Blaupunkt America SR04 SIRIUS Radio Receiver
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- Usage: Car Home
- Design: Compact
- FM Transmitter: 12 Frequencies
- Service: SIRIUS
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Blaupunkt hits & misses with their first Sirius satellite radio
Pros
Sleek design, cool display and bower button. Remote works great
Cons
Display too bright, and display resets after power is turned off.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
If you don't want to play with the display at night pass on the America SR04
First things first
Over the holidays, a (excuse my French) shit-load of new Sirius satellite radios were gifted and activated. So I feel like saying hello and welcome, you'll never want to go back to crappy FM radio, and I'm sure your disc changer will soon be collecting dust. Sirius just passed their one million subscriber mark. My early prediction is that exactly one year from now, that number will be closer to the 4 million mark. Am I crazy or do I know something that others do not? Maybe it's a little of both.
Blaupunkt history
Does anyone know the story of the Blaupunkt name? Does anyone care? Yes the one German speaking writer here at epinions knows the literal meaning of the word I'm sure. Being that the story has been handed down from one nerd to the next without ever being written down, I'm sure the details are sketchy. It seems that many, many years ago, there was a little company in Berlin making great little headphones. Using quality parts, manufacturing, and attention to detail, they soon became know for their great headphones.
But consumers began referring to these headphones by a quality assurance check that was unique to the brand. It seems that after passing a series of inspections, the company would place a blue dot on the pair to mark it as such. Customers starting asking for those "blue dot" headphones (Blaupunkt) and so eventually the name stuck, and the company changed their name.
For some reason every audio nerd I meet seems to be under the belief that Sony purchased Blaupunkt, I think it's one of those urban legend things. Why I have no idea. Blaupunkt is owned at the moment by Robert Bosch LTD, and has been under the Bosch umbrella for many decades.
Far in the future the Blaupunkt America SR04 satellite radio exists...
The satellite radio business is hot at the moment. Sirius and XM are coming standard in many cars and trucks, and hit the aftermarket section hard. With head units sporting satellite radio (in either flavor) now a common sight, the "shuttle" style satellite radio (aka plug & play units) are still selling strong for those that don't want to (or don't know how) to tinker with a new head unit. Blaupunkt took their sweet time, and entered the fray with the America SR04 Sirius satellite "shuttle" style radio. Skipping the audiovox routine of selling the radio, and car kit separate, Blaupunkt has combined those two units, with only the home kit being sold separate.
In the box
The Sirius radio or shuttle, the dock (with various inputs/outputs), owner manual, interior mount, micro size antenna, FM transmitter 'wire', RCA to mini-plug cord, cigarette lighter power cord, mini remote control and glossy Sirius satellite radio chart.
Install
The beauty of these installs is that when it comes to 'shuttle' style satellite radios, if you've installed one, the rest will be the same story. There are only two 'pain in the ass' issues. The first is running the antenna from the outside of the car to the inside and eventually to the radio. Cars weren't designed with satellite radio in mind so there never seems to be an easy or simple way to make this happen. The second pain is deciding where to mount the "mount" that holds the radio. Now when it comes to my car I do what I want. Others always seem to cry and moan at the mention of any kind of drilling or cutting to make something more secure. The current method that every brand/make seem to offer is some kind of flexible foot with a sticky backing. It either doesn't seem to fit well where the owner wants it, or it just doesn't grip very well.
Pro tip search ebay, I found a "goose neck" that installs under the passenger seat front bolt. I had to mess with it to make it attach to the America SR04, but I got it to work. Look around, there are entrepreneurs with cup-holders and windshield mounts as well. I ended up running the little bug antenna from the trunk lid and through the seam between the trunk and rear window. From there I snuck the wire through the fold down seats and hid the wire running into the car between a crevice in the seat. From there I hid the wire in the plastic kick panels from the rear passenger to the front passenger and on to the goose neck (in a 1999 Toyota Camry). With those two issues solved, it was only a matter of plugging in the cigarette lighter, satellite bug antenna, and FM transmitter antenna (for the FM modulator). Turning the radio on it automatically came on with the 'preview' channel on confirming that the radio was getting a signal.
