XM Direct Smart Adapter for General Motors - Anyone have any experience?

snakester

Member
Oct 29, 2008
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Lovely Seacost NH
I want to get something approximating factory XM going in my new car. The static with my PNP can get to the point of unbearable (it's one of those radios that only has 88.1-89.3 and 106.7-107.9). Most of the blank spots on the radio dial in my area are in the middle of the spectrum, making it not a realistic option. I figure that if I'm gonna get stuck taking the dash apart anyways, I might as well put in a factory solution.

I'm planning around tax return time on going to a GM dealer and asking about factory XM for my car. It's very likely that they'll either tell me they can't do it (my car is an 03 Impala) or they'll charge me a ridiculous amount of money, since my car doesn't have a pre-wired antenna.

I found this ( XM Satellite Radio at MyRadioStore - XM Radio Bundles - For Your Car - In Dash - XM Direct - XM Direct Smart Adapter for General Motors XMDGM100 / XMDGMK ) on an online XM radio store, and the compatibility list says it's compatible with my car. It interfaces with the XM Direct Tuner and my factory radio. This, of course is my second choice, and I'm only going to do it if I can't get a true factory solution at a reasonable price. Couple of questions about this though:

1. It says Installation is recommended by GM dealer. Could my local shop (not best buy or circuit city, it's a local car audio shop that everyone I know ahs gotten work done there has no complaints about) do it? I could do it, but i dread taking the dash off as it takes specialized tools and it's all one piece.

2. It's the same thing as the factory solution, right? Everything goes through my stock head unit and it works just like factory XM (except of course without the cool looking antenna).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.