Xm->sirius Conversion.

gadgetguy1288 · January 5, 2011

I tried searching but nothing recent came up so I thought Id ask. I want to switch to Sirius in my 2010 ext cab Silvy, and before anyone asks why, here ya go..

I have a sirius plug-in unit that I purchased about 2 years ago while stationed in Juneau, AK(Radio there sux) and when i activated it I bought the lifetime subscription for the ability to transfer it to a new vehicle. Well, after several long and quite heated conversations with supervisors on both sides of the company, no-one can give me a solid, no BS reason why they cant just carry over my subscription. And where Im at Xm reception is horrible, but while I had the Sirius in my other car, it was awesome. And I have no problem putting the other antennae on my truck, but I refuse to just put the external unit in cuz it just looks tacky IMO.

So, is there anyway to convert the XM receiver to a Sirius receiver, and still maintain the steeringwheel controls?

HMXDave · January 5, 2011

I think this is the one you need.

gadgetguy1288 · January 5, 2011

Thanks for the link, I saw the SIRGM1 but not this one. Unfortuately it says not compatible with 2010+ Any other ideas?

[email protected] · January 5, 2011

This conversion would be virtually pointless nowadays since they have merged and have the exact same channels, disregard a small number of proprietary channels for each. But with xm and the best of sirius, you get those to.

gadgetguy1288 · January 5, 2011

This conversion would be virtually pointless nowadays since they have merged and have the exact same channels, disregard a small number of proprietary channels for each. But with xm and the best of sirius, you get those to.

This isnt really the case, they may have the same channels but the two are still run differently and have different transmission methods. I have a lifetime subscription to Sirius that I cannot transfer to XM. And although they are both "Satellite radio", IIRC XM also uses ground towers to transmit signal in addition to satellite in poor reception areas and my area is apparently one of those because XM has dead spots every half a mile around here, while Sirius still works perfectly.

gadgetguy1288 · January 13, 2011

Any ideas on something else that might work?

ZmanZ71 · January 16, 2011

id like to know this as well. I've had sirius in all my dodge trucks and now my chevy has xm. I thought they were the same now but I was wrong. The reception is not nearly as good and the different channel line up has thrown me for a loop. I'd love to go back to sirius and still have all the factory functions and controls as well as the factory look without the ugly box hanging from the windshield. When my 3 month trial is up and they call me to renew i'm going to tell them it sucks haha.

00_Extended · January 19, 2011

This conversion would be virtually pointless nowadays since they have merged and have the exact same channels, disregard a small number of proprietary channels for each. But with xm and the best of sirius, you get those to.

This isnt really the case, they may have the same channels but the two are still run differently and have different transmission methods. I have a lifetime subscription to Sirius that I cannot transfer to XM. And although they are both "Satellite radio", IIRC XM also uses ground towers to transmit signal in addition to satellite in poor reception areas and my area is apparently one of those because XM has dead spots every half a mile around here, while Sirius still works perfectly.

All that and if you have eighter one say XM you can't add a Sierius radio for the $6.00 a month fee or vise versa with Serius, which I have in the house and in the wifes Mustang, they will not allow me to add the truck for $6.00 per month.....they want full price for the XM....I told them they could take the XM and keep it. They have said for alm ost 2 years they would combine and allow the radios to be added like this and still has not happened.

Serius also has better customer service....I have no idea why but they do!!

gadgetguy1288 · January 30, 2011

just checking back in on this to see if the new year maybe brought any new info?

gadgetguy1288 · March 12, 2011

Any new updates?

Rockweiler · March 14, 2011

I'm happy to help here because when I bought my truck back in August I searched all over the place to figure out how to do this. The guys at TSS radio were EXTREMELY helpful and gave me all the info I needed.

As you've already discovered the kit above does NOT work on 2010+ GMT-900s. The kit you need is this one:

TSS Radio - Sirius Integration

It's pricey but it works flawlessly. The artist/song info is displayed on the HU, you can browse by category, works with steering wheel controls etc.. essentially the same functionality as the OEM XM radio.

Couple of points:

1) "XM" is still displayed on the HU.. not that it matters.