Activation
It's basically the same for every Sirius 'shuttle' style radio. There is an ID number on the back of the radio and it's usually on the original box or blister pack as well. Have that number handy along with a credit card and you'll be activated in as little as 5 minutes. In my case it was a lot shorter. At the activation page, you'll be asked if you are a new or returning customer. So being a customer I gave the proper information and BOOM, all the info was already there (including my CC number). Being that this was the second radio I was activating, I only had to pay $6.99 a month instead of the $12.95. This particular radio was a gift for my Mom, but I'm sure none of you will report me to Sirius right? After submitting my info, I returned to my Mom's Camry and the radio was unlocked and ready to rock.
Actual use pros and cons
First the pros:
The America SR04 is probably the slickest looking shuttle style sat radio out there. It's shiny black, almost like a faux piano black finish. The screen sports an intense cool blue display, and the front is clean and no-nonsense. The bug antenna is nearly half the size of the bug sat antenna that came with my more than one year old audiovox unit. To help radiate the FM signal more efficiently, there is a small FM output and a wire that goes along with that. The FCC limits the energy output, so plugging this wire in can help for a cleaner signal, and in cases where the unit is competing with an FM station.
Instead of offering only four FM frequencies to transmit over, unlike the older units, the America SR04 offers 12 frequencies. These are located at the bottom and top end of the FM spectrum. So in addition to the obligatory 88.1, 88.3 offering, there are now options like 107.5, 107.7 etc. This is a blessing. Here in the SF bay area, there are stations crammed in from the top to the bottom. Luckily, depending on where you are, you can find a spot. Having those extra frequencies means you don't have to fiddle as much. The SR04 is fairly easy to use, and programming favorite station to the presets is a snap. Unlike my audiovox, the ten presets on the front are actually more like 30 as the SR04 sports three lists of favs, much like FM1 and FM2 on car radios. The remote is a tiny little thing, and I suspect they will get lost rather often. It works well and the buttons each have unique shapes making them easier to learn and more likely to allow drivers to keep their eyes on the road where they belong. I didn't make use of the superior RCA/min-plug jack because I don't think the stock head unit has RCA inputs, and even if it did, I had no intention of removing the head unit to do so.
Cons
The buttons on the front are 'hard' rather than a semi-soft material and they have a short travel making them a little unpleasant to push and deal with. The shuttle seems to stick in the cradle very hard, and removing it was a pain. While pushing in the button to release the shuttle and removing it several times to 'break' the thing in, it seemed to do no good. My mom also had a hard time removing the shuttle as well. Days later my Mom called to tell me she discovered an easier way to remove the shuttle but couldn't covey just how she now does this over the phone. Knowing my Mom for very many years, this didn't exactly surprise me.
No auto display brightness for day and night time. My audiovox uses an eye to raise and lower the brightness of the display depending on the light it receives. But even without that feature it wouldn't be that much of an issue. With the America SR04 it is, as the display is really, really bright at night, even on a medium setting.
More disturbing is that the level of brightness is really only about 4 gradients. When changing the setting, the bar and its numerous 'blocks' gives the impression of 12 steps or so, but only a handful of steps actually exist. Worse yet if you set the display to the lowest setting (the only setting a normal human could use at night) the unit refuses to accept the setting. What? Yeah it sucks. But it gets worse the display brightness resets to full brightness whenever power is cut to the unit, or it is removed from the car dock. This is a major pain. I felt bad for Mom that she has to fiddle with this thing every time she plans on driving at night.
For the record my Mom LOVES Sirius. She discovered it in a rented Taurus she had for the week while the Camry had a boo-boo fixed. Now I doubt she'd want to let it go. It looks like another Sirius sat radio will be making its way to my Mom's Camry soon. I found no way around this problem, and it just seems to be an engineering fault if you ask me. The only way to get the display to glow at the lowest setting is to choose it and not hit enter and allow the display to return to its normal screen and it will stay low. So that works, but as soon as you cut the power or remove the shuttle, it's brights-ville all over again.
So it's a mixed bag...
The Blaupunkt went from nearly 5 stars to more like 3 stars. I was damn tempted to make it 2 ½ and round it down to 2. But it's actually bringing my Mom much joy so it can't be all that bad. Unless you plan on using the SR04 as some sort of evil interior spotlight, I'd pass on it and look into units offered by Audiovox, Sanyo, Kenwood, Panasonic, JVC and Clarion (among others) before settling on the SR04.
