Best satellite radio receivers (XM/Sirius)

(Jul 06, 2009)

John P. Falcone
Senior Editor After a federal approval process that seemed to go on forever, Sirius and XM were finally merged in the summer of 2008. But while the combined Sirius XM Radio is now a single company, it's going to take awhile for new hardware to become available that fully exploits all those available satellites. In the meantime, the good news is that the company has begun consolidating its programming, so that much of the once-exclusive XM content (Oprah, NHL, NBA, and college sports) is now available on the Sirius lineup, while the once-exclusive Sirius programming (Howard Stern, NFL, Martha Stewart) can be heard on XM dials.

We've scaled back our coverage of the hardware for the time being, but the best options of what we have reviewed are listed below. Meanwhile, remember that many home audio products (AV receivers, home theater systems, and even minisystems) are XM- or Sirius-ready--they just need an antenna accessory such as the XM Mini-Tuner (below) or the Sirius Connect SC-H1 to receive the stations. XM and Sirius programming is available to subscribers online as well, and some network music players are capable of streaming Sirius stations over the Internet, too. In other words: if any of that exclusive (and often commercial-free) programming interests you, the products listed below are not your only listening options. Just remember that subscription plans start at around $13 per month.