. mopar makes an add on receiver for this along with an installation kit. pretty slick setup. i have one in the box in my garage that i havent installed yet but i will shortly. the only thing i dont like in the drilling of the holes in the roof for the antenna. turk makes a stick on mount antenna that i will likely use rather than the mopar one. im just a little squeamish about drilling holes in the roof of my new ram. chryco service manager member sae i noticed while shopping for my ram 2500 that the dodge dealers sell sirius satellite radio. when i asked the various salesman about it i got various answers. one thought that the fatory radio was set up to accept sirius another wasnt sure. has anyone installed sirius in their dodge if so does the factory unit act as the controller or is it a fm modulator unit or some other setup tia cpl366 .

From : mike simmons

wiley the mopar unit is not fm modulated. it is a direct connect unit. mike mike correct me if i am wrong but i believe that even the factory option is still fm modulated. with sirius like xm there is a huge difference in sounds quality between the mod set up and a non mod. the 03 mopar radios are set up for sirius compatibility. mopar makes an add on receiver for this along with an installation kit. pretty slick setup. i have one in the box in my garage that i havent installed yet but i will shortly. the only thing i dont like in the drilling of the holes in the roof for the antenna. turk makes a stick on mount antenna that i will likely use rather than the mopar one. im just a little squeamish about drilling holes in the roof of my new ram. chryco service manager member sae i noticed while shopping for my ram 2500 that the dodge dealers sell sirius satellite radio. when i asked the various salesman about it i got various answers. one thought that the fatory radio was set up to accept sirius another wasnt sure. has anyone installed sirius in their dodge if so does the factory unit act as the controller or is it a fm modulator unit or some other setup tia cpl366 .

From : jonathan kaplan

when i purchased my 2003 ram 1500 i also had the sirius question. i could not get a straight answer from the dealer mopar or chrysler customer service. with marketing like this sirius will go broke! i finally got someone at chrysler to tell me that my cd/am unit would only display the channel number and nothing else. it was supposed to be a direct not modulated connection. i decided that for the cost of the conversion kit i could purchase an after market radio and tuner for less. i also like xm. i opted for the alpine system. i agree that the direct connection is substantially clearer than the modulated one i used to have the pioneer modulator in my other car. i chose the antenna specialist stick on manta ray style roof top antenna because it is only about 1/2 high. you can barely see it from the road. one note the factory receiver did not have any inputs on the back of the unit. this leads me to believe that they were mistaken at chrysler and it might actually be a modulated conversion kit. .

From : curmudgeonjack f

id consider learning how to spell first....you dont want to get laughed out of court. i am considering filing a lemmon law case for my 2003 dodge ram. it only has 5000 miles on it and has had the rotors replaced warped been re-alligned twice had the ignition switch replaced and the wheels rebalanced. i know that at this point i dont really know if i have much of a case since the lemmon law states that your claim has to be based on the same problem being uncorrectable by the dealership...or have an unreasonable number of defects within a certain timeframe. to me this number of defects is unreasonable given the duration of time that i have owned the truck 3 months. has anyone else ever filed lemmon law and won what do you win ....a replacement ram the sales price that you paid for your vehicle at this point id like to just take the truck back and go elsewhere. i love the truck but cant stand things going wrong with it all the time. .

From : mike simmons

the 03 mopar radios are set up for sirius compatibility. mopar makes an add on receiver for this along with an installation kit. pretty slick setup. i have one in the box in my garage that i havent installed yet but i will shortly. the only thing i dont like in the drilling of the holes in the roof for the antenna. turk makes a stick on mount antenna that i will likely use rather than the mopar one. im just a little squeamish about drilling holes in the roof of my new ram. chryco service manager member sae i noticed while shopping for my ram 2500 that the dodge dealers sell sirius satellite radio. when i asked the various salesman about it i got various answers. one thought that the fatory radio was set up to accept sirius another wasnt sure. has anyone installed sirius in their dodge if so does the factory unit act as the controller or is it a fm modulator unit or some other setup tia cpl366 .

From : azwiley1jonathan kaplan

mike correct me if i am wrong but i believe that even the factory option is still fm modulated. with sirius like xm there is a huge difference in sounds quality between the mod set up and a non mod. the 03 mopar radios are set up for sirius compatibility. mopar makes an add on receiver for this along with an installation kit. pretty slick setup. i have one in the box in my garage that i havent installed yet but i will shortly. the only thing i dont like in the drilling of the holes in the roof for the antenna. turk makes a stick on mount antenna that i will likely use rather than the mopar one. im just a little squeamish about drilling holes in the roof of my new ram. chryco service manager member sae i noticed while shopping for my ram 2500 that the dodge dealers sell sirius satellite radio. when i asked the various salesman about it i got various answers. one thought that the fatory radio was set up to accept sirius another wasnt sure. has anyone installed sirius in their dodge if so does the factory unit act as the controller or is it a fm modulator unit or some other setup tia cpl366 .