© Tony Flores 2005
StrangerSoundLabs.com
Over the holidays, a (excuse my French) shit-load of new Sirius satellite radios were gifted and activated. So I feel like saying hello and welcome, you'll never want to go back to crappy FM radio, and I'm sure your disc changer will soon be collecting dust. Sirius just passed their one million subscriber mark. My early prediction is that exactly one year from now, that number will be closer to the 4 million mark. Am I crazy or do I know something that others do not? Maybe it's a little of both.
Blaupunkt history
Does anyone know the story of the Blaupunkt name? Does anyone care? Yes the one German speaking writer here at epinions knows the literal meaning of the word I'm sure. Being that the story has been handed down from one nerd to the next without ever being written down, I'm sure the details are sketchy. It seems that many, many years ago, there was a little company in Berlin making great little headphones. Using quality parts, manufacturing, and attention to detail, they soon became know for their great headphones.
But consumers began referring to these headphones by a quality assurance check that was unique to the brand. It seems that after passing a series of inspections, the company would place a blue dot on the pair to mark it as such. Customers starting asking for those "blue dot" headphones (Blaupunkt) and so eventually the name stuck, and the company changed their name.
For some reason every audio nerd I meet seems to be under the belief that Sony purchased Blaupunkt, I think it's one of those urban legend things. Why I have no idea. Blaupunkt is owned at the moment by Robert Bosch LTD, and has been under the Bosch umbrella for many decades.
Far in the future the Blaupunkt America SR04 satellite radio exists...
The satellite radio business is hot at the moment. Sirius and XM are coming standard in many cars and trucks, and hit the aftermarket section hard. With head units sporting satellite radio (in either flavor) now a common sight, the "shuttle" style satellite radio (aka plug & play units) are still selling strong for those that don't want to (or don't know how) to tinker with a new head unit. Blaupunkt took their sweet time, and entered the fray with the America SR04 Sirius satellite "shuttle" style radio. Skipping the audiovox routine of selling the radio, and car kit separate, Blaupunkt has combined those two units, with only the home kit being sold separate.
In the box
The Sirius radio or shuttle, the dock (with various inputs/outputs), owner manual, interior mount, micro size antenna, FM transmitter 'wire', RCA to mini-plug cord, cigarette lighter power cord, mini remote control and glossy Sirius satellite radio chart.
Install
The beauty of these installs is that when it comes to 'shuttle' style satellite radios, if you've installed one, the rest will be the same story. There are only two 'pain in the ass' issues. The first is running the antenna from the outside of the car to the inside and eventually to the radio. Cars weren't designed with satellite radio in mind so there never seems to be an easy or simple way to make this happen. The second pain is deciding where to mount the "mount" that holds the radio. Now when it comes to my car I do what I want. Others always seem to cry and moan at the mention of any kind of drilling or cutting to make something more secure. The current method that every brand/make seem to offer is some kind of flexible foot with a sticky backing. It either doesn't seem to fit well where the owner wants it, or it just doesn't grip very well.
Pro tip search ebay, I found a "goose neck" that installs under the passenger seat front bolt. I had to mess with it to make it attach to the America SR04, but I got it to work. Look around, there are entrepreneurs with cup-holders and windshield mounts as well. I ended up running the little bug antenna from the trunk lid and through the seam between the trunk and rear window. From there I snuck the wire through the fold down seats and hid the wire running into the car between a crevice in the seat. From there I hid the wire in the plastic kick panels from the rear passenger to the front passenger and on to the goose neck (in a 1999 Toyota Camry). With those two issues solved, it was only a matter of plugging in the cigarette lighter, satellite bug antenna, and FM transmitter antenna (for the FM modulator). Turning the radio on it automatically came on with the 'preview' channel on confirming that the radio was getting a signal.
