Audiovox SSR-2000 SIRIUS Radio Receiver
- Usage: Car
- Design: Car Tuner Box with In-Dash Controller
- Service: SIRIUS
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A Barely Adequate Sirius Receiver
Pros
Works with your car's existing radio. Inexpensive.
Cons
Lousy display, poor controls, mediocre sound, difficult to mount.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
This product has one of the worst user interfaces I've seen in any electronic device. There are now other choices for stand-alone Sirius receivers. Check them out instead.
The Jensen SSR2000 is a stand-alone Sirius satellite radio receiver with RCA stereo audio outputs that can be used with an optional FM modulator to feed your car's existing radio. I purchased the Jensen SSR2000 because at the time, it was the only stand-alone Sirius receiver available, and I did not want to replace the factory stereo in my Volvo V70.
The system consists of two units, the receiver itself, which is meant to be installed in the trunk, cargo area, under a seat, or behind the dash... and the second part, the wired remote control. The remote's coiled cable makes it look like a big CB microphone with an LCD display and buttons on the front. The remote comes with a bracket which allows you to mount it on the dash, or anywhere else you choose. I velcroed mine to the center console between the seats, directly behind the parking brake lever.
After owning the system for a few days, its annoying shortcomings became increasingly apparent.
First off, the LCD display, which is your only way of knowing what channel you are listening to, is all but invisible in daylight conditions. There is no adjustable contrast control or viewing angle adjustment. "OK" , you're thinking.. "I'll just drive at night." Nope, now you've got the opposite problem. The display's backlight, even when set to the dimmest setting, is way too bright, creating a distracting glare in your peripheral vision. I drive with a baseball cap covering mine at night.
Next, the controls. The remote features an channel up/down rocker, "function" and "select" buttons, and 10 small numeric buttons laid out in two rows of five. The size and layout of these buttons make them difficult to use by feel alone... you must look down at the remote to enter a channel number or use a preset. Better pull over. Also, the buttons are of the "soft-touch" variety which give you no tactile feedback. You don't really know if you've pressed the button long enough or hard enough for the receiver to have accepted your command.
This lack of control feedback isn't just a driving hazard. It also regularly causes the user to accidently erase programmed presets. The Jensen's 20 presets are stored on the numeric buttons, by holding the button down for a couple of seconds. The problem is, when changing stations, if you don't hold a button down long enough, the unit will not make the change. If you hold it a little too long, you unknowingly enter the currently tuned station as the preset for that button. If I had a dollar for every time that this has happened in the last couple of months, I could buy a replacement receiver from another manufacturer.
Here's another truly annoying flaw. Normally, when you turn the receiver off (either manually or by shutting off the car), and then turn it back on again, like most car radios, it automatically tunes itself to the station you were listening to at shutoff. But about 30% of the time, the thing randomly turns on to Sirius channel 1 (Top 40 Hits). Because my music preferences lean toward jazz and classical, 200 watts of Brittany Spears is not the way I want to wake up when I get into my car in the morning.
I will offer my observations about sound quality and reception, but please keep in mind that I have not compared other Sirius receivers, and I can't say how much of my dissatisfaction comes from the Sirius system itself vs. the quality of the Jensen receiver.
It is apparent that Sirius uses at least two levels of quality on its various channels. The music channels appear to have more bandwidth available to them, and sound noticeably better than the "talk" channels. I like to listen to the NPR channels (the main reason I chose Sirius over XM), and find the sound quality very poor on these and other talk channels. The quality is reminiscent of listening to low bandwidth REAL audio on your PC. The music channels are much better, but still have kind of a low-fi "watery" digital sound to them.
Reception with a Terk antenna mounted on the roof near the rear of my Volvo wagon is mostly OK. The signal does drop out for a few seconds when driving under overpasses. It can also drop out while driving near tall buildings or embankments, or if you are driving next to a semi. Again, I don't know if this is normal Sirius behavior, or if it is due to poor performance on the part of the Jensen receiver.
UPDATE 6/2004
After two short years, my Jensen SSR2000 died about a month ago. Sometimes, power would come on, but with a blank screen and no audio output. Other times, it wouldn't even do that much. It has been removed from my car, to be replaced with a Clarion SIRPNP. It will not be missed.
The system consists of two units, the receiver itself, which is meant to be installed in the trunk, cargo area, under a seat, or behind the dash... and the second part, the wired remote control. The remote's coiled cable makes it look like a big CB microphone with an LCD display and buttons on the front. The remote comes with a bracket which allows you to mount it on the dash, or anywhere else you choose. I velcroed mine to the center console between the seats, directly behind the parking brake lever.
After owning the system for a few days, its annoying shortcomings became increasingly apparent.
First off, the LCD display, which is your only way of knowing what channel you are listening to, is all but invisible in daylight conditions. There is no adjustable contrast control or viewing angle adjustment. "OK" , you're thinking.. "I'll just drive at night." Nope, now you've got the opposite problem. The display's backlight, even when set to the dimmest setting, is way too bright, creating a distracting glare in your peripheral vision. I drive with a baseball cap covering mine at night.
Next, the controls. The remote features an channel up/down rocker, "function" and "select" buttons, and 10 small numeric buttons laid out in two rows of five. The size and layout of these buttons make them difficult to use by feel alone... you must look down at the remote to enter a channel number or use a preset. Better pull over. Also, the buttons are of the "soft-touch" variety which give you no tactile feedback. You don't really know if you've pressed the button long enough or hard enough for the receiver to have accepted your command.
This lack of control feedback isn't just a driving hazard. It also regularly causes the user to accidently erase programmed presets. The Jensen's 20 presets are stored on the numeric buttons, by holding the button down for a couple of seconds. The problem is, when changing stations, if you don't hold a button down long enough, the unit will not make the change. If you hold it a little too long, you unknowingly enter the currently tuned station as the preset for that button. If I had a dollar for every time that this has happened in the last couple of months, I could buy a replacement receiver from another manufacturer.
Here's another truly annoying flaw. Normally, when you turn the receiver off (either manually or by shutting off the car), and then turn it back on again, like most car radios, it automatically tunes itself to the station you were listening to at shutoff. But about 30% of the time, the thing randomly turns on to Sirius channel 1 (Top 40 Hits). Because my music preferences lean toward jazz and classical, 200 watts of Brittany Spears is not the way I want to wake up when I get into my car in the morning.
I will offer my observations about sound quality and reception, but please keep in mind that I have not compared other Sirius receivers, and I can't say how much of my dissatisfaction comes from the Sirius system itself vs. the quality of the Jensen receiver.
It is apparent that Sirius uses at least two levels of quality on its various channels. The music channels appear to have more bandwidth available to them, and sound noticeably better than the "talk" channels. I like to listen to the NPR channels (the main reason I chose Sirius over XM), and find the sound quality very poor on these and other talk channels. The quality is reminiscent of listening to low bandwidth REAL audio on your PC. The music channels are much better, but still have kind of a low-fi "watery" digital sound to them.
Reception with a Terk antenna mounted on the roof near the rear of my Volvo wagon is mostly OK. The signal does drop out for a few seconds when driving under overpasses. It can also drop out while driving near tall buildings or embankments, or if you are driving next to a semi. Again, I don't know if this is normal Sirius behavior, or if it is due to poor performance on the part of the Jensen receiver.
UPDATE 6/2004
After two short years, my Jensen SSR2000 died about a month ago. Sometimes, power would come on, but with a blank screen and no audio output. Other times, it wouldn't even do that much. It has been removed from my car, to be replaced with a Clarion SIRPNP. It will not be missed.
