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Belkin F5X007 XM Audio System
See it at Amazon.com for $109.99Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Worth all 7,000 pennies!!
(4 out of 5) by Omega Effect on Jun 2, 2006 (Greensboro, NC United States)Been waiting a while for someone to review this before I ordered, but the new price (70.95) was too much to resist. Now I have one, and can provide you with a review. In brief: Stop reading this and order it now!
Not-so-briefly: It works as advertised above, and then some. If you know XM, you know that a Southern exposure is your best friend for reception. I work a just few floors up from the street with a West Southwest-facing window; the internal antenna picks up three bars, a perfect signal. Catching ReelTime on Cinemagic or a ball game in the comfort of my office makes the day fly by.
Inside the home, I've had less luck with the internal antenna (this time of year our tree canopy is so thick I lose my car signal just by pulling in the driveway), but the included external antenna is gangbusters. In the yard, though, reception shines.
Sound is excellent for a portable, room-filling and crisp at even a third of its volume range. Bass and treble are adjustable via the radio. The supplied wafer remote does its job, and the Roady XT accessory remote is compatible if your prefer having a fuller-function remote. I have but one caveat: there is mild hiss at low volume (say, for instance, under level five out of what are at least 30 volume levels). I suspect a little device interference or an overeager amp within the box is to blame. It's a non-issue for me, but if you have to have your music really, really low (ex: cubicle-sharing), then maybe this isn't the droid you're looking for.
Overall, I am very, very pleased with this purchase and give it my highest recommendation. Enjoy your purchase!
Not-so-briefly: It works as advertised above, and then some. If you know XM, you know that a Southern exposure is your best friend for reception. I work a just few floors up from the street with a West Southwest-facing window; the internal antenna picks up three bars, a perfect signal. Catching ReelTime on Cinemagic or a ball game in the comfort of my office makes the day fly by.
Inside the home, I've had less luck with the internal antenna (this time of year our tree canopy is so thick I lose my car signal just by pulling in the driveway), but the included external antenna is gangbusters. In the yard, though, reception shines.
Sound is excellent for a portable, room-filling and crisp at even a third of its volume range. Bass and treble are adjustable via the radio. The supplied wafer remote does its job, and the Roady XT accessory remote is compatible if your prefer having a fuller-function remote. I have but one caveat: there is mild hiss at low volume (say, for instance, under level five out of what are at least 30 volume levels). I suspect a little device interference or an overeager amp within the box is to blame. It's a non-issue for me, but if you have to have your music really, really low (ex: cubicle-sharing), then maybe this isn't the droid you're looking for.
Overall, I am very, very pleased with this purchase and give it my highest recommendation. Enjoy your purchase!
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
Great Product
(5 out of 5) by Killertomatoe on Jul 6, 2006 (H, Wv)This is the best sounding Boombox that has come out for Sirius or XM. I had this delivered to my work and five people have complement this unit on its looks and quality of sound.
As the reviewer stated below this looks much better sitting in front of you than in pictures. I like all the storage offered, you can hide the remote in the battery compartment, along with the lead for the built in antenna. The front volume and earphone jacks are rubber seals...good stuff, goes alone with the waterproof claim. The built in antenna is also rubber sealed around the base.
The sound output is very good, it has good bass with no distortion, it also has two tweeters that deliver nice highs. I have not had the hiss at low volume some other reviewers experienced, it sounds good with the volume set at 2 or 15.
Yeah it doesn't have a CD player, or even a FM, radio built in but that is not the reason I bought it. I have had XM for 9 months and not listened to regular radio once in 9 months, and maybe only 3 CD's in that time. So...I dont care about these omissions, if I wanted these functions I would have bought a regular Boombox. I have yet not been able to get a signal, and I work in a 100 year old building surrounded by brick and concrete. As a matter of fact the home antenna supplied points at a wall and I get three bars on the XT's signal meter
The remote is basic and missing some of the functions of the Delphi remote, but that is a small trade-off. Over all this is a well built Boombox, sounds better than any of the other satellite boxes out there. So in the end if you have XM you will not be disappointed if you make the purchase.
As the reviewer stated below this looks much better sitting in front of you than in pictures. I like all the storage offered, you can hide the remote in the battery compartment, along with the lead for the built in antenna. The front volume and earphone jacks are rubber seals...good stuff, goes alone with the waterproof claim. The built in antenna is also rubber sealed around the base.
The sound output is very good, it has good bass with no distortion, it also has two tweeters that deliver nice highs. I have not had the hiss at low volume some other reviewers experienced, it sounds good with the volume set at 2 or 15.
Yeah it doesn't have a CD player, or even a FM, radio built in but that is not the reason I bought it. I have had XM for 9 months and not listened to regular radio once in 9 months, and maybe only 3 CD's in that time. So...I dont care about these omissions, if I wanted these functions I would have bought a regular Boombox. I have yet not been able to get a signal, and I work in a 100 year old building surrounded by brick and concrete. As a matter of fact the home antenna supplied points at a wall and I get three bars on the XT's signal meter
The remote is basic and missing some of the functions of the Delphi remote, but that is a small trade-off. Over all this is a well built Boombox, sounds better than any of the other satellite boxes out there. So in the end if you have XM you will not be disappointed if you make the purchase.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Great way to enjoy XM
(4 out of 5) by T. P. Butler on Jun 26, 2006 (San Francisco, CA USA)Pros: Easy setup, good reception (at least in San Francisco), very portable, nice little remote.
Cons: Color and styling are sort of ugly, sound quality is good but not great, would have loved a rechargable battery instead of using 8 C cells when it's not plugged into an outlet.
Overall, I'm quite satisfied. I'm using it with the XM Roady XT, and it's nice to have the option of hooking that unit up to the car or home stereo, too. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to listen to XM and wants the option of portability.
Cons: Color and styling are sort of ugly, sound quality is good but not great, would have loved a rechargable battery instead of using 8 C cells when it's not plugged into an outlet.
Overall, I'm quite satisfied. I'm using it with the XM Roady XT, and it's nice to have the option of hooking that unit up to the car or home stereo, too. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to listen to XM and wants the option of portability.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Great Sound, excellent to listen to XM by the pool...
(5 out of 5) by Mich on Jun 4, 2006 (Merrimack, NH)Went to Circuit City to buy outside speakers so that we could listen to music while in the swimming pool, luckily ran into this XM boom box, which is waterproof. The sound is awesome, great bass. The antenna works great, even in our screened in porch. I read a review on another site that called it ugly, I don't think it's ugly at all, my little roady looks great and there and is well protected. My only concern is battery life, have't played it long enough to know if the other user's complaint is valid.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Belkin F5X007 XM Audio System
(5 out of 5) by David-Tampa on Jul 15, 2006This product delivers! I didn't think I would ever own a "boom box" again, but now I do. This is an excellent product and well worth the money. This product allows me to enjoy my XM subscription to the fullest. It has great sound (be sure to adjust bass and treble on the XM receiver), no hiss, great reception indoors with standard antenna. I've used it at the beach, pool, boat, in the house-where ever! It looks great, too-kudos to the design team!