Kenwood KTC-H2A1 SIRIUS Radio Receiver
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- Usage: Car Home
- Design: Compact
- Service: SIRIUS
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Good equipment, but be careful about which version you get!
Pros
Excellent equipment - quality, asthetics, design, capability, intuitive operation, all as expected
Cons
Avoid version with clock/timer, remote control buttons hard to engage
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Great product, great value - works great even with a minor nuance out of the box, $50 rebate from Good Guys, AND $40 promotion from Sirius.
I purchased the receiver with both the home adapter kit and the car adapter kit. I was looking for something portable, but no vendor has a true portable (for example a walkman style unit that takes batteries so that you can put it in your pocket or strap it to your arm).
The quality of all components is top notch - which is exactly what you expect when you buy Kenwood equipment... from the cradles, to the connection jacks, to the fasteners for the car cradle. The car antenna has about a 25 foot cable with a magnetic base, so you can easily mount it on the roof during your drive, and remove it at the end of your drive. Kenwood pays attention to details.
Operation meets expectations - fm modulator built into the car cradle works well, stations received well, remote works well, sound quality (raw) is non-distorted (except when antenna is obstructed).
**Addendum: this is a Satellite Radio Primer**
Satellite receivers such as this don't have audio controls, they reproduce the signal digitally in raw output, as long as the signal is received it will be as pure as the original... so rating sound quality is N/A. Unlike FM radio, satellite reception is based strictly on whether an obstruction is present between the antenna and the midwestern skies... so rating the reception is N/A. Rating installation is N/A since you put the unit either in a home cradle or car cradle (neither require permanent mounting or cabling)... and the antenna placement is anywhere in your home or car that has an unobstructed view of the midwestern skies.
** End Addendum
With the price dropping on these units, its a very compelling reason to try satellite radio!
I had two problems: read below.
A big factor for me while selecting which satellite radio provider to use, was the quality of the hardware. Satellite radio service providers are detached from the companies that build the hardware (just like mobile phone service providers and mobile phone manufacturers). Since the service provider and the hardware provider do not often understand each other's business or share the same customer service quality goals, they often point the finger at each other when the consumer has a problem that is not easily solved. To minimize the risk, I chose Sirius because Kenwood equipment is available for that service provider... and Kenwood has a decent reputation for customer service and quality components. I was not interested in purchasing any more lousy Audiovox or JVC consumer electronics.
Problem 1: cannot select "Sports" from the category list. You can still get to sports channels by scrolling up and down the channels or entering the exact channel number, so this is not a major issue by any means. This is a software bug, and they plan to release a fix in the near future. All units will experience this bug, and lets hope that the fix is something they can send "over the wire" the same way that the unit is activated and initialized.
Problem 2: some units have a clock/timer (same part number as the H2A1, only distinguishable by a small green sticker on the box)... which will errantly sound an alarm at 6am every morning. Units without the clock/timer obviously do not experience this problem. According to Kenwood, "Most" units with the clock/timer will experience the problem. Even worse - Kenwood's customer support claims that even though these units were shipped with this problem, that they can only be repaired under warranty. The good news is that they can fix them - the bad news is that you're going to spend a minimum of $10 to ship them the unit, lose a week while they have it, and they refuse responsibility for that expense. I contend that they should put a sticker on every box that reads, "you will have to pay $10 more after you take this product home in order to have it fixed", but of course they disagree. Sirius will suspend your service during the repair period, so you dont get double dipped for your lost time.
Although I think the clock/timer would be nice, it certainly is something I have been living without on all other audio receivers that I own.
The quality of all components is top notch - which is exactly what you expect when you buy Kenwood equipment... from the cradles, to the connection jacks, to the fasteners for the car cradle. The car antenna has about a 25 foot cable with a magnetic base, so you can easily mount it on the roof during your drive, and remove it at the end of your drive. Kenwood pays attention to details.
Operation meets expectations - fm modulator built into the car cradle works well, stations received well, remote works well, sound quality (raw) is non-distorted (except when antenna is obstructed).
**Addendum: this is a Satellite Radio Primer**
Satellite receivers such as this don't have audio controls, they reproduce the signal digitally in raw output, as long as the signal is received it will be as pure as the original... so rating sound quality is N/A. Unlike FM radio, satellite reception is based strictly on whether an obstruction is present between the antenna and the midwestern skies... so rating the reception is N/A. Rating installation is N/A since you put the unit either in a home cradle or car cradle (neither require permanent mounting or cabling)... and the antenna placement is anywhere in your home or car that has an unobstructed view of the midwestern skies.
** End Addendum
With the price dropping on these units, its a very compelling reason to try satellite radio!
I had two problems: read below.
A big factor for me while selecting which satellite radio provider to use, was the quality of the hardware. Satellite radio service providers are detached from the companies that build the hardware (just like mobile phone service providers and mobile phone manufacturers). Since the service provider and the hardware provider do not often understand each other's business or share the same customer service quality goals, they often point the finger at each other when the consumer has a problem that is not easily solved. To minimize the risk, I chose Sirius because Kenwood equipment is available for that service provider... and Kenwood has a decent reputation for customer service and quality components. I was not interested in purchasing any more lousy Audiovox or JVC consumer electronics.
Problem 1: cannot select "Sports" from the category list. You can still get to sports channels by scrolling up and down the channels or entering the exact channel number, so this is not a major issue by any means. This is a software bug, and they plan to release a fix in the near future. All units will experience this bug, and lets hope that the fix is something they can send "over the wire" the same way that the unit is activated and initialized.
Problem 2: some units have a clock/timer (same part number as the H2A1, only distinguishable by a small green sticker on the box)... which will errantly sound an alarm at 6am every morning. Units without the clock/timer obviously do not experience this problem. According to Kenwood, "Most" units with the clock/timer will experience the problem. Even worse - Kenwood's customer support claims that even though these units were shipped with this problem, that they can only be repaired under warranty. The good news is that they can fix them - the bad news is that you're going to spend a minimum of $10 to ship them the unit, lose a week while they have it, and they refuse responsibility for that expense. I contend that they should put a sticker on every box that reads, "you will have to pay $10 more after you take this product home in order to have it fixed", but of course they disagree. Sirius will suspend your service during the repair period, so you dont get double dipped for your lost time.
Although I think the clock/timer would be nice, it certainly is something I have been living without on all other audio receivers that I own.