Activation
It's basically the same for every Sirius 'shuttle' style radio. There is an ID number on the back of the radio and it's usually on the original box or blister pack as well. Have that number handy along with a credit card and you'll be activated in as little as 5 minutes. In my case it was a lot shorter. At the activation page, you'll be asked if you are a new or returning customer. So being a customer I gave the proper information and BOOM, all the info was already there (including my CC number). Being that this was the second radio I was activating, I only had to pay $6.99 a month instead of the $12.95. This particular radio was a gift for my Mom, but I'm sure none of you will report me to Sirius right? After submitting my info, I returned to my Mom's Camry and the radio was unlocked and ready to rock.
Actual use pros and cons
First the pros:
The America SR04 is probably the slickest looking shuttle style sat radio out there. It's shiny black, almost like a faux piano black finish. The screen sports an intense cool blue display, and the front is clean and no-nonsense. The bug antenna is nearly half the size of the bug sat antenna that came with my more than one year old audiovox unit. To help radiate the FM signal more efficiently, there is a small FM output and a wire that goes along with that. The FCC limits the energy output, so plugging this wire in can help for a cleaner signal, and in cases where the unit is competing with an FM station.
Instead of offering only four FM frequencies to transmit over, unlike the older units, the America SR04 offers 12 frequencies. These are located at the bottom and top end of the FM spectrum. So in addition to the obligatory 88.1, 88.3 offering, there are now options like 107.5, 107.7 etc. This is a blessing. Here in the SF bay area, there are stations crammed in from the top to the bottom. Luckily, depending on where you are, you can find a spot. Having those extra frequencies means you don't have to fiddle as much. The SR04 is fairly easy to use, and programming favorite station to the presets is a snap. Unlike my audiovox, the ten presets on the front are actually more like 30 as the SR04 sports three lists of favs, much like FM1 and FM2 on car radios. The remote is a tiny little thing, and I suspect they will get lost rather often. It works well and the buttons each have unique shapes making them easier to learn and more likely to allow drivers to keep their eyes on the road where they belong. I didn't make use of the superior RCA/min-plug jack because I don't think the stock head unit has RCA inputs, and even if it did, I had no intention of removing the head unit to do so.
Cons
The buttons on the front are 'hard' rather than a semi-soft material and they have a short travel making them a little unpleasant to push and deal with. The shuttle seems to stick in the cradle very hard, and removing it was a pain. While pushing in the button to release the shuttle and removing it several times to 'break' the thing in, it seemed to do no good. My mom also had a hard time removing the shuttle as well. Days later my Mom called to tell me she discovered an easier way to remove the shuttle but couldn't covey just how she now does this over the phone. Knowing my Mom for very many years, this didn't exactly surprise me.
No auto display brightness for day and night time. My audiovox uses an eye to raise and lower the brightness of the display depending on the light it receives. But even without that feature it wouldn't be that much of an issue. With the America SR04 it is, as the display is really, really bright at night, even on a medium setting.
More disturbing is that the level of brightness is really only about 4 gradients. When changing the setting, the bar and its numerous 'blocks' gives the impression of 12 steps or so, but only a handful of steps actually exist. Worse yet if you set the display to the lowest setting (the only setting a normal human could use at night) the unit refuses to accept the setting. What? Yeah it sucks. But it gets worse the display brightness resets to full brightness whenever power is cut to the unit, or it is removed from the car dock. This is a major pain. I felt bad for Mom that she has to fiddle with this thing every time she plans on driving at night.
For the record my Mom LOVES Sirius. She discovered it in a rented Taurus she had for the week while the Camry had a boo-boo fixed. Now I doubt she'd want to let it go. It looks like another Sirius sat radio will be making its way to my Mom's Camry soon. I found no way around this problem, and it just seems to be an engineering fault if you ask me. The only way to get the display to glow at the lowest setting is to choose it and not hit enter and allow the display to return to its normal screen and it will stay low. So that works, but as soon as you cut the power or remove the shuttle, it's brights-ville all over again.
So it's a mixed bag...
The Blaupunkt went from nearly 5 stars to more like 3 stars. I was damn tempted to make it 2 ½ and round it down to 2. But it's actually bringing my Mom much joy so it can't be all that bad. Unless you plan on using the SR04 as some sort of evil interior spotlight, I'd pass on it and look into units offered by Audiovox, Sanyo, Kenwood, Panasonic, JVC and Clarion (among others) before settling on the SR04.
© Tony Flores 2005
StrangerSoundLabs.com