2) You cannot use the factory satellite antenna, you need to use a magnet one similar to one you might have had with a previous plug and play radio (in fact, I used the one that I had already routed through the headliner and out the third brake light before I got this kit).

3) Do some research on the iSimple unit.. I'm not very technically inclined, but it allows you to add a second type of connection in addition to Sirius. I didn't add anything else, but I think you might be able to use it to add a USB port.

4) It works in Canada or the US

5) For this kit to work, your HU needs to be "XM Ready". You don't need to have an XM subscription (I didn't get the 3 free months when I bought my truck), but it needs to be the model that can accept an XM subscription. I can't remember what the RPO code for that HU is, but you might want to double check that before you shell out $250.

Can't think of anything else, but if you have any other questions let me know.

Hope this helps.

Jagster101 · March 23, 2011

I'm happy to help here because when I bought my truck back in August I searched all over the place to figure out how to do this. The guys at TSS radio were EXTREMELY helpful and gave me all the info I needed.

As you've already discovered the kit above does NOT work on 2010+ GMT-900s. The kit you need is this one:

TSS Radio - Sirius Integration

It's pricey but it works flawlessly. The artist/song info is displayed on the HU, you can browse by category, works with steering wheel controls etc.. essentially the same functionality as the OEM XM radio.

Couple of points:

1) "XM" is still displayed on the HU.. not that it matters.

2) You cannot use the factory satellite antenna, you need to use a magnet one similar to one you might have had with a previous plug and play radio (in fact, I used the one that I had already routed through the headliner and out the third brake light before I got this kit).

3) Do some research on the iSimple unit.. I'm not very technically inclined, but it allows you to add a second type of connection in addition to Sirius. I didn't add anything else, but I think you might be able to use it to add a USB port.

4) It works in Canada or the US

5) For this kit to work, your HU needs to be "XM Ready". You don't need to have an XM subscription (I didn't get the 3 free months when I bought my truck), but it needs to be the model that can accept an XM subscription. I can't remember what the RPO code for that HU is, but you might want to double check that before you shell out $250.

Can't think of anything else, but if you have any other questions let me know.

Hope this helps.

The above should work. If not I would just install a new head unit. I just Installed a new stereo and mounted my Sirius Sporster 5 in my upper glove compartment and control it with the HU and my steering wheel controls using a SiriusConnect adapter. It looks great the only problem I have is that I can't pause the radio anymore from the stereo. For an example check out my Post here Jagster101 Stereo Install

gdnelis · April 4, 2011

I think this is the one you need.

Just an FYI - I purchased this model, the SIRGM2L for my 2010 back in June of 2010. I'd say it works 95% - the only feature lost was the steering wheel controls in regards to surfing through your presets with the up/down arrows on the wheel.

For example, the first 12 or so presets on my radio are SAT channels. If I'm tuned to preset 1 and a try to go to preset 2 via the wheel controls, the radio jumps to the first "non SAT preset" which is the first FM preset I have saved at location 13 or whatever it is. Once its on an FM station, I can surf through the rest of the presets using the wheel controls however once it wraps back to location 1, if hit again it skips ahead to the first "non SAT" preset.

It's an annoying little flaw that I've chosen to deal with since it beats having a "XM subscription and paying extra to hear what I want even though they merged" for me since I have two other vehicles with Sirius already installed. I bought this from TSS Radio who at the time was not positive if it would work, they exchanged the first unit to be sure it wasn't defective, and helped troubleshoot the second one to confirm it didn't work before offering to refund my money / give me a deal on the iSimple unit but the $100 price difference wasn't worth the functionality to me.

Sykesville_Silverado · June 24, 2011

I too am lookin to swap out my xm for a sirius unit. I have 3 lifetime units as of now and XM does not offer a group discount. They said "even though we are the same company now and we can see your sirius radios we are still seperate." So since I want to have the NASCAR channel and dont feel like paying an extra $200+ dollars for the best of sirius i will be cutting out the cancer that is XM. I Followed the link to TSS about the kit talked about in the previous post. They wrote back with a new one and said it should work for 2010+ years. Here is the link they sent me.

http://www.tss-radio.com/products/isimple-...GM-vehicles-GM1

I have this kit on order and will update the gang here with the results.

I hope this helps anyone like me looking to change out the XM to Sirius Radio brains.