Sirius TTR1 Tabletop Internet Radio (Black)

I'll answer the two big questions first: Howard Stern? yes. Do you need to keep clicking a button so the radio doesn't shut off? no (see comment below). At least, as of right now. The radio is capable of both software and channel updates.

update: As of now, the Sirius website requires a human click every 90 minutes for streaming audio. This particular radio will play for hours without intervention but will eventually shut off. These features may be updated at whim by Sirius through software updates.

How does it sound? It sounds exactly as described - it's meant to be a tabletop boombox. It's the perfect companion for garage, laundry room, or kitchen. Don't expect real high fidelity sound out of these speakers. It has both a headphone jack and line out jack so it's possible to use amplified speakers or route the output into your home stereo system. When the line output is fed through my home stereo system the sound is wonderful. However, when I plugged my iPod into the aux input I was not impressed with thee quality, which I fault the iPod for.

I've been waiting for a gizmo like this ever since I subscribed to Sirius. I am an apartment dweller with no means for an outdoor antenna. Sirius works great in my car, but the only way I can listen at home is by being chained to my computer. Sirius has always made possible streaming audio from their website. But, every 90 minutes you need to click on the dead man's switch to keep the music flowing. This radio works exactly the same as the Internet streaming but is self-contained with a beautiful display. It also functions as a clock radio, although it's a tad big for the nightstand.

Before purchasing, it's best to become familiar with how streaming audio works on their website. You will need to purchase Internet streaming ability from Sirius in addition to your radio account. Be sure this is all working first.

The radio connects to your local area network via wired Ethernet or wireless with an external 802.11 antenna. You have all the settings available to you - enter the IP address of your choice or select dhcp via wired or wireless. I had a small gotcha, which was it wouldn't connect via WAP so I needed to configure my router for WEP. Everyone is tending to move away from WAP so this was a necessary evil. I entered my ASCII key and it connected just fine. My Sirius username and password worked right away. If you have MAC address filtering, you can retrieve the address via the menus.

The tuner works similar to that of a dashboard radio with a turn and push to click dial. Menus are accessed fairly easily, but it took a little while to get into some of the settings. The first thing I wanted to set was the clock and DST. Be advised that automatic time setting is on by default. The first day, I had to wrestle a bit to get it on the right hour of the day - so, don't set any alarms until you work all this out or put the clock into manual settings if you don't trust it. It's all configurable.

The display has a wonderful signal strength indicator so you can place it for the best reception or switched to wired Ethernet. There is no option for batteries, so you will need an AC outlet and the radio is amazingly heavy for a small box. It has automatic or manual brightness and a remote control, plus an input jack for a CD player or iPod, but no interconnection cables are provided. The display presents the channel name and song name with a nice volume control knob.

If you have Sirius and you're looking for speakers for your iPod or iPhone, get this radio instead of amplified speakers. I'm extremely happy that I can finally listen to Sirius in any room at home without an antenna. You'll need a solid, reliable broadband connection to operate this radio else you will hear dropout's and interruptions. This is not the fault of the radio. Again, test out the streaming audio on your computer first.

edit 2/14/12 - it was great while it lasted. My radio is now suffering from the same connection problems which others have reported. First it would not connect to the network at all. After powering off, unplugging, factory reset, and entering my credentials a few times it started to work again... for two weeks. Now it connects, starts to buffer, then says network timeout. At least I got a few years out of it but would hesitate to buy another one. Other manufacturers are catching up on streaming Internet radios since I wrote my first review. The prices are also coming down.

I recently purchased this product because I am living in the UK for a couple years and Siruis isn't available anywhere but the US mainland. I had to figure out a way to get this because I can't imagine not having Sirius radio to listen to. This radio is fantastic, the display is great and very well organized, although I wish it was blue instead of amber. All the features were very well thought out. The dual alarms are very convenient and you can choose between a buzzer (which can be set VERY loud) or any Sirius channel. You can set the sleep timer in 5min intervals and the alarm can be set once, daily or weekdays only. It is very easy and simple to set up, you plug it in and then type in your router password and Sirius login info, takes about 2min. The sound is very good, especially for the size of the radio, it is clear and powerful and there are a few different equalizer settings. It works well in the bedroom as an alarm clock or in the living room and is great if you have people over. I dont have the best internet speed where I live but it doesnt phase this radio, no breaks in sound and it is CD quality sound. It also doesnt slow down your internet while it's on. You can set the clock to automatically keep time or manually and you can pick time zones and DST. There is a parental control if you need it. The radio itself is very sturdy and well built, feels very solid. There is one line out and one aux in connection on the left side of the radio. The radio sits great on any flat surface (desk, nightstand, etc.). The only 3 slightly negative things I have to say about this radio is that 1. the buffer time - usually takes about 10sec or so to buffer so if you are trying to switch between stations until you hear a song you like be be prepared to wait on the buffer, but this is to be expected i guess with any internet radio. 2. the size - it is definitely not a compact radio, it will take up your whole nightstand, i was hoping it would be a little smaller however it's not heavy at all if you need to carry it around. 3. no battery option, (and by the way this radio is not dual voltage, 110v only so if you live overseas you need a step down transformer) i wish there was a place for some batteries, even if it was just for backup so you didnt have to reset the clock every time you unplugged it. All in all, this is an outstanding radio and i couldnt have asked for much more.

**Update**: This radio IS in fact Dual Voltage, if you pop off the back cover, there is a port for ethernet and a toggle switch for 110v or 220v.

After getting a new car with XM radio and liking it, I bought this Sirius TTR1 so that I could listen in my house, too. Set things up with XM to pay the extra 2.99 a month (above and beyond the satellite radio subscription for the car) to get xm internety radio online in my house. Got the radio in March 2011 - set it up - and then yesterday, about a month later, the radio has stopped being able to connect wirelessly. I tried all the troubleshooting and also doing a reset to the "factory settings" and then re-entering all my info (xm user id and password, wireless router SSID and WPA2 key) - and it still won't connect.

So,on balance after one month of use, I would STRONGLY discourage anyone from buying this radio, because it worked for about a month and now has stopped working.

Update to above review: for no apparent reason the radio started working again after I wrote the above review -- and it has worked fine for the last 6 months - but then once again yesterday simply quit being able to connect wirelessly. Once again I did a factory reset, re-entered the key of my wireless router (which the radio was able to find, by the way) but no luck. Just sits there attempting to connect and then failing to connect. Good news is, this time, I called the new Sirius XM "listener care" number (1-866-635-2349) and (eventually, after convincing them the radio was defective - NOT my wireless router, they connected me with another support office (in Indiana somewhereO which is arranging for me to get another TTR1 replacement radio (from yet a third location, in California). When they send a replacement radio, by the way, they offer two options: give them a credit card number and they will send the replacement BEFORE you ship the bad radio back, OR you just send them the bad radio (without giving them your credit card number)and they send you a replacement. I chose the first option - supposed to get the replacement radio in 7-10 days. I have to pay shipping for the return of the bad radio. The person I spoke to at the shop that authorized the replacement, by the way, did not know whether improvements have been made to the TTR1 hardware or software, so the replacement may be just as unreliable as the first TTR1 I bought - but, because this exchange is costing SiriusXM money, maybe they'll take steps to improve the quality of the TTR1 radio. The fact that the folks at the number above were relativley quickly willing to connect me with the office that arranges replacements suggests to me this is a commom problem that SiriusXM is trying to deal with - to the extent they're now willing to replace defective TTR1s even beyond the 90-day warranty.