Kenwood KTC-H2A1 Sirius Satellite Here2Anywhere Portable Radio Tuner

First the Kenwood H2Anywhere:This unit provides my home stereo (Nakamichi receiver and Acoustic Research AR2ax speakers)with the basis of nice CD quality sound -- plus, home kit base was EASY to install. Home kit allows direct input via RCA plug (provided) into stereo.In the car, it plays nicely with car kit's built-in FM transmitter but there's always a loss of quality with FM conversion as opposed to a direct input. So, if you require optimal quality I suggest using a cassette input, or better yet a direct wiring option and skip the Here2Anywhere and go for a professional installation with a stand-alone car stereo with built-in Sirius. (There are several brands now available -- Sony, Kenwood, Audiovox, Alpine, Clarion). Since my new Volvo has a great factory system, I didn't want to replace the stereo so I went for the plug-and-Play route of the Here2Anywhere with the FM transmitter.Look over your dash before buying. The Here2Anywhere is NOT as flexible to place in a car as other units. This unit is DEEPER than the others -- it requires placement on TOP of a dash. The Audiovox and JVC units allow placement on the front of the dash since they are slimmer (but taller)-- personally I thought the Kenwood had a bit better sound, but the difference was slight, if noticible at all, totally subjective on my part, and based on listening in a noisy mega store environment.If you're sure you won't use Sirius in your car, consider the new Kenwood unit made exclusively for home use. But, Kenwood has not released hard SOUND specs that allow a comparison of this unit (...) and the Here2Anywhere (...). But, the home unit has optical output if your home system can handle it.As for Sirius vs. XM:I chose Sirius for a few reasons. Sirius has more news and talk radio choices including Sirius Left (liberal talk), Sirius Right (yep. right wing) and SEVERAL PBS commercial free stations. They even have a Gay/Lesbian 24/7 station. XM's talk was largely the regular national talk show hosts that I already receive in New York.I live in the NY metropolitan area, but still find the PBS stations in my area don't carry the variety of PBS options that are on Sirius. As far as the commercials go, the Sirius music stations (over 60 with every imaginable genre) are TOTALLY commercial free -- only the stations that they rebroadcast (ex. CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, etc.) have commercials.Sirius has three satellites, not two as XM, and their three have a much higher angle orbit that XM's. So, it is less likely to have it's signal temporarily blocked by trees, buildings, mountains/hills and big trucks, as you drive.Also, Sirius has just dropped their pricing -- it's now the same price as XM if your subscribe for a year. So, the only benefit of XM (lower price) is now gone.Of course, the bottom line, pick the service that has the music/news/talk that YOU LIKE best! All of my suggestions mean nothing if you prefer the content of another service!

Have had Sirius in the car with my Sirius-ready Clarion for about a year. Enjoy the service and received this with the home dock as a gift to serve as the "dedicated" home unit. Wasn't even plugged in 30 minutes when it started to get extremely hot and display completely disappears. Cooled it down, removed from dock and reconnected where it worked again for another 20 mins. Now I know why there are so many "refurbished" versions of these floating out there. Kenwood should acknowledge that these units should have been yanked from the market due to extremely poor design and obvious defects. My advice, find out how you will primarily listen to satellite radio and get separate "dedicated" units for both the home and the car. In the long run it will be worth a lot more than this portable junk with docking kits. This thing was DOA for me. A MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT!

What i like about the unit is the design. Not as tall as other units. Sound quality is great. Now the problem(s)! after 20 minutes of use the screen fades away and signal starts to get lost. After 30 minutes unit is usless. Turn it off for 20 minutes and it is fine for only 20 minutes. I have returned it and already have gone thru 2 other ones with same problem. Kenwood tells me that they have never heard of this problem. Other reviews on other sites are all about this problem. Unit gets so hot you could fry an egg on it. Poor vent design. Got another on the way...gonna give up after this one though. Good luck to all who buys this.

I rely on my Sirius radio to get me through my sometimes legnthy commute so I find problems with it very frustrating. Over the 3 years I have had the H2A I have had to replace the antenna once, and other than the unit getting very hot and the screen being hard to read in the daylight, I could not complain. But now the unit makes no sound. I thought it was only a problem in my car so I took it in the house and plugged it in (I use it 80% in the car and only 20% indoors). No sound from the speakers in the house either. It IS receiving a signal and I can see the song name marching across the screen but no sound. I'm bummed. Guess I'll be on hold with customer service for awhile getting my receiver number changed, though I do love this little machine....