Best of the Satellite-Compatible Radios | Tivoli Model Satellite Table Radio (Sirius Satellite Radio / AM /...

Tivoli Sirius Radio | Tivoli Model Satellite Table Radio (Sirius Satellite Radio / AM / FM )

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	• Tivoli Model Satellite Table Radio (Sirius Satellite Radio / AM / FM ) Tivoli Audio Tivoli Audio average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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Terrific sound for a very pretty table radio

This will be just a brief review, and only of the Sirius part of the radio - I haven't used the AM/FM part.

The radio is small, and beautiful, and has absolutely terrific mono sound. (For a bedside/bedtime radio I see no need to buy the extra speaker for stereo sound.)

With Sirius of course you get whatever music/news/talk you'd like. I'm using it exclusively for the 3 classical channels (and maybe the 24/7 All Elvis All The Time channel every once in awhile). (XM also has 3 classical channels, later on when Sirius & XM merge there will probably still be 3 classical channels). The programming is very good.

However, there are a few flaws to be aware of with this radio. The biggest flaw is a direct result of the design - internally this is a digital satellite radio bolted on to Tivoli's standard analog radio: The remote control doesn't control volume! Amazing limitation! The remote does have a mute function. Also, it has a very limited "sleep" mode - only 20 minutes, and to get it into that mode you have to traverse the menu system - impossible to do from across the room with the remote because you can't see the menus from that distance.

Also worth noting: I am using an external antenna (the "SIRIUS Outdoor Home Antenna", bought from [...], very easy install) and the signal cuts out once in awhile - this may be due to some large trees in the line-of-site to the satellite sometimes block the satellite. Yet the signal strength meter shows "3 bars" (of 9) for the terrestrial signal - I live in Seattle where Sirius apparently has ground repeaters - so why should it ever cut out due to not seeing the satellite?

Still, I'm very happy with the radio. 5 stars for sound + looks, then subtract one star for the annoying lack of volume control on the remote.

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Best of the Satellite-Compatible Radios

I have no doubt that one reason for the slow adoption of Satellite Radio by consumers is the lousy hardware. I mean, what are they thinking? The collection of products for both Sirius and XM looks like the over-designed, comic book props in Star Wars movies. They're totally dysfunctional. Nothing as elegant as an iPod, with the possible exception of Pioneer's portable radios for XM. Even the car radio's are clunky.

The Tivoli Model Satellite is the one exception to the ugly, under-performing Satellite Radio rule. The sound is about as good as it gets. Indeed, almost too good since it really points up the excessive compression used by both satellite and commercial FM broadcasters. You won't notice this difference until you play an uncompressed CD or MP3 file from your iPod through the AUX port on the Tivoli. Wow! What an amazing sound out of such small speakers. And I don't even have the subwoofer speaker accessory.

The Sirius section works great. It's easy to program. It's got a great "Memo" feature to capture the name and artist of 20 songs you'd like to look up later.

I did invest in a serious outdoor Sirius Antenna prior to the arrival of the Tivoli, so it was just a matter of plugging it in. The FM and AM sections worked fine without any external antennas. It's impressive that they include a serious external AM antenna - something I haven't seen packaged with table radios since the 1970s, and then only expensive "audiophile" models.

As noted by others, the Satellite and AM/FM functions aren't at all integrated. This is basically the Tivoli Model 1 with a Satellite function tacked on as an afterthought.

The huge, bright, multi-line display is awesome at providing all of the information you want at a glance, with a minimal amount of annoying left-to-right scrolling. While the display does automatically adjust to ambient light (a feature that can be turned off and on) it may be too bright for the bedside table for some people.

The Tivoli Model Satellite is to radio what a beautiful 52" flat panel plasma display is to HDTV. It's the best audio you can get for satellite, possibly short of a console deck connected to studio monitors. But, again, given the various compression artifacts on Satellite radio (and the compression is often horrible on talk-only channels) this may be about as good as you dare get.

Unless you have space limitations, it's kind of a waste to spend so much money on a radio only to have mono sound, so plan on buying the (right channel) speaker for stereo.

I have no problem that they didn't include a CD player. An integrated mechanical device would only shorten the useful life of the unit. As just a radio it should last 10-20 years if you're trying to justify the high price tag.

Will Sirius be around in 10-20 years? I don't know. We also hear talk of HD radio coming to AM/FM (but then we've heard about HDTV for 20 years too and it's still not here).

At this price point, it would have been nice if there's been a time-shift feature, sort of a digital VCR (DVR) feature to record shows you want to hear later.

The remote is pretty awful for such an expensive radio, it's just a cheap "membrane" type remote. Inexplicably I got a real remote with my Kenwood Sirius car radio (what good a remote does in the car is beyond me).

Let's hope with the merger of the two satellite services they make more of an effort to create better looking, more functional hardware AND clean up their sound quality. I'd rather they have half as many channels with better sound and produce better programs that are re-run several times a day.

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Tivoli Sirius Radio

In the world of tabletop sat radios, the selection is very limited. This is by far the highest quality on the market and it is also self contained with the speaker. I have both Sirius and XM and frankly the quality of the music on Sirius (See a technical review on [...] for this radio) I found this radio exceeded my expectation and would recommend it as the "best in class". Remember this is a developing market and the selection of table top radios are limited.

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sirus radio

great if you have line of sight to the north otherwise you wont get a signal.

Tivoli Audio introduces the world's first satellite table radio designed exclusively for home use with SIRIUS Satellite Radio. Tivoli Audio and SIRIUS have joined forces to bring to market an elegantly simple, yet technologically sophisticated satellite radio for home use. The new Model Satellite radio is designed by Tivoli Audio CEO, Tom DeVesto, and is based on the popular, award-winning tuner used in the Tivoli Model One, Two and Three radios and engineered by Audio Hall of Fame member Henry Kloss. The new Tivoli SIRIUS radio delivers digital quality sound in 65 commercial-free music channels, and over 40 news, sports and entertainment channels. The large LCD is easy to read and provides easy and clear navigation. The radio has pre-sets for your favorite Sirius channels and searches by artist, song, and channel.The radio features the fine analog tuner designed by Audio Hall of Fame member Henry Kloss, a device that pulls in even weak FM signals, allowing listeners to tune in more stations compared to other costly radios and receivers. SIRIUS is the only place where subscribers can hear the entire NFL season, as well as popular programming from NPR, CNN, FOX News and many others. The radio is housed in a finely crafted furniture grade cherry wood cabinet with taupe metallic faceplate and champagne-toned knobs. It comes with a remote control and a compact indoor/outdoor SIRIUS antenna.The new Tivoli satellite radio features inputs for other Tivoli Audio components including an optional stereo speaker, Model CD Player and Model Subwoofer. The Model Satellite uses a discrete-component FM tuner technology (GaSa MES-FET mixers) originally developed for cell phones and engineered for the first time in the Model One AM/FM Table Radio previously introduced by Tivoli Audio.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4